BCW Project and Wiki

-
Those of you who have tried to visit either the BCW Project or Regimental Wiki will notice that it is 'down'.

>>>>>>>>>

Update June 2024:

The data is safe, rest assured that the site will return. Day jobs, real life etc take precedence.

>>>>>>>>>

Update 6th December 2023:

All of the data appears to be safe! The BCW Project and Wiki will be returning in 2024.

>>>>>>>>>

Update late November 2023: 

Contact has been made with Dave's family, and I am sorry to share the sad news that Dave has passed away. 

There are a number of people (but mostly Tim) working quietly in the background at getting the BCW Project and Wiki back up and running again. It will return, but in what timescale nobody currently knows; other than, it will return.

Eventually. 

One thing that we do know is that somebody has hoovered up the URL for the site, so unless the original URL can be resecured, it might have to return with a slightly different domain name.

One thing that is certain is that the site will almost certainly need some financial support when it gets up and running. So if you are currently lamenting the demise of the site, please remember how easy it is to 'loose' such a valuable resource. 

I'm sure that when the site is closer to being relaunched, Tim will publicise what assistance is needed - be it money, or even website expertise. 

I will of course share those details here, now that I have a regular readership of nearly 20!

Just a thought, as we all owe Dave a debt of gratitude for bringing the BCW Project into the world - perhaps we could all buy a virtual pint to toast Dave's memory, and keep the site that he was proud to have created, running for many years to come?

In the meantime a good chunk of the old site is archived on the Wayback Machine (linky further down the page).

>>>>>>>>>

Update from Tim, 10/10/23:

As you might know, the BCW Project and BCW Regimental Wiki have gone down. Although you can still view many of the pages at the Wayback Machine.

As admin of the wiki, I've been in contact with the webhosts, Krystal, trying to find out if anything can be done to revive the sites.

After much discussion, we've established that they still hold the data but cannot do anything with it until they get authorisation from the site owner, David (Dave) Plant.

I can't get in touch with Dave by any emails, facebook etc and I'm worried he might have some major health issues or even have passed away. If anyone can get in touch with or knows what has happened to Dave, please let me know.

I've tried tracking him down on 192.com etc but with no luck either – too many David Plants! If anyone has experience with this sort of thing I can supply you with the few details I know about him by email.

If we can't contact Dave then the webhosts will wipe their data for the sites in early November. I've tried to persuade them otherwise, even offered funding, but all to no avail. I don't have recent backups of the wiki.

In that case, the Internet Archive / Wayback Machine will be the only way to access the BCW sites. I would hope to try and rebuild the wiki sometime in the future, but do not currently have the skills or the time.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news on all this, the only way we can get it going again is if someone can find Dave Plant

Tim


>>>>>>>>>

Original post 14th September 

Fingers crossed that this is a short lived temporary situation. 🤞🤞🤞

KeepYourPowderDry staff team consoling one another that the BCW site is down
Image Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

However, myself and Tim (admin for the Wiki) have been trying to contact Dave Plant the original creator of the Project for some time.

Dave generously set up the funding of the site to be self-sustaining by a donations link. Unfortunately it appears that the money has run out, because as d_guy (see comments below) points out, the domain has expired and is 'for sale'.

Both Tim and myself have been unable to make contact with Dave. Messages via the FB page, email and contact form all go unanswered.

So if anyone knows Dave or his family, please ask him to make contact with either myself (here at KeepYourPowderDry) or, better still directly with Tim.

In the meantime, if you are in need of information from the Wiki most of it is archived on the Wayback Machine (but typically not the pages I'm interested in!).

Tim also has some records of the Regimental Wiki, so worst case scenario it can be reborn. 

Thanks 

Comments

  1. d_guy15 September 2023 at 20:10

    I noticed this morning that the URL now redirects (in the US) to GoDaddy and reports that the domain has expired (and available for purchase). The only contact I had for David was through his project BCW email.

    Hopefully you have made contact?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar16 September 2023 at 08:21

      Thanks for the information, showing a different message in the UK.

      Still not managed to make contact.

      Delete
  2. PDL17 September 2023 at 08:52

    Good luck, I hope he is OK and the site can be saved. It is a fantastic resource. I must confess I have taken it for granted for years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Radar17 September 2023 at 08:56

      Agreed and thank you.

