If there is one thing I love doing, it is messing about with old images. Give me a half-decent computer, a reasonably warm desk to work on, and the occasional cup of tea, and I can occupy myself for a decade or two. There is no rational plan, no great scheme, no fixed objective: it … Continue reading Messing About On Water Lane
Tag: Halifax
Looking Inside … To Find An Elephant In The Room!
The wonderful thing about old 35mm negatives is that they come in strips. I used to always process my own, and cut them into strips of six negatives for storage, and this has preserved a degree of continuity when it comes to the relationship between individual photographs, half a century or more down the line. … Continue reading Looking Inside … To Find An Elephant In The Room!
Railway Shed, Halifax
This is a scan from the same strip of negatives I have been featuring this week. Based on clues from its neighbouring shots, it must have been taken in Halifax around 1972. It is clearly an old railway siding, and it could have been in one of two possible locations: either the railway sheds which … Continue reading Railway Shed, Halifax
The Stream At Shibden
This old picture postcard is a recent arrival in my collection, and it's a welcome one because I have known this stream all my life. My familiarity with it is of little help when it comes to naming it, and it is noticeable that even this old postcard dodges the issue by simply describing it … Continue reading The Stream At Shibden
Count The Chimneys
When I was a lad, the school geography text book had a picture of Halifax, taken from somewhere near Godley Bridge, and the task was to count the mill chimneys. Whatever the answer was - I don't think I ever managed a full count - it proved that Halifax was a mill town. I took … Continue reading Count The Chimneys
Remains And Foundations
A photograph of mine from the late 1960s shows Halifax in transition. It’s the area around Gaol Lane and Ann Street, caught between the remains of pubs, chapels and debtors prisons, and the foundations of stores, colleges and bus stations.
Snicket In Greetland
As provided for in the Treaty Of Stainland, my wife and I take the dog for a walk up Greetland at least once a month. Yesterday was the April walk, and the sun and blue skies made it a delightful experience. I took this photograph of a footpath that heads towards the Calder Valley, and … Continue reading Snicket In Greetland
Water Is Best
An article in the Illustrated London News of the 13th August 1859 reminds us of the gift of a water fountain to the people of Halifax by Joseph Thorp. The fountain was erected in People's Park, where it stands to this day. Whilst such a gift, two or three centuries earlier, might have been mainly … Continue reading Water Is Best
Nuts And Sweets And A Trip To The Dentist
Here is another of those wonderful old picture postcards of Halifax from the turn of the twentieth century, which provides an insight into both the public persona of the town and, at the same time, the private persona of its citizens. The public persona is provided by the front of the card, posted in May … Continue reading Nuts And Sweets And A Trip To The Dentist
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