Images Dated 2015

Steep Street Bristol OP08887

The junction of Steep Street and Trenchard Street, Bristol, 1866. John Hill Morgan (b 1833), platinum print. This view was recorded five years before Steep Street, curving away to the left, was demolished and replaced by a realigned road, Colston Street. Steep Street existed in the medieval period when it was the main road from the centre of Bristol to Gloucester. This photograph was published in 1891 as a nostalgic view by Bristol art publishers and print sellers Frost & Reed. A limited run of 100 prints was produced and the negative destroyed

© Historic England

Dudley blast furnaces OP02658

Blast furnace, Russell'??s Hall, Dudley, West Midlands, 1859. Mr Mills, dilute albumen print. Mr Mills, otherwise unknown as a photographer, recorded the blast furnaces at Russell'??s Hall, west of Dudley, when the industry was producing a vast number of iron products, including nails, boilers, vices and chains. Coal mining around Dudley had been recorded in the early 13th century and the area was famous for the manufacture of iron nails in the early 16th century. By the late 18th century Dudley was at the centre of England'??s iron industry, and the region was dubbed the '??Black Country'?? because of the blackening of the landscape by the coal and iron industries. Russell'??s Hall itself was pockmarked by clay pits and coal shafts, and significant urban development only took place after the Second World War

© Historic England Archive

Hertford Square Coventry OP00980

Hertford Square, Coventry, West Midlands, 1953. John M Prest (1908-??86), silver gelatin DOP (developing out paper) print. A van and lines of washing form a significant part of John Prest'??s view of weavers'?? housing in Hertford Square, Coventry in 1953. Prest was employed as a graduate apprentice in Coventry from 1952 to 1953 and his academic interest in domestic textile industries encouraged him to spend several years traveling the country to find and record weavers'?? and other artisan houses. His photographs, mainly taken from streets and back alleys, show exactly what anyone could see for themselves if they cared to look, including traffic, pedestrians and other obstructions. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England acquired his collection in 1995

© Historic England Archive