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Whale Bone Gates, Arches, etc.

A

Anonymous

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Here's something I dragged up from the very depths of my subconcious tonight while watching the whales in Ray Mears 'Extreme Survival' ...

I have very vague memories of visiting a church in Cornwall as a child that had gateposts made from giant whale bones, though I can't remember where it was.. they were all bleached, dried and cracked with age, and they formed an arch leading in to the church yard. It is really annoying me now that I can't think where it was, as I think it was a splendid peice of fortean architecture !

Has anyone else seen these, or do you have any other examples of fortean architecture to share ?
 
The only whalebone arch I know of, HAARP, is the one on the West Cliff at Whitby, which used to be a whaling port.

Carole
 
Is Ray Mears that hefty-looking bloke who pretends that he
has been stuck in a tree-house somewhere eating boiled twigs?

If so, I guess the secret of his survival may be a very large crate
of pies. :p
 
Fortean architecture

There's the Little Chapel, which is on Guernsey - I'd say that was quite Fortean in terms of being all-out weird! It was built by one man, a monk, and it's basically a tiny, perfect chapel, big enough for a few people to fit inside. The thing that makes it absolutely unique is that the walls are entirely covered with mortar and the mortar is set with millions of shards of glass and porcelain and shells. Essentially it's one huge piece of mosaic work.

I'd recommend anyone who gets chance to see it, go. It is incredibly beautiful and has a wonderful faerie feel to it, like an elfin chapel or something. And if you go outside and look around, there are all kinds of little shrines and ornaments hidden about the place and all made on the same principle.

Here's a rather nice photo if anyone wants to see:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/john.knights/guernsey/chapla.html
 
There was a whale bone arch on the south side of Wood Street in Barnet, it was still there about seven years ago when I last passed it & may still be there now.

The arch, is the gateway of a house aptly named Whale Bones & I understand that it was renewed after WW2.

Such arches were once common, before whaling was outlawed & I remember that there was a stamp (New Zealand I think), showing a whale bone arch.
 
I have a vague memory of a pair of whalebones on the sea front at Aberdeen - tho' this may have been about 25 years ago.

Inverurie might be able to tell us if they're still there.

Fizz
 
Probably was at least 25 years ago, I don't think there have been any in my time.
 
When I was a kid there was a farm near Driffield in East Yorkshire, with a pair of whalebones forming gateposts. I was driving around there at Christmas, and passed them, still there, but looking a little worse for wear these days.
 
Glastonbury Abbey has a whalebone jaw arch , huge long bones !
The gateway doesn't seem to lead anywhere though and is locked . That is all crumbling and old .
Marion
 
There are several houses on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, with whalebone arches. At least one in Sandwich, and two, I think, in the Orleans/Truro area. They are all on private lands, with the exception of one of the ones in Orleans, which is near the Fort Hill area.
 
Where I grew up there is a pub called "The Jawbone" and hanging on the wall was a whales jawbone, about 12foot long,
it was there for many years until they "modernised" it, changed it into a chrome and plastic monstrosity to cater for for the young set with plenty of money but no taste, in more ways than one. I wonder what happened to that jawbone?might have killed off the last of the rag and bone men trying to carry it.
 
carole said:
The only whalebone arch I know of, HAARP, is the one on the West Cliff at Whitby, which used to be a whaling port.

Carole
Click to expand...

I believe they took it down as it was getting wrecked and replaced it with a copy of it.


Luce
 
This is a copy?

It's pretty good!

There's supposed to be a Ley-line from the Abbey, across the estuary, and extending west.....
This could pass through the Bones....by accident or design....:D
 
There's a museum in Husavik (sp?), northern Iceland, that not only has a whalebone gate, but the rest of the whale too! Many of the exhibits are actually inside the carcass... very spooky, especially as the museum is the meeting point for tourist whale-spotting cruises.

Jane.
 
Is this where I confess to scratching my name on Whitby's whalebone arch, aged about 9? I have honestly felt guilty ever since, but I was pleased to see on a recent visit that it had been restored to its former glory.:)
 
zygmunt said:
Is this where I confess to scratching my name on Whitby's whalebone arch, aged about 9? I have honestly felt guilty ever since, but I was pleased to see on a recent visit that it had been restored to its former glory.:)
Click to expand...

What's been restored, the arch, or your vicious, malevolent grafitti? :)
 
I'm afraid Zymunt's graffiti will be permanently removed soon, because it was on our local news (BBC Radio Cleveland) this morning that a new set of whale jawbones are on their way to Whitby from Northern Alaska. Apparently some local Inuit guy, who had had them for a number of years, has donated them. There were quite a few problems finding a cargo plane with big enough space for them, but they should arrive some time next month.

Carole
 
Which makes me wonder how come the Inuit heard of Whitby?

(Although, in Aachen a couple of years ago, I came upon a red telephone box - a present from Cleethorpes!)
 
DerekH said:
Which makes me wonder how come the Inuit heard of Whitby?

(Although, in Aachen a couple of years ago, I came upon a red telephone box - a present from Cleethorpes!)
Click to expand...

Not all inuits live in igloos in the middle of nowhere. One of my friends is an inuit and there is an inuit cultural center not far from where i stay.
 
whalebone gate posts

What a marvellous site this is! - Where else could you read stuff about strange place names, odd tv broadcasts and - of all things - whalebone gate posts!!! Long may it all continue anyhow!!

There are some whalebone gate posts on a hill overlooking the town of North Berwick just south of Edinburgh, on the coast. There also are purported to be some on the A591 between Kendal and Windermere in Cumbria - there were a spate of letters about them in the local paper a couple of years ago , the subject started by a guy who had lived away from cumbria for years and was wondering if they were still there. This prompted a flood of letters from older folk in the area who remembered them
too. I think I know where they are but it's a busy road and difficult to stop when you're driving past. The spot is now totally overgrown but I will go and have a look soon!!
 
Whalebone arch In wakefield park, west Yorks, near the tennis courts, at least there was a few years ago.
 
A whalebone Arch stood in the grounds my primary School in Seahouses Northumberland. I dont know if they are still standing Now, as I remember them to be in very bad condition back then. ( they looked more like rotten wood than bone with large bits flaking off )

Mr P
 
I was at the new "Museum in Docklands" along by Canary Wharf a few weeks ago, where they have a whale jawbone arch as an exhibit & also some old dockside bollards made of short lengths of jawbone.

It seems that they were so common, having been bought home by the greenland fishery ships, that they were cheaper than using timber or iron...
 
Talking of whales - i have the most amazing picture which for some reason i can't post. It's a jpeg but it will not stick to this board for some reason.
PM if anyone wants a look.....
 
Years ago there was a Whalebone Cottage in Morpeth, Northumberland with what appeared to be a whale's jawbones forming a gate. They were very old and flakey and some people said that it was just wood. I have no idea if they are still there.
 
The only ones that I know of are the quadruple set at the southern entrance to the Meadows Park in Edinburgh that give Jawbone Walk it's name - already mentioned by DerekH16 (above). A photo of them can be found here.

There also used to be a pair that formed an arch over this gateway to a farm or house just south of Musselburgh (East Lothian) beside the former A1. I remember them well as they were a 'landmark' that I looked for on my family's frequent visits to Edinburgh to visit my grandmother. Resorting to Google Streetview you can see what little is now left of them after the Scottish elements having their way over the last goodness knows how many years:

1570022479404.png


I tried to find an old photo of them on the internet but strangely couldn't track down a single thing about them.
 
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