Scenes of England 1919 to 1953
Photographs are wonderful for showing us decades later what our ancestors looked like, how they worked and where they lived. It is not as good as a video or actually being there, but as near perfect as possible.
There is now available online a massive collection of aerial photos of the English and surrounding landscapes, taken between 1919 and 1953. The site is called ‘Britain From Above’ and has some 16,000 images on the site. Not just the photos, but a brief description, a date and a map with a pinpoint of the location shown on the photo. There are actually about 95,000 aerial images that will eventually be displayed online. Some images do not have a description, but they welcome an information a person might offer to identify each shot.
Some of the images include rural and urban landscapes, neighborhoods, bridges, waterways, industrial regions, coastal scenes, castles, farmlands, as well as many of the scenic and beautiful areas across England, Wales and Scotland. Many of the photographs were taken before war came to skies of England in 1939.
The 16,000 images now available are in high resolution so the details are very clear. Plus the site has a zoom feature to narrow in on a place. A search box allows you to look for a photo based on a place name, a year, or general region; such as the county of Lancashire.
My paternity side was from Manchester, Lancashire, England before 1914. Even with those ancestors coming to America in 1914, the 144 photos of the Manchester area on this web site still provided wonderful insight to the area, the place that my ancestors called home for centuries.
Included are aerial photos of the great mansions and castles scattered across England, Scotland and Wales. You will be amazed at the size of these places.
Give yourself some time to view these fascinating images, all of which are also downloadable.
Photo: Glamis Castle in Angus Co., Scotland in 1927.
< Return To Blog Hi there, You have done an incredible job. I will certainly digg it and in my view recommend to my friends. I'm sure they will be benefited from this web site.17/08/12
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17/08/12
Your pictures are aylwas so beautiful! This one of the horses is so atmospheric. I'd love to be able to pet the lead one.These pictures of England are reminding me of my trip (far too many years ago) to Ireland. As if I needed another reason to want to return!!Happy Monday!Cheers,Jen :D
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