Pre Mono-Monday: "A New Beginning" - Dial Cottage

This is the doorway of Dial Cottage, about a mile from our house.

As you can see from the inscription, George Stephenson lived here for 18 years, during which time he invented and built Blucher, the first locomotive engine, which heralded a dramatic New Beginning for the transport of people and goods throughout the world. He first tested Blucher in 1814 along the nearby Killingworth Waggonway.

At that time the cottage consisted of a single ground-floor room with a garret above, and over time it became filled with experiments conducted by George and his son Robert. Above the door is a sundial which they made in 1816 and which gives the cottage its name.

As I announced in my blip last Wednesday, the subject for this week's Mono-Monday is "A New Beginning". Please tag your entries MM116. I hope you have as much fun taking the photos as I know I'll have in judging them!