 Welcome to this Cambridge Museum of Technology webinar. This is the fifth in a series of webinars produced by volunteers during lockdown to fill the gap made by the museum's closure. The museum has now reopened and you can visit again to explore our industrial heritage. We have had to make some adaptations to keep our visitors, volunteers and staff safe. You can find all the information you need to prepare for your visit on our website. While we are waiting for the main event to commence, there will be a short slideshow to introduce you to the museum and its work. Our mission is to enable as many people as possible to explore, enjoy and learn about Cambridge's industrial heritage. We are located about one mile from the centre of Cambridge on the bank of the river Cam in the old pumping station. The museum was founded 50 years ago in order to preserve the buildings and machinery of the old pumping station and also to preserve evidence of Cambridge's wider industrial heritage for future generations to enjoy. The exhibits in the museum date from the 19th and 20th centuries. Between 2014 and 2019, £2 million was invested in the museum thanks to lottery players, historic England and other general funders. We reopened in 2019 and were pleased to be awarded 2019 Large Museum of the Year by museums in Cambridgeshire Consortium as well as receiving some excellent reviews and feedback from our visitors. The pumping station was built in 1894 to solve the pressing problem of sewage contaminating the river which had led to health issues for local residents. New sewers were built and the sewage came by gravity to a well underneath the new station. It was then pumped away by two steam engines to the sewage farm at Milton where it was used as a fertiliser. The pumping station also helped to deal with Cambridge's rubbish. The boilers which produced steam for the engines was generated by burning the town's waste. Cambridge grew and the station needed more pumping capacity to cope. Two gas engines were added in 1909. In 1937 an electric pump was added. The museum is used for a wide variety of events. Steampunk is a colourful and lively annual event. Vintage motorbike and car owners also bring their machines to the museum. We also run a wide range of family fun events, workshops and trails. The trails include seeking hidden rats and identifying various awful smells. Always a great favourite with the children. Many educational events are run at the museum. The site and our collection provide inspiration for history, STEM, art and design. We are popular with schools and can offer a whole range of programmes. We regularly ask our visitors how they have found their museum experience to help us understand if we are meeting their needs. We are pleased to see that we attract a wide range of age groups and we are very popular with family groups. 50% of our UK based visitors come from outside Cambridge with a further 15% coming from outside the UK. 92% gave us either five out of five or four out of five which is reflected in our trip advisor score of 4.5. The museum is nothing without a team of people that make it possible. We have three part-time employees backed up by almost 90 volunteers. Volunteers take on roles in all parts of the museum from acting as trustees to caring for the collections to looking after the site and grounds. These people offer us a vast array of skills and experiences allowing the museum to be a vibrant part of our community. We are always looking to add to this team and welcome people with all skills and from all backgrounds. As an independent museum we are always seeking financial support. We have been particularly hit by almost three months of closure during the Covid-19 crisis. If you are able please consider making a donation or simply sign up with Amazon Smile. When you shop with Amazon a small donation at no cost to you will be made to us. Hello I'm Pam Halls and I'm the curator at Cambridge Museum of Technology. Hello my name is Harriet O'Rourke and I am a volunteer at Cambridge Museum of Technology. Welcome to the webinar version of our floating museum tour that we at Cambridge Museum of Technology offer in collaboration with Can Boats. On this tour we take a trip along the River Can from Jesus Lock out to Ditten Meadows looking at evidence of industries along this stretch of the River Can beyond the usual tourist trail. Some of these industries helped Cambridge to function while others made it internationally famous for its innovation. The navigable section of the River Can from Cambridge to where it meets the Great Isles at Pope's Corner, south of Ely is 14.5 miles or 23 kilometres in length. Throughout history it has served as a route of navigation for the inhabitants of Cambridge linking the town to the sea and port of King's Lynn. In 1615 the recorder of Cambridge addressed King James I declaring this river with navigations to the sea is the life of traffic to this town and county. For centuries the river supported a strong sea-to-river route with barges, towpaths, river industry and river folk