Train entering Swansea Bay Station May 1963

BR 80097 enters Swansea Bay Station 1963 by John Wiltshire

 Oystermouth Road, Swansea 2011

That 1963 photo is wonderful, but January of that year brings back some very sad memories for me and I imagine for others of my age who lived on that bit of land sticking out in the distant background of the second photo. 

According to the accompanying notes in the above link the photo was taken in May of 1963 so, despite the summery look of that image, there was probably snow on that beach only six weeks or so earlier. I can remember the snow arriving in January and hanging around for ages. There are no men on the beach so the photo must have been taken on a weekday when they were all at work. The second photo was also taken in May but it was obviously taken at a different time on a much colder day. 

 St Helen's Road Station, Swansea 1920s

There are two different railways in this picture. The track nearest the car belonged to the Swansea and Mumbles Railway. This railway carried passengers from 1807 to 1960. In 1958 a local bus company made the shareholders of the railway an offer, bought them out and quickly closed down the world's oldest passenger train service. 

Trains on the main track stopped at Swansea Bay Station which was about three hundred yards further up the coast. The station and track were removed in 1964 under the Beeching cuts. I think engine BR 80097 has been rescued and restored.

Trams were scrapped in Swansea in 1937. In the above picture one of them can be seen in front of the Bay View Hotel - the triangular building which can be seen in all three photos.  The Bay View pub is still there. It has been open since at least the 1890s.

 

The Avenue, Camillle Pissarro 1871

View towards St Bartholomew’s Church, Sydenham 1871

View towards St Bartholomew’s Church, Sydenham 2014

The above view from Lawrie Park Avenue towards the church might appear similar to the 1871 view,  but apart from the church everything that Pissarro painted has now gone.

 Lawrie Park Avenue, Sydenham 2014

Although Lawrie Park Avenue is an attractive street compared with most streets in London, it is very far from the elegant avenue it had been when Pissarro painted it in 1871.

These early 20th century postcards give some indication of its green splendor before the developers got their hands on it.

This 1890s map shows how much open space there was around Laurie Park Avenue.

Gable House is the first house on the left in Pissarro's painting. In 1871 it was occupied by Henry J. Enthoven (1790 -1874) and his family. Enthoven was a lead manufacturer who had originally come from The Hague.  Gable House has gone, but the company H.J.Enthoven started in 1820 is still active in 2016. They have a large factory in Matlock.

The distant white house behind Gable House was Dunedin House. This was the home of Henry Littleton (1823 - 1888), who owned Novello & Co the music publishing house which is also still going in 2016. Novello & Co have been printing music scores since 1811. Dunedin House was demolished in 1888 and replaced by Burnage Court which is still there. Burnage Court is the house on the map between the church and Gable House.

Littleton also lived at Westwood House, a magnificent mansion, which can be seen by the side of Gable House on the above map.

Liszt had stayed at Westwood House in 1886 as the guest of Henry Littleton.  Liszt's visit to England had been marked by great fanfare. Dvorak had been a guest in 1885 and 1884.

 

 Westwood House 

Westwood House was sold to Passmore Edwards. In 1899 Passmore Edwards gave Westwood House to The Benevolent and Orphan Fund of the National Union of Teachers and it was run as an orphanage for 50 years. In the 1950s it was knocked down and replaced by a council estate. The building below is situated exactly where Westwood House had been.

 

A postcard from Glenaleeriska

This Hinde postcard is so terrific I had to find out what became of that lovely cottage.

The main ingredients of a Hinde postcard are bright colours and scenery. The colours were usually added later. For example, I doubt if this cottage ever had yellow walls and blue paintwork. But the lack of realism doesn't bother me. These Hinde postcards are works of art.

So many things catch my eye in this picture - the donkey and the vivid red cart, the redness of the fuchsia in foreground, the wife in her apron at the half door,  the old man in his flat cap, the thatched roof. These, together with the many shades of green in that wonderful backdrop, represent a very happy and nostalgic view of Ireland.

This is a picture taken in 1984 of the same cottage.

