Old Photographs: Military & Wartime
. Wiltshire Volunteers
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K Company cyclists of Wiltshire Volunteers, photographed in 1901 with their Captain, Erlysman Pinckney (seated centre).
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Read MoreOld Photographs: Bowls
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Bradford Rowing Club laid out a two-rink bowling green next to their boathouse for non-rowing members in 1912. The green was enlarged to three, then to four rinks. In 1957 the Rowing Club Bowls Section became Bradford on Avon Bowling Club and in 1966 moved to the new green that was provided on the other side of...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Cricket
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Group photographs of cricket teams seem to be less common than those of football teams.
On 26th June 1880 The Wiltshire Times reported a meeting was held at the Swan Hotel for the purpose of forming a town cricket club.
Old Photographs: The Rubber Works
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Views of the works of the Spencer Moulton rubber company’s Kingston Mills, mostly from just after the First World War.
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Read MoreOld Photographs: Outings
Photographs of groups of Bradford people on day trips. Usually these were held annually and the destination was dictated by the range of the transportation at the time. Stamper’s charabancs in the 1920s had solid tyres and a speed limit of 12 mph, so Salisbury or Wilton were within comfortable reach with time to wander around and visit a few pubs...
Read MoreThe Museum Collection: the woollen cloth industry
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Al the toun of Bradeford stondith by clooth-making -John Leland c1540
Much of Bradford’s past prosperity and many of the fine buildings in the town and vicinity were due to the woollen cloth industry. Visitors who have heard...
Read MoreOld Photographs: The Town Bridge
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Click on the thumbnail photographs for a bigger view
Read MoreOld Photographs: The Priory
The Priory was a late medieval mansion with later additions at the upper end of Market Street in Bradford on Avon.
The earliest parts were built in the latter part of the 15th century by Thomas Rogers, who was Sargeant-at-Law, a high-ranking legal official. The house would then have consisted of an open hall with wings at each end and a porch opening on to what...
Read MoreOld Photographs: St Margaret’s Street
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
see St Margaret’s Street today
Looking up St Margaret’s Street towards Hall’s Almshouses. In this view it is clear that the road continued into what is now Frome Road, with Besoar Street turning off on the left towards Trowbridge. On the left the Midland Railway Office had been the French Horn public...
Read MoreOld Images: Silver Street
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Bradford on Avon Museum, Wiltshire
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Click on the thumbnail pictures for a bigger view.
Walter Henry Willson’s chemist shop, his assistant and sons in the 1890s. It had been opened by George Marks in 1828 and still retained his name above the door after...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Newtown
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
Look at Newtown today
The Bell Inn as it was in about 1960 complete with its 3-dimensional sign of a bell on a wrought iron bracket. It closed just a few years later and was converted into flats.
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Old Photographs: The Shambles
As one of the most picturesque corners of Bradford on Avon the Shambles figures strongly in old postcards. This was the area of the medieval market place and would originally have been temporary stalls (Old English scammel) put up for market and fair days. Eventually permanent stalls came, followed by houses. The Market Hall, with Town Hall on the upper floor was on the...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Street scenes
Views of the town’s streets tend to be from postcards or photographs taken by visitors or those interested in the picturesque. Photographs of the Town Bridge and Saxon Church are most popular of course. Images of the less picturesque parts are rare, but these are the most likely to have changed.
Market Street Silver Street The Shambles Church Street The Town... Read MoreOld Photographs: Music, dancing and Drama
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Click on the thumbnail picture to see a bigger view
Eddie Purnell’s Band performing at a dance at the Assembly Hall of the works of the Royal Enfield company at Westwood during or just after the Second World War. Enfield moved...
Read MoreOld photographs: Work
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The staff of William Dotesio’s printing works outside the building in Silver Street in the 1920s. The firm was first Dotesio & Todd, in the 1890s as printers and account book manufacturers of Bradford and of Lowestoft in Norfolk. In the later 20th century, after William’s death in 1947, it...
Read MoreOld photographs: Market Street
Look at Market Street today
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Looking up Market Street from outside the Swan Hotel in about 1900. The traffic consists of a horse-drawn wagon, perhaps laden with sacks of wool, accompanied by two pedestrians. The Town Hall (left) has a nice gas light, but the stonework...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Sport and Recreation
Groups of people with a common interest tend to have photographs taken regularly, often each year, so pictures of groups like sports teams and choirs are relatively common. Frequently the Museum does not know the identity of all the members in the pictures -can anybody...
Read MoreOld photographs: Winsley
Winsley, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The centre of Winsley village around the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. The roof of part of the row of houses known as Church Cottages has been changed from thatch to pantiles, although that next to the church seems to have been newly re-thatched.
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Read MoreOld photographs: Monkton Farleigh
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Monkton Farleigh, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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.Rose Cottage, a house near the church, seen in a photograph on a postcard that was published by the Phoebus photographic studio in Bradford on Avon.
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