using the river as part of daily life. Following the introduction of the railways and later roads in the motor engine by 1900 commercial traffic was in sharp decline and had ceased by the 1930s. We begin at Jesus Lock where the cast iron footbridge crosses the river above Jesus Lock or lock number one the only lock in the city. The lock and wear were built in 1836 replacing the sluice that was located further down the river at Fort St George. The lock was installed to maintain river levels but allowed river traffic to continue up the river to Keyside bringing raw materials to the industries such as iron founding and brewing that existed at Keyside and then taking away finished goods. Bridges have existed at this point for many years but little record of them exists. The wooden high back bridge was present in 1879 during and after the great flood of that year. It may possibly date back to before 1863. It is mentioned in an article from the Cambridge Independent Press in March 1867. The present bridge dates to August 1892. The section of the river past Jesus Lock is referred to as the lower river and a square punting gives way to rowing. The lock keeper's cottage can be seen on the bank on the Cambridge side of the river. This building on the Chesterton side of the river where the job centre is today is the last remaining structure on the site where Cambridge Instrument Company operated for many decades. Although the river was not the reason the company located here there is a connection. The company had their own apprenticeship scheme and generations of school leavers from Cambridge and beyond joined the company to learn a skilled trade. The apprenticeship was rigorous. If you made a mistake you would be in trouble. We have heard of apprentices throwing their failed projects into the cam to hide them from their teacher. A lot of metal must have been dredged from the river. The Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company was founded by Horace Darwin, the youngest surviving son of Charles Darwin who is known for his work on the theory of evolution. According to his niece, the artist Gwen Ravara, in her memoir Period Peace, Horace was the family member least likely to succeed. He was described as delicate and had the greatest difficulty in learning to spell but the family also noticed that Horace is brilliant with machines. Horace's interest in machines led him into making scientific instruments. He purchased a small firm that had been set up to make scientific instruments for the university departments by his friend Albert George Dewsmith in January 1881. As the amount of research taking place in Cambridge laboratories increased during the 1890s the business grew and a larger space was needed. In 1895 Horace purchased a plot of land between Carlisle Road and Chesterton Road which can be seen from the river where a new workshop was built. Over the years the scientific continued to grow and expand around the site. The need for additional research facilities led to the construction of this building on the corner in 1959 that still stands today. During the first world war the company produced many instruments to help the war effort. In July 1915 it became a controlled factory only carrying out government approved work. Many of the new instruments produced during the war employed new principles. The gas permeameter which is pictured was an important instrument designed at the beginning of the war to measure the leakage of gas through the fabric of airships. Towards the end of the war a secret factory was set up for the study and development of anti-submarine devices and mine detectors. Horace Darwin was appointed chairman of the War Inventions Investigations Committee and was rewarded with a knighthood for his and the company's many and valuable contributions to the war effort. Despite the industrial slumps of the post-war period the company was able to continue in full production and engage in a considerable program of research and development. In the 1920s the scientific took over the R.W. Paul Instrument Company in London which resulted in the company gaining another workshop in Muswell Hill in London. One of the most notable Paul instruments is the uni pivot galvanometer movement which formed the basis of a wide range of electrical measuring instruments and testing sets in use all over the world. The company continued to expand opening offices across the UK and overseas. In 1922 the company acquired an American manufacturer of electrocardiographs and a Cambridge Instrument Company of America was established. The company advanced the technology of the electrocardiograph over the following decades. During the Second World War the company once it became became a controlled establishment and made many instruments to be used in the war related activities. One of these was the recording flux meter which measured magnetic field and was used for the detection of magnetic mines. Further development of sound range equipment that had been developed during the First World War was continued. The company continued