A Country Camera 1844 - 1914 by Gordon Winter
Originally published 1966 reprinted by Penguin 1975
The earlier companion piece to Winter's A Cockney Camera, this wonderful collection is slightly less well organised than the latter volume, and sadly there seem to be fewer names attached to the folks in the photos. That aside however, this is another gem of a collection with some quite magnificent portraits and location shots. The cover, for example, is given over to a most impressive shot taken in 1857 of one Robert Morvinson who was born when the United States were still a British Colony!
Accompanying the photos is Winter's warm and informative text, giving information about the social context of the times, the people who were either in the photo or responsible for it being taken, and often some entertaining stories of how some of the sharpest early shots were located - including several that had been used as cloches in someone's vegetable garden!
Sometimes it is the fascinating locations shots that really grip the reader - such as the stunning street panorama of Castle Street, Farnham in the 1880s - other times it is the portraits that tell their stories of hardship, elegance, and bygone fashions which draw you in. But there's always something new to be found in the collection each time you browse through.
Covering all sorts of topics, such as old Crafts and Trades, village occasions, people at work and lesiure, hiring fairs, country 'sports', various forms of transport and all sorts of buildings from churches to pubs, this book will offer insights into the lives of our rural forbears in many different ways, and really bring home some of the occasions and feelings that we can only otherwise read about.
Showing posts with label Pre-War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pre-War. Show all posts
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Vanishing England by P.H. Ditchfield & Fred Roe
Vanishing England by P.H. Ditchfield & Fred Roe
Originally Published 1910
Having previously read P.H. Ditchfield's 'Charm of an English Village' this book was a little disappointing from a Family History perspective, as it doesn't match the individual location coverage of the earlier volume. However, as a general summary of the state of all things 'English' that the author considered to be under threat in 1910 it is as comprehensive a survey as one could hope for. It is also quite illuminating that the concerns shared by so many today were already being expressed by our ancestors a century ago!
Opening with chapters on Walled Towns, the architecture of old streets and lanes, and Castles, Ditchfield shows what soon becomes a recurrent ability to illustrate his arguments with detailed and knowledgeable examples from the length and breadth of England. Whilst this richness of detail and knowledge is quite fascinating however, after a while the reading becomes something of a wish-list of places one feels one must visit - and always in the back of the mind is the sorrowful worry that his examples may have since vanished themselves in the intervening century.
The many chapters cover a wide variety of other topics, including Prehistoric Remains, Old Bridges, and Old Municipal Buildings; but the chapters most likely to be of interest to Family Historians include those on Vanishing or Vanished Churches, Old Inns, and the Disappearance of Old Documents - a chapter of particular interest and of some considerable sorrow as Ditchfield recalls tales of previous mishaps that saw the destruction of many a parish record!
Although written a century ago, Ditchfield's concerns and suggestions for future preservation remain as urgent and as vital today as they have ever done, and the frequent reminders that each generation is simply the guardian of the past entrusted to keep it safe for future generations is a sentiment that many of those who hold office ought to remember far more diligently - not least those currently responsible for Swale Borough Council's continued desecrations!
The book is illustrated richly throughout by Fred Roe's evocative line sketches which bring many of the examples to a touching life, and which provide a change of emphasis from the repeated whistlestop trips across the country.
This book is well worth picking up if you see it available, or it can be read for free on the Internet at Project Gutenburg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14742/14742-h/14742-h.htm
Perhaps the easiest option for those who find the solid writing of earlier generations somewhat heavy going is to put the name of the village or area you are interested in the search engine and see if Ditchfield has any comments or tales to pass on.
But however you read or dip into this book, I would challenge you not to start seeing the urban landscape within your own town in a rather different light!
Originally Published 1910
Having previously read P.H. Ditchfield's 'Charm of an English Village' this book was a little disappointing from a Family History perspective, as it doesn't match the individual location coverage of the earlier volume. However, as a general summary of the state of all things 'English' that the author considered to be under threat in 1910 it is as comprehensive a survey as one could hope for. It is also quite illuminating that the concerns shared by so many today were already being expressed by our ancestors a century ago!
Opening with chapters on Walled Towns, the architecture of old streets and lanes, and Castles, Ditchfield shows what soon becomes a recurrent ability to illustrate his arguments with detailed and knowledgeable examples from the length and breadth of England. Whilst this richness of detail and knowledge is quite fascinating however, after a while the reading becomes something of a wish-list of places one feels one must visit - and always in the back of the mind is the sorrowful worry that his examples may have since vanished themselves in the intervening century.
The many chapters cover a wide variety of other topics, including Prehistoric Remains, Old Bridges, and Old Municipal Buildings; but the chapters most likely to be of interest to Family Historians include those on Vanishing or Vanished Churches, Old Inns, and the Disappearance of Old Documents - a chapter of particular interest and of some considerable sorrow as Ditchfield recalls tales of previous mishaps that saw the destruction of many a parish record!
Although written a century ago, Ditchfield's concerns and suggestions for future preservation remain as urgent and as vital today as they have ever done, and the frequent reminders that each generation is simply the guardian of the past entrusted to keep it safe for future generations is a sentiment that many of those who hold office ought to remember far more diligently - not least those currently responsible for Swale Borough Council's continued desecrations!
The book is illustrated richly throughout by Fred Roe's evocative line sketches which bring many of the examples to a touching life, and which provide a change of emphasis from the repeated whistlestop trips across the country.
This book is well worth picking up if you see it available, or it can be read for free on the Internet at Project Gutenburg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14742/14742-h/14742-h.htm
Perhaps the easiest option for those who find the solid writing of earlier generations somewhat heavy going is to put the name of the village or area you are interested in the search engine and see if Ditchfield has any comments or tales to pass on.
But however you read or dip into this book, I would challenge you not to start seeing the urban landscape within your own town in a rather different light!
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