Back in March we had an enquiry from a gentleman trying to establish the date of a couple of photographs of the bridge at Bradford on Avon. They were amongst his grandfather’s collection of 598 ‘magic lantern’ slides, many of which were unnamed. He had been unsure of the location of the photographs, but the bridge happened to be featured in a TV programme he was watching called ‘Country Tracks’, and it looked like a good candidate!
The first of two photographs of the bridge at Bradford On Avon
Our Ref: P53801  

Upon receipt of the images, it took just one look to realise that they were indeed of the bridge at Bradford. To try to date the images we used two books from our Local Studies Collection, ‘Bradford on Avon: a pictorial record’ edited by Harold Fassnidge and Peter Maundrell, and ‘Bradford in Avon in old Picture Postcards’ by Adrian Powell. Both included pictures of the bridge, one dated c. 1892 and the other 1900. Walter’s photograph showed some metal work in a cross pattern appearing on the blind house. The image of 1900 showed the cross in place but by about 1916 it had disappeared. The other image (taken in or before 1892) had been taken from a slightly different angle but showed the river bank without the ornate metal fence in the picture dated 1900. This fence was also missing in our photograph, suggesting a date of c.1890. 

His grandfather, Walter J Pearce, had been taking photographs from at least 1889, when he took some at the Paris Exhibition. He was part of a delegation of craftsmen sent by the Lord Mayor of London to report on his craft of painting, decorating and gilding. His grandson told us that Walter had actually climbed onto the outside of the Eiffel Tower to look at the paintwork; it had been painted lighter towards the top to make the tower appear slimmer! To discover more about the photographer and the bridge, please 'read more'...

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