to grow following the war. New workshops were built on the Chesterton Road site and in 1949 the company acquired a new factory in Finchley North London following the purchase of another company. Post-war work included the manufacturing of an x-ray microanalyzer which had been developed in a Cambridge Sheer lab. Work continued with microanalyzing equipment with the development of the first scanning electron microscope and the geoscan, a scanning electron probe microanalyzer for geological and mineralogical samples. It was on the geoscan that the first moon rocks in the UK were examined. During the 1950s and 60s there were a number of bids to take over the company which proved unsuccessful. At the time the government was encouraging the rationalization of the sector to increase industrial efficiency. In 1968 the company was purchased by George Kent Limited. The company was split into four divisions and following numerous mergers and reorganizations the company existed in various states and formations until the 1980s. Parts of the company still exist today in Cambridge in the form of companies such as Leica and Zeiss. Next we come to Victoria Avenue Bridge which was designed by John Webster a civil engineer who's specialized in bridges. The foundation stone was laid by Frederick Weiss, Mayor of Cambridge on 4th of November 1889 and was officially opened by Weiss just over a year later. There were some technical difficulties during the opening of the bridge when the bottle of champagne refused to break. The bridge was built following the 1889 Camp Bridges Act which allowed for two new bridges to be constructed. The act required a towpath to allow for horse drawn barges to pass as at this time the river was still very much in use. It is a notable example of Victorian ironwork. The rounds on either side picture the coat of arms of Cambridge, Chesterton and Cambridge University. The Cambridge coat of arms includes three ships on water beneath the bridge, depicting the importance of the river for transport and commerce when the coat of arms was awarded to the town in 1575. This bridge connects Victoria Avenue to Chesterton Road. It allowed the residents of Chesterton easy access to the city. At the time of construction Chesterton was still a village outside Cambridge. Prior to this a ferry operated from the Jolly Waterman pub. When the bridge was built in the late 19th century it was built to carry the weight of horse drawn traffic. By 1970 Cambridge City Council had imposed weight restrictions for traffic crossing the bridge. However by the late 1980s the council realised that these restrictions were not enough and plans to redevelop the structure of the bridge were made. As it is a great tool listed structure and in the conservation area of national importance the appearance of the bridge was retained and new steel art troops were made to the exact shape as the old iron beams. The bridge was reopened in 1992. As we pass under Victoria Avenue Bridge we cross the boundary between juices green and Midsummer Common. Midsummer Common has had many uses over the centuries including as a fairground grazing land and for the mobilisation of troops at the start of the First World War. The footbridge crossing this part of the river is named after the Fort St George public house decided that dates back to the 16th century. A ferry ran across the river at this point until the footbridge was built in 1927. At the time of building the public house was located on a natural river island. In the 1830s the river course was changed. In 1836 the sluice was moved upstream to Jesus Green and expenses of 100 pounds in 1837 suggest that this was when the lock was filled in and the island was joined to the common. The shape of the former island is outlined by the brick walls which surround the fairy house Fort St George and Midsummer House. Due to it being on an island the public house was neither in the parish of Cambridge nor Chesterton and therefore paid no rates. The house to the right of the Fort St George pub is the ferry house which was built in 1894 and was occupied by the ferryman. Cutter ferry bridge is a second of two foot bridges that connect Midsummer Common to Chesterton. The current bridge dates from 2005 after the original bridge was closed in 2003 due to a fault that had developed which meant it could have overturned when people walked over it. The original bridge dated back to 1927. It is also known as the pie bridge to locals because at one time the pie factory was located not far away on the Chesterton side of the river. Many pie employees would have walked over that bridge on their way to work. It also appears to have been referred to as dance bridge in the period after it was built. This was probably in relation to Samuel Dant who ran the ferry that crossed the river around this point. Across from Midsummer Common on the Chesterton side of the river stand the boat houses for all the colleges and city rowing clubs. Previously boat yards were found in between the boat houses. Up until the 19th century some trading