Saturday 18 February 2012

Mr N and I sometimes wish we had a time machine. I suspect Mr N dreams of being 18 again, but mostly we would simply like to see how life was lived in familiar places, long ago. Despite his worries about being attacked by an angry suffragette and the likelihood of contracting TB, Mr N and I decided to wander around our local streets and imagine we'd travelled back in time...
                                  
                                                          
                                                         
                    This helpful chap pointed us in the right direction.
                                                    


                                                         
  Some parts have hardly changed at all except for the invasion of horseless  
  carriages, already under way in the early 1900s.


                                                          
                                                              
  In other parts of the town there are markedly fewer people on the streets  
  than there were a hundred years ago. Sadly no horse fairs and no markets are  
  held here now.
                                  



                                                                                     
   In the days when drovers sometimes herded 2000 cattle a day 
   through its streets, this little town had 22 inns. There is a fraction of this
   number now, but the oldest, the 13th century Black Bull Inn, still welcomes 
   weary time travellers.
                                                      

                                                            
                                                         ***

8 comments:

  1. Lovely post - the lack of street furniture and signs is the thing that stands out for me, the unmade roads, and no cars parked everywhere.
    When we went to Compton last week, my husband reminded me that his father used to walk their cows 10 miles to Guildford market along those Surrey roads, unimaginable now, but your photo conveys it beautifully.

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    1. Thank you. Yes, my husband can often be heard muttering "Cars are such a blight!" On life, the countryside, towns etc. But very hard for us to live without.

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  2. how fascinating seeing the old and new views...its given me an idea to look at some old pics of Wimborne Minster which is the nearest town to where I live and compare with how it is now.
    Wimborne had 26 pubs in its heydey, must say something about the populus!

    Hope that you're having a goos weekend, the weather is perfectly wintery here- bright breezy and clear. I've just mucked out Bruce and got boiling hot, now I'm back indoors its freezing cold. Time for breakfast and a warm-up!
    x

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    1. These photos are of Boroughbridge our nearest town (more a village really).
      A cold, crisp day in North Yorkshire too - especially when we set off, at 6 am, for a buying spree at an antiques event at Gateshead. Saw the sun rise over Sunderland - we're tough up North!

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  3. Hello Nilly. Just discovered your blog and find your comparisons fascinating. I shall try and do the same with some of our nearby towns, Carmarthen, Tenby (which apparently has some tunnels under its streets!) Look forward to more visits to your blog. Ann x

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    1. Thank you for looking at my blog - I'm very pleased to have a follower from Wales (where some of my distant, rather wild, ancestors lived - see older posts if you wish to know more!)

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  4. Thank you for your comment left on my Blog post. I remember the Cranks restaurant at the top of Carnaby Street, it was still there in the 80's. I used to love dressing up in my 60's gear (I was thinner then!) complete with black eye make-up, white lipstick and winkle-pickers, those were the days! You were so lucky to have been a Mod in the 60's.
    I love your photographs on your post, it is very interesting to see how the buildings have changed very little but how life around them has changed somewhat with all the cars parked everywhere. Have a lovely week.
    Jo xx

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    1. Thank you for finding my blog! I think might have been disappointingly tame mod - I went in for wearing home-made versions of Mary Quant & Biba & day-dreaming that I was Marianne Faithful. And I've never ridden a Vespa!

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