      I must confess that, even knowing of the communication vacuum, I too took the website for granted. Kicking myself for not using the Wayback Machine for more of the site.

      Delete
    2. PDL17 September 2023 at 11:57

      Thanks for letting me know about the Wayback Machine site..

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Kingdom For A Horse (1991)

-
Image
Civil War films are, to say the least, thin on the ground. So, forgive me for scraping the bottom of the barrel. My Kingdom For A Horse was a BBC made for TV play written by John Godber. The protagonist, 31 year old, still living with his parents, history teacher Steve is played by Sean Bean.  Steve and his best friend Pud, are pikemen in the Sealed Knot. Unfortunately for Steve, his head of department is also a member of the Sealed Knot, even more unfortunately he's the 'muster master general'. With the backdrop of the Sealed Knot, Airfix 54mm ECW miniatures, and frequent references to Marston Moor, Cromwell, and the New Model Army, the dour Steve plods through life in a dilapidated Yorkshire secondary school. No spoilers, but everyone who has ever taught in a secondary school will do an internal cheer when Steve has a showdown with the school bully. There's some seriously big hair, floppy fringes, brown suits, a school held up by ACRO props (nothing changed there then...
Read more

Colonel Philip O’Reilly of Ballynacargy’s Troop of Horse

-
Image
Somehow, despite the best efforts of real life trying to hinder my painting of little men, I've managed to make some more progress on my Catholic Confederation army. Here's the second of two units of cavalry. Philip MacHugh O'Reilly was the son of Hugh O'Reilly of Ballynacargy, County Cavan, and Katherine MacMahon. The family were deemed to be one of the ‘deserving’ native Irish families whose land was not taken during the Ulster plantation. Not to be confused with Hugh O'Reilly, the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh. Contemporary sources refer to him as a lawyer, but there's no existing evidence of him having attended Inns of Court in England. He may well have received legal training on the Continent, prior to accepting a command in the French army.  Philip inherited the family estate on his return to Ireland. He would play an active role in local politics, holding a number of important roles, before being elected as MP for County Cavan in the 1640 parliament. As M...
Read more

Comments. Again (!)

-
Image
Sorry regular readers, once again comments and the contact form have temporarily been turned off. Why? Someone on Twitter has got their knickers in a twist about an information panel at Newark Castle.  Why has she done that? Because the information board features an image of a man of African descent.  The man pictured is an actor, portraying a man called John Americanus, who fought for the King at Newark. John's role in the defence of Newark is well documented. And yes, John was of African descent. The National Civil War Centre created a Civil War Trail around the town, information panels are located at points of interest. These panels feature QR codes which accessed features on a now defunct smartphone app. Each location also featured an eye witness account - stories from real people who witnessed the events in Newark. Each information panel has a photographic representation of the person whose story was told in the app. The Castle's eyewitness account was John Americanus. Un...
Read more

General Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill’s Regiment of Foot

-
Image
Who? You might be more familiar if I write Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill as Owen Roe O'Neill. But I won't because he was Irish, not English. Although there is some confusion if he was Eoghan Rua or Eoghan Ruadh. I'll stick with Eoghan Ruadh. Now please bear with me, as there's rather a lot of Ã“ Néills running around Ireland in the 1640s. Eoghan Ruadh had at least eight brothers and four sisters; and was connected through marriage to many of the leading native Irish families of Ulster. His nephews included Daniel O'Neill  and Hugh Dubh O'Neill both of whom were important figures in 1640s Ireland, as well as Conor, Lord Maguire, one of the original plotters of the 1641 rebellion, and his brother Ruari , who commanded a regiment in the Ulster army during the 1640s. In Spanish service, 1605–41 Eoghan Ruadh was accompanied by three of hisbrothers: Phelim, Art Óg, and Cormac. He secured himself a position as captain in the regiment of Henry O'Neill, son of the Earl of Tyro...
Read more

Royalist Harquebusiers on Foot

-
Image
  Bit of an eye candy post today; where I finally get around to painting the Royalist harquebusiers on foot (they've only been sat in the 'to do' pile for nine months or so). For those of you new to KeepYourPowderDry, or the Civil Wars in general, you might be wondering why anyone would want dismounted cavalry. In a nutshell regiments of horse joined in the besieging of houses, but as horses weren't particularly useful when attacking a house, their riders dismounted to fight. They were often in the first wave of assault troops as their buff coats and armour afforded them considerable protection (in comparison to infantry). Plus it also gave them a share of any spoils if the assault was successful. For more information about the role of harquebusiers in sieges, and a look at my existing assault parties see  here . These are Steel Fist figures from pack ECWF 09, but as I have zero faith in Steel Fist swords (they are much too slender to be practical) I have replaced th...
Read more

