Old Negatives

[Paul Russell]

Good detective work.
One at front here (St Michael's) is the one at back in the first photo, isn't it?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/image_galleries/archive_photographs_places_gallery.shtml?8

Edit: there were about 6 posts while I was typing that. Cool.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

If so, it is Coventry.

Yay! We are brill. Give us new challenge

 

[cybertect]

It's St John the Baptist on Spon Street

...

http://www.francisfrith.com/coventry/photos/church-of-st-john-the-baptist-c1884_17127p/

Interestingly, in the Frith photo I linked to, which dates from 1884, the buttress to the clerestory on the left is present. Presumably it was added to strengthen the structure.

In your picture, it's not there. So your photo looks like it was taken before 1884.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Actually, I may be right, but I've been looking for churches that have extensions to the left (as we face the main window)

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Strike Trinity for the third.

It's St John the Baptist on Spon Street

http://www.francisfrith.com/coventry/photos/church-of-st-john-the-baptist-c1884_17127p/

Beat you to it.

 

[cybertect]

Beat you to it.

This is similar to third picture but don't think it's it

[emphasis added]

and we got the first two

Anyhow, a better image

 

[Paul Russell]

Sorry if I'm being dense here, but are either of the two spires in the top pic in the original post still standing, or were they bombed, or demolished, etc.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yay! We are brill. Give us new challenge

You seemed quite adamant it was Chester

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

[emphasis added]

and we got the first two

Anyhow, a better image

Yeah, but that was before I saw the black and white picture.

Piss off, you Johnny-come-lately. I've been sitting here since 6 a fucking clock looking at church windows. Hands off my church!!

*Walking into thread and getting it within no time at all*


It does look like there's a building/wing on the side coming forward though doesn't it? (In the main picture I mean)

 

[Stanley Edwards]

You seemed quite adamant it was Chester

I said Coventry before anyone else

Think you will find both cathedrals were built by the same people. Literally, the same people.

They are/were very similar. The spires were both lost

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Also, can't remember what this feature's called, but you can't see it in the colour pictures, only the B&W ones

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I said Coventry before anyone else

Think you will find both cathedrals were built by the same people. Literally, the same people.

They are/were very similar. The spires were both lost

I long gave up on Chester

 

[cybertect]

It does look like there's a building/wing on the side coming forward though doesn't it? (In the main picture I mean)

If I understand what you're referring to - the right-hand edge of the church in the OP's photo, I wonder if it's just a ragged edge of a partly-reworked stone wall.

http://www.stjohn-the-baptist.co.uk/about.htm

Due to the danger of flooding, the floor level was raised, which resulted in the lower parts of the windows being blocked out and hiding the bases of the columns. Galleries and pews were subsequently installed, with a huge canopied pulpit adjoining the north-west nave arch, but no altar. Restoration work was done between 1858 and 1861 by George Gilbert Scott, but it had to be halted due to high poverty in the City. Restoration resumed in 1875 and continued until 1877.

I suspect that this suggests the photo was taken some time between 1858 and 1877.

 

[miss minnie]

Sorry if I'm being dense here, but are either of the two spires in the top pic in the original post still standing, or were they bombed, or demolished, etc.

Christchurch Spire 2008 click for google streetview

 

[cybertect]

Also, can't remember what this feature's called, but you can't see it in the colour pictures, only the B&W ones

Crenellations (or Battlement)

I imagine they didn't survive WWII and money was tight after to put them back.

 

[cybertect]

Sorry if I'm being dense here, but are either of the two spires in the top pic in the original post still standing, or were they bombed, or demolished, etc.

As mrs c points out, Coventry is (still) known as 'The City of Three Spires'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry

The spire of the ruined cathedral forms one of the "three spires" which have dominated the city skyline since the 14th century, the others being those of Christ Church (of which only the spire survives) and Holy Trinity Church (which is still in use).

 

[miss minnie]

Coventry Cathedral google streetview

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

If I understand what you're referring to - the right-hand edge of the church in the OP's photo, I wonder if it's just a ragged edge of a partly-reworked stone wall.

http://www.stjohn-the-baptist.co.uk/about.htm



I suspect that this suggests the photo was taken some time between 1858 and 1877.