barges were made in Cambridge however the majority of them were made in North Cambridgeshire. However at the start of the 1800s following the formation of the college boat clubs and rise in use of the river for pleasure activities the boat building industry grew in Cambridge making mostly racing and pleasure boats. Some of the boat builders also owned other local businesses including George Winter who also ran the ferry where Victoria Bridge now stands and Isaac Strange who is also the landlord of the Fort St George public house. One of the largest boat yards was owned by H. C. Bannum who set up his business in 1906. He began building pleasure boats and soon created his own hire fleet and a daily passenger steamboat service. During the First World War they built motorboats for the Russian army, seaplane floats for the British navy and aeroplane floats for the Royal Flying Corps. Due to the skills of the boat builders in working with timber to precise measurements they were involved in making part of the wooden apparatus used by one of Professor Rutherford's team at the Cavendish lab in the experiments that led to the successful splitting of the atom. During the Second World War they built whalers and high-speed motorboats for the British navy and prototype structures for radar for pie radio. Bannum's company and boatyard were later purchased by pie in the 1970s. As we exit Midsummer Common we pass under Elizabeth Way Bridge, the second of two road bridges along this stretch of the river. This four carriageway concrete bridge was opened in 1971. The 1889 CAM Bridges Act allowed for two new bridges to be constructed between Cambridge and Chesterton. We have heard that in 1890 Victoria Bridge was opened following the act. A proposal for a second bridge was put forward the same year but was rejected. In 1911 Chesterton was incorporated into Cambridge and a new bridge was promised by 1917. However the outbreak of World War I postponed this. Another proposal was rejected in 1928 and the matter was forgotten about. In 1950 a report stated that the construction of the second bridge should be undertaken as a matter of urgency. Industry and housing was growing in Chesterton and there was not a road link across the river. The bridge was officially opened on the 13th of July 1971 by Lord Butler High Steward of Cambridge. Bridge opening in Cambridge often doesn't run smoothly. This time it was not the champagne bottle that failed. On this occasion the opening was delayed when Lord Butler's gold scissors failed to cut the ribbon. We now approach the site where the Cambridge gas work stood for many decades and the giant gas holders dominated the Cambridge skyline. In the late 1700s William Murdock, a Cornish mining engineer, discovered that the gas emitted from burning coal could be used to produce a flame. After using this method in 1792 to light his house and some experimenting it was used to light the Birmingham factory of his employers. In 1805 Bolton and Mott sold their first gas manufacturing plant. This resulted in gas eliminating the industrial revolution. The light was a huge improvement on previous candle or oil lamps and light 24 hour working. Murdock became the father of gas lighting but it was his assistant Samuel Clay who was to make large scale gas supply systems possible. In 1812 the Chartered Gas Light & Coop Company gained parliamentary approval and became the world's first public gas lighting company. The following year Samuel Clay was appointed the Chartered Company's resident engineer. John Grafton was one of Clay's young engineer contractors spreading gas technology across the country. In 1815 Preston became the first town outside London to establish a gas light company. Age 18 Grafton was the lead engineer on this project. Over the following years he worked in a number of towns and cities around the country. Grafton was just one man in the movement and between 1815 and 1826 145 public gas works were established serving nearly every time in Britain with a population of over 10,000. In 1818 three years after Preston established its own gas works the Cambridge Improvement Commission began to look into the advantages of this new technology. In June 1822 they finally decided on oil gas and signed a contract with James Smith Hancock to light 250 lamps. By June 1826 the Improvement Commission were reconsidering their original decision and asked for new tenders for both oil and gas. John Grafton submitted a tender and won and was contracted to light the town with coal gas. The gas works that stood on this site near the river were built sometime between 1826 and 1830. They were built close to the river where coal could easily be unloaded from barges. By the time Grafton's lease had expired in 1840 there were 350 gas lights along the main roads of Cambridge. Grafton remained involved with the Cambridge Company until his retirement in 1866. By then the number of street lights had nearly doubled to 660. While the streets of Cambridge were lit few domestic properties took advantage of being able to connect to the