This is a view of a road I knew so well. I used to walk down from school and then take a short cut from Clover Hill Road to Well Head and then the Bus Station for the bus home. There won't have been tram lines there in my school days, but somehow the memories … Continue reading The First Tram In Space
Category: Vintage Postcards
The Distracting Pole
This image is from a picture postcard of Halifax which dates back, I think, to the 1930s. I've tidied it up a bit and got rid a a distracting tram pole, which makes the scene much more attractive. It might, however, result in the tram having difficulty proceeding any further along Commercial Street!
Snakes And Branches
This view of Elland is taken from an old picture postcard, published more than 120 years ago. Of course, Elland has changed; most of those mill chimneys have gone, and blocks of flats stand where back-to-back houses once clung to the hillside. The river remains, and those roads that either snake along the valley bottom … Continue reading Snakes And Branches
Having Fun At Hall End
It took me a few moments to fit the scene depicted in this 1908 postcard of Hall End, Halifax, into my late twentieth-century perceptions of the town. "Hall End" was not a description I was immediately familiar with, nor were the buildings in the center of the scene. The rather grand building which is center-left … Continue reading Having Fun At Hall End
Fur Stoles And Soot-Black Buildings
This is how I remember Princess Street in Halifax. There was a degree of sophistication about the street; it was Halifax's answer to Knightsbridge. There were shops with exotic names and a hotel with AA rosettes. There were women with fur stoles and men wearing trilby hats. There were chrome headlights on black cars and … Continue reading Fur Stoles And Soot-Black Buildings
A Paper Portal To The Past
If there is one thing you would have needed in 1919, it is a bit of a tonic. The memories of the carnage on the fields of Flanders are still raw, and the influenza epidemic is now picking off many of the people who survived. So this old photographic postcard from exactly 100 years ago … Continue reading A Paper Portal To The Past
Forgotten Scenes And Forgotten Stamps
1905 Postcard Of Bradford Road, Brighouse : Dear Dorothy, It is only about three week off Easter now. Do you know you forgot to put a stamp on the postcard you sent me and I had to pay a penny for it. From Walter. (It is interesting to note that whilst this stretch of Bradford … Continue reading Forgotten Scenes And Forgotten Stamps
That Face
There is something so simple about this little image that comes from an early twentieth century picture postcard from the German publishing firm, Meissner & Buch. The card hasn’t been used in the century and a quarter since it was printed, so I could dash off a message to someone and pop it in the … Continue reading That Face
Markets
I worked in Bradford for a time just after leaving school, and at lunchtime I would explore the wonderful old Kirkgate Market. It always seemed slightly more imposing than Halifax's Borough Market, as perhaps befits a city rather than a humble town. Bradford's market was torn down in the early 1970s and replaced with a … Continue reading Markets
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