Trees

-
Image
It has been said of wargamers that they spend all their time painstakingly painting figures and then ignore the terrain. A trend that I feel is changing for the better with printed game mats and 'teddy bear fur'.   Today's post looks at trees: more specifically, Woodland Scenics deciduous Realistic Tree Kits. 2"-3" trees, light green foliage, PP and SF figures for comparison Warning: great trees, messy process. The trees come in several different sizes. Packaging varies, sample kits consisting of armatures and foliage are available, or alternatively elements can be bought separately. They all 'work' the same regardless of 'version'. 2"-3" on the left, 3"-5" on the right I've gone for the 2"-3" armatures and 3" - 5" armatures. Armatures are tree trunk brown plastic and look very uninspiring when you first encounter them., as they are 2 dimensional. But do not be put off, the 2D branches can be bent and the...
Read more

Houses of Interest: West Yorkshire

-
Image
For more Yorkshire 'related stuff' you can find North Yorkshire here ,  South Yorkshire here ,   East Riding here . See also the Rupert Travelogue  entry for Yorkshire, and the entry for Adwalton Moor Oakwell Hall    was the inspiration for Charlotte Brontë's Fieldhead in "Shirley". More recently it has been used a number of times as a film set, including "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell". Located close to the M62 and the Leeds branch of purgatory on Earth (aka Ikea), this Tudor manor house is beautifully maintained by Kirklees Borough Council. The hall is presented as a seventeenth century home. I really like this approach, as so often historic houses have different rooms decorated for different eras, so it is really nice to see a house presented from one era in it's entirety. Oakwell was in the ownership of the Batt family, who supported the King; John Batt was a captain and most probably fought at Adwalton Moor. The retreating Parli...
Read more

Coat Colours Part 2: Royalist Regiments of Foot

-
Image
Continuing my therapeutic blogging (write rather than rant) antidote to incorrect English Civil War coat colour tables for wargamers, I give you the Royalist Regiments of Foot. For all of my coat colour articles see: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   Same rules apply here, as they did with the Parliamentarian coat colours: Regiments often got renamed when command passed to a new colonel - these regiments are listed under their first name e.g. Jacob Astley's Regiment was originally Richard Fielding's Regiment. Coat colour notes refer to contemporaneous references and some of the deductions made by Reid, Spring,  Peachey and Prince. You will also notice that some regiments have several coat colours listed. Where there is some question aro...
Read more

So You Want To Know About The Army of the Earl of Essex?

-
Image
The start of a new 'series' of posts helping those who want to build a specific army that fought during the Wars of The Three Kingdoms. Consider them recommended reading... The Earl of Essex commanded Parliament's main field army - Parliament also had regional armies (the Associations) who were responsible for protecting their 'area', they could also be called upon to support Essex when on campaign near their area. Thanks to scrupulous records being kept and more importantly, surviving (!); not to mention some diligent researchers, who have spent many hours in archive rooms and libraries, we have the most complete record of any of the armies that took to the fields. A good place to start would be with a commentary of Essex's campaigns. You'll be needing "Hey For Old Robin" by Scott and Turton (Helion Books). Now that your interest is growing, you will want to know all about the Regiments of Foot that made up Essex's army. That'll be the re...
Read more

Coat Colours Part 1: Parliamentarian Regiments of Foot

-
Image
When I first started my Civil War gaming project I relied upon the many ECW coat colour tables on wargaming websites. As my project has progressed, my library has got bigger, my research has gone back to primary sources rather than relying upon second and third hand sources; and I have noticed quite a few errors in these lists for wargamers. I have also noticed the same errors appearing in multiple lists.     As a result of continually seeing 'the London Trained Bands and their Auxiliaries wore red coats' (there is no evidence supporting this at all, the evidence, whilst not explicit suggests that the London Trained Bands wore civilian clothes - some of the Auxiliaries might have been issued with blue winter coats) I decided to write my own list.  So here it is. If your allegiance lies elsewhere you might want to look at  Introduction   Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B ...
Read more