mains. This was mostly due to being expensive for all but the wealthy. The annual cost of lighting a small house was equivalent to a week's wages for labour while coal remained a cheaper option for cooking and heating. It wasn't until the invention of prepayment gas meters in the 1880s that it became more affordable. Competition from electricity also led gas to become cleaner and for gas companies to diversify. Gas cookers became accessible with the introduction of weekly hire schemes. Demand soared for gas and in Cambridge consumption trebled between 1867 and 1900. By the end of the Second World War this had increased over five times that of 1900 and the number of consumers had risen from 5,000 to 30,000. While gas transformed life in Britain it came at a heavy cost to the lives of those who produced it. Employees worked seven days a week working 12 hour shifts and had only one rest day a month. It was in response to these conditions that the National Union of Gas Stokers formed in 1889. As one of the first unions for unskilled workers one of its greatest legacies was the establishment of the principle of the eight hour workday. Work remained hard but gas companies often looked after their employees quite well. In Cambridge many social clubs and sports existed for employees at facilities at the works. In the early 1900s a recreation club was opened with facilities for cricket, tennis, children's parties and summer outings as well as a well-maintained bowling ring. In 1899 116 employees from Cambridge Gas Works spent the day in Great Armour as part of a company funded day trip indulging in beef, cheese, whiskey and 32 gallons with 256 pints of pale ale. After natural gas was first brought to Cambridge in the 1970s the plant was no longer required and shut down. However it wasn't demolished until 2000. Tesco and the Riverside Flats now stand on the site. Just beside the site as a demolished gas works stands the old Chedders Lane pumping station which is now home to Cambridge Museum of Technology. The pumping station dates back to 1894 and was built out of necessity. During the Victorian period towns like Cambridge saw a large increase in their population. Overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions and the lack of a waste disposal system led to poor public health. Across the country thousands of people were dying from diseases such as cholera, typhus and malpox. Despite a sewage system which was first laid in 1823 in Cambridge very few residential properties were actually connected to the system. A report in 1849 by one of the general board of health's six superintendents William Ranger made recommendations on how to make improvements in Cambridge that would lead to healthier and longer lives. The report highlighted the need for a proper sewage system and a comprehensive refuse service but it wasn't until 45 years later that the pumping station was built. The building of the pumping station allowed for the existing sewers to be connected to a new intercepting sewer that brought the sewage by gravity to a well 40 feet 12 meters deep underground at the pumping station. When the station was built it was outside the town and the building's all well above river flood level. The pumping station was originally powered by two Haythorn Davy steam engines one running at a time which pumped the town's sewage under the river to the sewage farm at Milton two miles three kilometres away where it was used as a fertilizer. As far as we know today the steam engines are the only complete Haythorn Davy non-rotative engines in the UK and probably the only working ones in the world. Also the differential valve mechanism is one of the final designs as after many years of development in 1894 steam engine technology was being replaced by the gas engine. Solving two problems at once the steam engines were fueled by the burning of the town's rubbish. Three boilers were installed which were heated mainly by burning household and trade waste in the destructor cells. The rubbish was delivered to the top site by the council where it was sorted and non-burnable materials such as glass and metal were removed and the rest was burned as fuel. Up to two of the boilers could be used at the same time so that maintenance could be carried out on the third boiler. In the first 10 years of the pumping station running the local death rate fell by 15%. Many additions and changes were made to the pumping station throughout its history. As the population of Cambridge continued to increase additional pumping capacity was required over the years. In 1909 the gas engine house extension was built housing two national gas engines and pumps. In 1937 another extension was built to house the electric motor and pump. During the 1930s the national grid was being built and a substation was installed in the pumping station to supply the high power required. In 1923 boiler number four was installed as a backup. This was a coke boiler compared to the others which were dual fuel and could burn either rubbish or coal. As part of our redevelopment project