Yeah, read that and thought maybe that was what happened. Has quite a history. Furthermore:

Founded in May 1344 by Queen Isabella, it was consecrated in 1350 and subsequently enlarged over the next century or so to the completed structure with which we're familiar today. During the 16th century when the monasteries were dissolved by King Henry VIII, the Guilds were also suppressed and that deprived St. John's church of its prime function. With only irregular use for worship over the following century, the most (in)famous function of the church was its time spent being used as a prison for the captured Royalist soldiers in 1648 during the English civil war - an action often associated with the expression "Sent to Coventry".... but is that the truth?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Crenellations (or Battlement)

I imagine they didn't survive WWII and money was tight after to put them back.

That's it. I call them walls that archers hide behind because I can't remember the name

 

[Stanley Edwards]

I long gave up on Chester

Well. yep. It`s not a great place.

One of the things I got out of walking caminos was understadning that I was following the footsteps of itinerants from long ago. Stone masons mostly. They have left their mark! I loved the idea of following thier work as it developed.

Leon has a fab cathedral. Very similar to Burgos, but with different light.

Ande, so it was that the masons, labourers and orther skilled craftspeoplñe of thier day built Coventry for a few years, then moved onto Chester. Same plan. Same work. Different city.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Fuck this keypad! Way to small.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Well. yep. It`s not a great place.

One of the things I got out of walking caminos was understadning that I was following the footsteps of itinerants from long ago. Stone masons mostly. They have left their mark! I loved the idea of following thier work as it developed.

Leon has a fab cathedral. Very similar to Burgos, but with different light.

Ande, so it was that the masons, labourers and orther skilled craftspeoplñe of thier day built Coventry for a few years, then moved onto Chester. Same plan. Same work. Different city.

My b/f's dad was a stonemason. He left his mark everywhere he worked as well

 

[miss minnie]

Ande, so it was that the masons, labourers and orther skilled craftspeoplñe of thier day built Coventry for a few years, then moved onto Chester. Same plan. Same work. Different city.

It took centuries to build a medieval cathedral, generations of the same family would continue to work on a single cathedral, only moving if the funds to pay them ran out.

 

[Paul Russell]

As mrs c points out, Coventry is (still) known as 'The City of Three Spires'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry

Thanks cybertect, miss minnie

 

[Paul Russell]

I get obsessed by old photos. I spent days tracking down the site of this in Bournemouth:

http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10307737&screenwidth=1024

Unfortunately, it is completely different now and re-landscaped and the cliffs degraded - only the diagonally sloping wall is still there - I identified it by matching up the shapes of the individual stones in the wall from a high res photo.

OK, carry on.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I get obsessed by old photos. I spent days tracking down the site of this in Bournemouth:

http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10307737&screenwidth=1024

Unfortunately, it is completely different now and re-landscaped and the cliffs degraded - only the diagonally sloping wall is still there - I identified it by matching up the shapes of the individual stones in the wall from a high res photo.

OK, carry on.

That's desperate but fair play to you!

 

[Paul Russell]

That's desperate but fair play to you!

Yeah, I know. Thing is, it's by quite a famous photographer, who died quite suddenly and young, and many of his images were incorrectly captioned in his books.

This one is captioned as being in Bournemouth and I started off doing a bit of "research" based on my theory that it definitely wasn't Bournemouth. But in the end I found out that it was, and found the exact spot. So felt I had achieved something in a saddo way!

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Yay! We are brill. Give us new challenge

Well, I followed your lead, Stanley and got googling..

 

[miss minnie]

Yeah, I know. Thing is, it's by quite a famous photographer, who died quite suddenly and young, and many of his images were incorrectly captioned in books.

This one is captioned as being in Bournemouth and I started off doing a bit of "research" based on my theory that it definitely wasn't Bournemouth. But in the end I found out that it was, and found the exact spot. So felt I had achieved something in a saddo way!

Verifying the internet, image by image *salutes*

 

[Hocus Eye.]

I have an old book of photographs and drawings of the buildings of Coventry as they were in the early 1900s. It looked wonderful and nothing like how it is now thanks to the German bombing and the post war re-development. I couldn't find the book when it crossed my mind that those negatives were from Coventry.

I have been to Coventry a couple of times by train. You have to walk in a concrete passage to get to the town centre from the station. It keeps you from the traffic but it is not wonderful.