 Waterford Co. Museum

How the dickens could that happen in just 15 or 20 years ? I suppose the old people died and their children had made new lives for themselves in Britain or America. No one wanted to live there.

That cottage can be seen in the middle of this 1890s map showing part of the townland of Glenaleeriska in Ring, Co Waterford. The map even shows the little indentation at the back of the cottage.

That cottage was probably there in the 18th century. It is shown on the 6" (1829 -1842) map. The Griffiths Valuation ( 1847-1864) gives the tenant at this house as James Roache.  These are the occupants according to the 1901 census :

Surname	Forename	Age	Sex	Relation to head
Roche	Andrew	70	Male	Head of Family
Roche	Catherine	72	Female	Sister
Tobin	Patrick	35	Male	Boarder
Tobin	Norah	35	Female	Niece
Tobin	Denis	8	Male	Grand Nephew
Tobin	James	6	Male	Grand Nephew
Tobin	Patrick	4	Male	Grand Nephew
Tobin	Mary	3	Female	Grand Niece
Tobin	Martin	1	Male	Grand Nephew

These are the 1911 census occupants :

Tobin	Patrick	47	Male	Head of Family
Tobin	Norah	51	Female	Wife
Roache	Andrew	85	Male	Visitor
Tobin	Patrick	15	Male	Son
Tobin	Martin	12	Male	Son
Tobin	Mary	13	Female	Daughter
Tobin	Catherine	9	Female	Daughter

Ring is still an Irish speaking area and many of the older Ring people in the 1901 census like Andrew Roache could not speak English.  He had no children so the cottage passed down to his niece and her husband Patrick Tobin. I would guess that Patrick Tobin's son Patrick who was 15 in 1911 inherited the cottage. He was probably the man in the photo and I presume the lady was his wife.

In 2016 only a little bit of the ruin of that lovely cottage can be seen in google maps. The fuchsia is still there.

It's a pity Google picked a dull day to send their car to Glenaleeriska because the view here is so good the council created this viewpoint  just up the road from the cottage.

The following picture is a closer view of The Cunnigar - the thin strip of land that can be seen in the postcard and photos stretching across the bay.

View across Stamford Brook Common, Camille Pissarro, 1897

Pissarro painted this from the extension at the back of 62 Bath Road, Bedford Park. That church is three quarters of a mile away. The view is now blocked by two buildings next to 62 Bath Road, but beyond those houses the view is still there.

The view across Stamford Brook Common to the house in the middle of Pissarro's painting is shown below.

In the aerial photo below left an arrow shows the distance and viewpoint from 62 Bath Road to the church. The aerial picture below right shows the church and the other main building in Pissarro's painting.

This is how the church looked in 1921. It has now been converted into private accommodation.

The Crystal Palace, Camille Pissarro, 1871

I tried to find photos of the houses shown in Pissarro's The Crystal Palace 1871. All I could see was a distant aerial view.

This the same view in 2016. The houses have been knocked down and replaced by flats.

This aerial view shows the houses not long after Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire on the 30th of November 1936. They are marked by a yellow arrow.

Britain from above

Nine paintings of Bedford Park

This beautiful painting was one of nine paintings by nine artists commissioned in 1882 to celebrate Bedford Park garden suburb.  I have used these paintings to show differences between how Bedford Park looks today and how it was in 1882.

Tower House and Queen Anne's Grove 1882 by Manfred Trautschold (1854-1921)

What became of this young criminal ?

Henry Stephenson, the boy below, was sentenced to prison for theft. He was mentioned in this Daily Mail article :

 "Fagin's children: Mugshots of Victorian thieves as young as 11 who were sentenced to hard labour for stealing clothes and metal"

He emigrated to New Zealand and this is the story of how he turned out.

Henry Stephenson (1859 - 1932)

The Destruction of Croydon

This is my attempt to discover what was destroyed by the developers in Croydon  in the 1960s. I created a model of how Wellesley Road, Croydon used to look and I compared the model with how Wellesley Road looks today.

Whitgift School, Croydon c.1900