boiler number four has been restored so that the steam engines can run again. As technology changed the pumping equipment in the Cheddar's Lane station needed updating to the extent that it was better to build an entirely new pumping station. The Riverside pumping station was located beside the existing station. The new station was all electric and replaced the Cheddar's Lane pumping station in 1968. It did not have such a long working life as a steam powered pumping station. In 1994 a deep tunnel system came into operation taking the sewage by gravity all the way to the treatment works at Milton. The site of the Riverside pumping station is now a residential area after it was demolished in 1997. Just beside the Riverside entrance to the museum stands the Riverside bridge. This foot and cycle bridge built in 2008 is the most recent river crossing and connects Chesterton and Riverside areas. The 200 meter long bridge crosses the river and also clears Logan's Meadow a local nature reserve on the Chesterton side making it we think the longest bridge in Cambridge. The architects brought in an artist Jerry Juda to work on the project. When the pumping station was built in 1894 its chimney would have been one of many in the area. Many in the same area around Newmarket Road belonged to Brickworks. The clays of Cambridge allowed for many Brickworks to appear in the 19th century. There was a thick seam of clay or gold in the Newmarket Road area which led to a large concentration of Brickworks around this area. It used a yellowish white brick which can be seen used all over Cambridge. Clay mixed with chalk also provided material for cement works at Sheppard, Meldred and Barrington and for the British Portland cement works at Coldham Lane, Cambridge. There was also several concrete manufacturers such as the Cambridge Concrete Company of Milton and the Cambridge Artificial Stone Company. There were four larger Brickworks that flourished for the last 20 years of the 19th century and first 30 years of the 20th century as well as many smaller brickyards where handmade bricks were made. The four larger Brickworks were Watson Company which stood on the left of Newmarket Road opposite Stanley Road around where B&Q stands today. It was also in timber merchants but the foreman who lived on site was in charge of the Brickyards. Cambridge Brick Company continuing along Newmarket Road on the same side around where the retail park and coral trading estate next stands. The pit was filled up during World War II with the old cars. Another was the Cambridge Starbridge Brick Company which was approached from Chedders Lane and it faded out earlier than the other three. The other large Brickworks was Swan's Brickyard near Barnwell Bridge. The land extended to Garlicrow in one direction, Starbridge Common formed another boundary and another was formed by the railway line and until Starbridge Fair was done away with the fence along this edge used to have to be set back to make room for the fair each September. Mercer's Row and Swan's Road now stands on this land. All this land was purchased by Cambridge City Council and the brickyards closed and the pits were filled in with household rubbish. The buildings and company houses on site were bulldozed. Trade was strong up until 1914 but World War I caused great changes when very little building work was done. Post-war the first council houses were built in Cambridge using Cambridge bricks. Over the next few decades trade dropped off, fashions were changing and demand for coloured bricks was growing. Cambridge bricks dirtied quickly and according to locals too many together had a flat appearance. Experimentation was carried out to try and make them multicoloured on the surface. While they produced some good results it would have worked out too costly to put into production at a larger scale. The experimental bricks made enough for four houses which still stand today in Cambridge. Just as you pass under the Riverside Bridge you can still get a glimpse of the area where Pi was based for many years on the Chesterton side. The original company was set up by WG Pi with the help of his father in 1896. Whilst working at the Cavendish Laboratories WG Pi set up a small workshop in his back garden which evolved into WG Pi and Co. He specialised in producing well-made and well-designed scientific instruments at a moderate price suitable for school laboratories or for elementary classes in universities. The creation of the BBC in 1922 created a large domestic market for wireless sets. WG Pi and Co were short of work at the time and began to make the sets. Due to the boom in the market the wireless department rapidly outgrew the instrument side of the business. In 1928 Pi radio was formed to take over the manufacturing of the wireless side of productions. However WG Pi was at heart an instrument maker so in 1928 he asked Charles Orr Stanley known to everyone as CO who ran a publicity company that worked for Pi to broker a deal to sell the radio part to Phillips in the Netherlands. Phillips declined the offer