(S) Odd, that!

Acrylic-bob · 30-10-2004, 09:19

Here's a saturday super puzzler for you. First of all where is it?

Then, can anyone explain why this is actually impossible? There are two coconuts if you can.

steveo · 02-12-2004, 22:08

its got a concrete lintal..all rest is sandstone

Bagpuss · 02-12-2004, 22:19

If the top symbol is the one used by cubs or scouts, Baden Powell was born in 1857 and didn't start the movement until 1907 so the date 1855 can't be correct.

WillowTheWhisp · 02-12-2004, 22:49

Unless of course the building was erected in 1855 and subsequently owned by the scouts so they added their symbol to it.

The other possibility is that it's part of a building we know to date from later than 1855?

Haven't a clue where it is - it would help of I had.

Acrylic-bob · 02-12-2004, 23:21

Bagpuss and Willow: I don't think the symbol is anything other than a purely decorative device. The Scouts, if memory serves, use the fleur-de-lis as their badge.

Steveo: The concrete at the bottom of the picture is there to fill an aperture and is not original to the building.

steveo · 02-12-2004, 23:31

worth ago

Darby · 03-12-2004, 07:00

Its the Key stone in the middle that stresses the other bricks and provents them from falling.

In most arches of that era a keystone was always used, as its the "key" to the design. Hence the word "Keystone"!!

Acrylic-bob · 03-12-2004, 08:23

So why is what you see in the picture actually impossible?

WillowTheWhisp · 03-12-2004, 08:26

Well it isn't actually a keystone and it isn't supporting an arch because there isn't an arch. If those stones were separate stones with no other means of support they would simply fall down.

WillowTheWhisp · 03-12-2004, 08:29

Is it possibly all one stone and just carved to look like separate ones? The two immediately either side of the centre would slip through if they were separete and not supported because the vertical sides are parallel.

Acrylic-bob · 03-12-2004, 09:06

AT LAST!

Hooray Willow Wins possibly the last ever pair of coconuts. The lintel is indeed carved from a single peice of stone which is cut to look like several. It is common to see this configuation of stone shapes used to form an arch. Look at the arches on the Viaduct.

The central stone, as Darby Points out, is the Keystone, so called because it is the key to the whole thing, and locks all the other stones in place, remove it and the arch would collapse. But this is not an arch. And if the stones were individual as the mason has attempted to make them appear, they would not even support their own weight, much less the weight of the masonry above. Thus it is impossible.

WillowTheWhisp · 03-12-2004, 09:23

...

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Thank you A-b but we haven't exactly established where it is yet.
And for that matter where the heck is Finisterrae?