HIDDEN TREASURES

TROVE OF PICTURES FOUND IN ALLOTMENT BRISTOL TIMES

This wonderfully atmospheric picture of a lamplighter at work at Cumberland Basin is one of a treasure trove of pictures seemingly all from 1936 found in an allotment

THE Know Your Place Bristol website has recently acquired a literal treasure trove of old Bristol photos – found under an allotment shed in Horfield!

The pictures were in the form of negatives on small glass plates. Some were in labelled envelopes and some were cracked, broken or otherwise damaged.

“If it wasn’t for lockdown, we’d never have found them,” Adrian Stevenson told BT.

Mr Stevenson has had the allotment – and its shed – at the back of Horfield Prison for around ten years. “It’s a very old shed, and for years I would see bits of glass under it and thought it was just greenhouse glass.

“But thanks to lockdown I decided to do some restoration and realised that these weren’t bits of greenhouse glass and thought I’d better take a look at them.”

Once he realised what they were he showed them to his friend Roger Ford, who does voluntary work for Know Your Place Bristol. Mr Ford scanned them and put them on the site.

About 50 of the negatives have been saved, and most of these are now on the website. They mostly appear to have been taken during the summer of 1936, and Mr Ford’s researches suggest that the photographer was probably Henry Ryall, who lived nearby (27 Beauchamp Road) and was presumably the allotment holder at the time.

According to various sources Henry Ryall (1878-1941) was a professional photographer, and some or all of his work for was newspapers. A number of pictures which were obviously taken at the same events as depicted in these photos appeared in the Western Daily Press in the summer of ’36.

It’s possible he just left the negatives in his shed and forgot them.

He was unmarried and lived with his sister. His death in 1941 does not appear to have been the result of German bombing, but we’re not certain. Anyone know more about him?

For these, and many more, plus background information about them, go to Know Your Place Bristol at maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp/ and find them under the Community Layer.

A group of 27 older schoolboys from Canada on a visit in July 1936. They are photographed here just after their arrival at Wills Hall, where they presumably stayed.

Boys of St Brendan’s College, Brislington at the Corporation Baths, Jacob’s Wells Road, July 1

Sailing barges at Cumberland Basin (one’s called ‘Water Witch’); these were owned by coal merchants Silvey & Co. and were often towed carrying coal from Lydney to the St Anne’s Board Mill. Pics: Know Your Place Bristol

The Lord Mayor and guests at th Zoo, July 30 1936. Plus Judy the

Children of the Mount Zion Methodist Sunday School pose to have their picture taken by the coaches that will take them on their summer outing, July 14 1936. They’re probably heading for Weston or Burnham-onSea. We thought we’d show you this one as the big crack down it illustrates how fragile these glass negatives were – and how lucky we are that they’ve survived at all!

e summer garden party of the Royal Empire Society Summer School at Bristol elephant and passengers.

School play, St Margaret’s High School, Henleaze. Daphne Bryant plays Queen Elizabeth I. The girls’ school closed in 1962 and the building demolished in 1963, the grounds becoming the site of bungalows along new roads, including St Margaret’s Drive and Longleat Close

The wedding of Mr Alfred Hutchings and Miss Florence Collins, at Alban’s, Westbury Park, July 18 1936