and so Stanley bought the radio business himself. WG Pi and Co continued to manufacture scientific instruments as a separate company until it was to was acquired by Pi Limited in 1946. In the meantime Pi radio grew rapidly and by 1933 was producing more than 40,000 radio sets per year. Stanley continued to have a sharp eye for where technology should move and in the early 1930s a TV lab was set up at Pi and was producing sets by 1936. In 1937 the company changed its name to Pi Limited. During the Second World War the company developed radio and radar equipment for the government. Stanley was acknowledged for this work when he received an OBE in 1945 and a CBE the following year. After the war the company returned to its development of the television. Many homes watched the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on a Pi TV. Other post-war developments included the first UK transistor radios and the black box record player on which you could listen to Pi music label artists such as The Kinks. In early 1944 Pi Limited had registered a new subsidiary called Pi Telecommunications which was intended to specialize in the expected post-war opportunities for commercial and industrial radio communications equipment. After the war years Pi Telecom developed, prospered and grew and eventually came to contribute over 30 percent of the entire Pi group profits. CEO Stanley parted from Pi in 1964. During this time the company's finances had begun to decline and Phillips attempted to buy a half stake in Pi. Within one week over the AGM held in November 1966 a number of companies made bids for the Pi group. Phillips was successful and took full control of Pi early in 1967. Phillips continued to work under the name Pi in Cambridge where research and production continued. By this point Pi had expanded across various sites all around Cambridge. Pi Telecom needed new space and in August 1970 were granted planning permission for the construction of a major new Pi Telecom complex to be built on the south side of St Andrews Road, Cambridge. When the complex opened in May 1978 the opening ceremony was nearly ruined after three days of torrential rain caused the river cam to overflow onto the land behind the site to a depth of several feet. As we have already noted openings in Cambridge do not always go smoothly. In the early 1990s following a period of financial losses Phillips underwent a global restructuring which resulted in various Phillips industrial and scientific business units being sold or scaled down. Today a company called Sepura which is based in Cambridge is what remains of Pi Telecom's mobile radio development. Moving down the river on the Cambridge side of the river we have passed the entrance to Starbridge Common and paths under the Green Dragon Bridge. This steel footbridge which dates from the 1930s is named after the nearby pub. It connects Water Street and Starbridge Common. The bridge replaced two ferries which were run by the Green Dragon Public House. The horse grind ferry a chain ferry which was used to transport cattle and horses and a smaller passenger ferry. These ferries were busiest when Starbridge Fair was running and when the fair was abolished in 1935 the ferries disappeared alongside it. As mentioned Starbridge Common was home to one of the largest fairs in the country and at its peak was the largest fair in Europe. It was a centre of trade and commerce and relied on the river for the transport of many of the goods sold at the fair. The first documentation of Starbridge Fair was in 1211 when the right to run a fair each 14th of September was granted by Royal Charter to the Lepper Hospital of Cambridge. It was one of three ferries held around this time in Cambridge. By 1279 the Lepper Hospital had ceased to function and as the fair was so successful Cambridge Corporation took it over. Little information remains from this period. Records that do exist often from the wealthier buyers show items being bought including dried salted and fresh fish, spices, currants and raisins, kitchen equipment, saffron, almonds, mustard seed, cloth, timber and iron. Customers at the fair included wholesale, town and village tradesmen purchasing goods for resale and stewards and agents acting for large households stocking up on goods. It was claimed that everything you could need to furnish an equip a house could be bought at the fair. Royal records show that in the 1280s when Cambridge Castle was being rebuilt by Edward I materials including iron hinges, window bars, fetters and chains were bought at Starbridge Fair. The river was used to transport timber from places such as the Baltic which arrived at the port of Kingsland. Water fair, the area down by the river was where most of the heavier bulkier and smelter goods were located. Butter was a common Cambridgeshire product and surplus from fendland farms came along the river in Fertons. Fish, both freshwater and sea fish, was available. The fair took place during oyster season so it was a great delicacy of the fair and was sold around what is now oyster