Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all Walled Towns

The Twenty-five Year Anniversary Illustated Timeline leaflet of the European Walled Towns (originally Walled Towns Friendship Circle) is linked here
'Brightstowe' in 1581 is Bristol now and its walls are largely hidden but the Old City still values its history and its markets - the grand 25M high High Cross languishes in a garden in Wiltshire - would be great to see it back in the centre of Bristol qiute complicated to persuade both City to ask for it and the National Trust to release it.

EWT/WTFC 25 Years on - Illustrated Timeline published

25 Years on from Peter Osborne's creation of the Walled Towns Friendship Circle, Tenby has celebrated the founders of the  WTFC, now EWT with a ceramic plaque of the Piran Declaration in English and Welsh placed on the Town Walls.
To mark these 25 Years this blog has updated the "About EWT page" with photos and additional information as a linked .pdf document,

Update to Chichester transport paper: Berwick-upon Tweed signage in main street

I am delighted to report that the offending parking sign that inspired my general assault on inappropriate signage in historic streets of walled towns HAS BEEN MOVED to a much less offensive position.

No longer is the classic Lowry view of the 18th Century Town Hall defaced as it was suddenly in June this year just as the successful Lowry Exhibition opened - see more for the pictures

Chichester Symposium - Transport in Walled Towns AND other presentations

On the Thursday morning of the the Chichester Symposium, I gave a presentation on Transport in Walled Towns: Space, making SPACES, for people in walled towns.
Lowry in Berwick-upon-Tweed was my inspiration
For my slides see link and for all the presentations at the Symposium see the Page ""EWT XXIV ... "on this website:
http://www.walledtownsresearch.org/p/ewt.html

Piran Walls celebration 2014

Piran has reported to the EWT at the Chichester Symposium.
"As a result of Piran membership to EWT and owing to the importance of Piran declaration, its plaque can be seen on Piran walls, we are witnessing to a growing awareness of the importance of cultural and historical heritage, especially that regarding the City walls." said Piran's spokesperson - the rest of the report is available here.

Chichester hosting EWT Symposium 2nd-6th September 2014

Beautiful and historic Chichester with its Roman based walls and attractive city centre, is hosting the European Walled Towns Symposium this year. You can register here now. The programme will include valuable technical and cultural contributions and discussions including talks on the recent project which Chichester undertook on its walls, a presentation and workshop on European Projects and European Funding as well as a talk and discussion on transport in walled towns. Furthermore, there will be a visit to Portsmouth Naval Dockyard to see historic ships and a guided tour of the Rolls Royce car factory.

Berwick-upon-Tweed - notes and links

In 2012, Margaret and Bernard Shaw took Berwick-on-Tweed to the very edge of Russia. In Narva, Estonia they compared the two walled border towns. Their paper, which was published by Narva will be linked here when I can get an electronic version. Here is the presentation that they gave in Narva with its extensive illustrations.
The Bridges make the town - the fortifications keep both safe.
More about the Royal Border bridge is linked here.
Further notes about Narva and Berwick will be added soon and you are also invited to visit the website of the Narva Museum

How to travel the Scottish Border in the United Kingdom from Berwick-upon-Tweed EWT to Carlisle.

New Travel tip between walled towns: one an EWT.
How to travel the Scottish Border in the United Kingdom from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Carlisle: follow link for details

via Bewcastle Cross

Dubrovnik draft short town description (dmb)

Dubrovnik (pop. 42000)  is located on the coast of Croatia. The World Heritage City was historically the independent Republic of Ragusa. The marble paved mainstreet is symbolic of inter-ethnic and cultural unity.  Beautifully restored since being gravely damaged in the wars of the Yugoslav succession in 1991, Dubrovnik is now again the centre of Adriatic tourism. A useful summary of its heritage and history is available in DennisRodwell’s ‘World Heritage – 38 Dubrovnik’.

The complete, accessible and magnificent walls date mainly from 15th-16th Centuries and largely survived the 17th Century earthquake.

Town website link http://www.dubrovnik.hr/ (in Croatian)

Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubrovnik

Baedeker references Sud Allemagne et Autriche 1902 pp 404-5 (as Ragusa); Dalmatien und Die Adria 1929 (includes plan)pp 191-195 (as Ragusa/Dubrovnik).
Note 

Photos from a DMB visit 2003, may be more later from 2011.

DUBROVNIK

IRISH WALLED TOWNS NETWORK: NEW ACTION PLAN 2014-16

This action plan for Irish walled towns is a valuable model for similar proposals and plans for other national and regional walled towns networks across Europe. It covers different major themes - within the first "Achieving High Quality Places" are conservation, funding and research. The other themes are "Embracing Change", which includes working with European Walled Towns and the Historic Towns Forum. The third theme is " Creating value for locals and visitors" which includes supporting actions with direct local visibity in and for its member towns.
CLEARLY THIS FUNDED PLAN PRESENTS TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRANS-EUROPEAN PROJECTS with the walled towns of other member states.
To see IWTN new action plan from a network closely associated with  EWT, download here.
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9X640iJPkwUZXkxRWU2OWlScTg/edit?usp=sharing.

Trencin supports cycling to work in 2014

So do I and by cycling to work for 25 years in Bristol, UK, I saved enough petrol (CO2) and car ware that I avoided buying at least one whole car and after twenty years had enough to finance myself for a six month sabbatical leave/holiday! So you can award yourself a prize just by entering. See more about the City of Trenčín initiative 

Useful links updated

Check out the revised useful links pages for links to many networks that either have walled towns as members or might well have.

Trencin Slovakia International Urban Design Competition

Happy to publicise this for Renata Kaslakova, who hosted excellent walled towns seminar in Trencin in 2006.
"Trenčín is currently facing changes connected with the relocation of the railway track directly within the city centre as part of the modernisation of the European railway corridor, with planned completion in 2016.
Therefore, the City of Trenčín seeks fresh and innovative urbanistic solutions that will overcome transportation barriers and connect the historic city centre with the riverfront, giving the city a new growth impulse and enhancing its expression. The winning proposals will form the base for a new Central City Zone Masterplan, which the municipality intends to develop following the results of the competition.
Interested participants can register free of charge on the competition website www.2014.trencin.sk until 4 March 2014.

Useful -article on the 'Resilience' of historic towns

This is a valuable article from Histcape (EU project) website by Matthias Ripp World Heritage Officer Regensburg. "CRISIS:AN OPPORTUNITY FOR HISTORIC CITIES - built cultural heritage as a factor of urban resilience" See direct link.
I am indebted to Huib Crijns of 'den Bosch for alerting me to this article.
The importance of the article lies in explaining how historic cities, which have proved their resilience over centuries have features that need to be conserved to maintain future resilience. Town walls and the concentrated town centres exemplified in walled towns are classic cases.