row. From around 1561 heaps of sea coal named for its means of transport from Newcastle to Pontine were present. Skip Fair was where baskets made in the fends were sold as well as trunks and boxes. By the early to mid 1700s the fair was beginning to see a decline. National and international changes in commerce and trade were gathering pace. A change in domestic travel meant people were able to travel to London more easily and faster. By the early 1800s the fair was a shadow of its former self. The horse fair became the most important feature with sales of sadlery and leather goods, timber, onions and smaller supplies of hops and cheese taking place over a week or less. After World War I horse sales declined greatly which signaled the fair's death knell. The invention of the petrol engine was now fueling transport and farm machinery. In 1933 the fair was proclaimed for the last time by the mayor. On 5th of July 1934 the borough issued the official notice signed by the home secretary to abolish the fair. A number of the street names around the area still refer to the fair, oyster row, garlic row, cheddar's lane and mercer's lane. The next bridge we come to is the railway bridge which also marks the boundary between Stowbridge Common and Ditten Meadows. The current bridge which dates back to 1930 is the third rail bridge to stand on this site. The first, built in 1846, followed the arrival of the railway to Cambridge the previous year. The building of this wooden bridge allowed the line to cross the cam and continue on to Eley. This bridge was replaced in 1870 and in turn was replaced by the current bridge in 1930. The current bridge carries two tracks and its joints allowed for expansion and movement when heavy loads pass over. When building the current bridge the builders faced the challenge of installing the new bridge without closing the line for too long. To work around this the new bridge was built alongside the old bridge with wooden staging around the both. When the new bridge was complete the line was closed and the old bridge was lifted onto a trolley and went sideways onto the wooden staging. Many people came to watch this happening. The new bridge was on wheeled trucks and was winched at a rate of eight inches per minute until in position. Track lane machinery rolled into action to lay the two lines. The line was open again in hours. The old bridge was then cut into sections and taken away by road. Work is currently in progress on the fen Dittenside of the railway bridge to build a new pedestrian and cycle bridge as part of the Chisholm Trail project. The new bridge will connect the Abbey and Chesterton areas of Cambridge. Behind Dittenmeadows you can see the old maltings which is situated on Dittenwalk beside the railway tracks. The maltings was owned by the HA&D Taylor Group one of the larger malting companies in the eastern region and dates back to the end of the 19th century. The largest use of malted barley at the time was by brewers. In the 18th century the compilers of Grados at Cantopourgym wrote, Cambridge has long been celebrated for its ale. We have ourselves swapped no small quantity of this inspiring beverage. Cambridge's proximity to a region with plenty of barley resulted in it becoming a busy centre of the malting and brewing industry. In the 1880s there were at least 30 breweries listed in Cambridge directories and many other smaller ones would have existed in the yards of minor public houses. A number of the breweries were located on Keyside near the town centre on one of Cambridge's main wharves where the barley came in by river. Some of the 19th century breweries included the Anchor Brewery and Foster's Brewery on Keyside, Star Brewery on Newmarket Road and closer to the river was the Spring Brewery on Chesterton Road on the side where the old Tivley cinema is and the Boathouse pub was the Newspring Public House. The Star Brewery on Newmarket Road was the last Cambridge brewery to close down in 1972. It was bought out in the 1930s and was demolished in the early 1980s. The breweries did not only brew beer but often had aerated waterworks that produced drinks such as lemonade and seltzer water. The breweries also sold any excess grains that they had left over. Thank you for joining our virtual tour of the industries that could be found along the River Cam. If you want to find out more about these industries or some that we haven't even mentioned then come and visit the museum. The latest visitor information is available on our website. I'd like to thank all of the volunteers who have helped to get the museum safe for the public to come on site again. I really look forward to welcoming you to the museum over the summer. If you would like to book a visit you can book a visit online, go to our website www.museumoftechnology.com and you can book a 15 minute time slot. You can also just turn up at the gate and provide it with got space and you can come in. Thank you for listening to this webinar. If you're taking part in the live event we look forward to receiving questions from you now.