Scrivens’ eye for the quaint and ancient
FROM ABOUT 1908 until the early 1930s, Edgar Leonard Scrivens took postcard views, in a radius of 50 miles from his home town of Doncaster. Some places seemingly appealed to him more than others and he visited Rotherham and district on several occasions. He photographed over 250 localities with an average of 50 postcards in each series though in some cases the quantity was much higher.
In the 1920s and 1930s, he rephotographed areas recorded earlier in his career, including Rotherham and district, adding the letter ‘ V’ or ‘ G’ depending on the period, to the numbering on the cards. He allocated a number to each area: 172 was given to Rotherham, and so a card numbered 172 - 23 would indicate the image was the 23rd in the Rotherham set.
Always having a keen eye for the quaint or ancient, Scrivens immediately pointed his camera towards an obvious choice, Rotherham’s Chapel on the Bridge. The Chapel of Our Lady came into existence around 1483 when the bridge over the River Don was erected.
Following closure in 1547, the building had a number of owners and found a number of uses. At one time the old chapel was occupied by a tobacconist and newsagent. Scrivens took a few views of the chapel over several decades, a few probably falling into the period 1913 to 1924 when the building was undergoing extensive restoration.
Another ancient attraction was the All Saints parish church, also known as Rotherham Minster. A church had existed on the site from around AD 937. The present church dates from the 13th century, though has undergone many changes during the intervening years, not least the restorations of 1873- 1875.
Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner described the edifice as ‘ the best perpendicular church in the country’. Not content to photograph the church – on its own and within the townscape – from various vantage points, Scrivens eased his way inside to record, the Altar, the Altar tomb, the Font and the Screen.
Scrivens could not resist recording sumptuous new buildings providing entertainment for everyone and captured Rotherham’s Hippodrome and the Cinema House.
The Hippodrome was built on the lines of the London West End music hall and opened on August 3 1908. Scrivens boasted a remarkable knack of persuading people, particularly young children, to be part of a composition. In a view of the Hippodrome he coaxed a small group of adults and a gaggle of children the pose for him; two girls in large bonnets particularly enliven the picture.
A strange building to appeal to Scrivens, and which enriched Rotherham’s Doncaster Gate from March 9, 1914, was the Cinema House. It was designed for Rotherham ( Cinema House) Ltd by W. G. Beck of Sheffield in the Moorish Revival style complete with four Russian- style, onion shaped domes, two octagonal and two square ones. The contractor for the frontage was Hathern Station Brick & Terracotta Co. Ltd of Loughborough. The building seated 900 in the stalls and small balcony.
Initally, Scrivens drove to a chosen location in a curious three- wheel vehicle to take pictures but later used one with a more familiar wheel arrangement and the latter can often be identified in views.
He was not self- conscious about setting up his plate camera in the middle of busy thoroughfares to carry out work. Prime examples are the excellent views he took at Rotherham’s College Square and Effingham Street junction. Whilst there, he was able to cleverly work his way into several vantage points to record a variety of buildings, people busying themselves in daily activities as well as the comings and goings of the Rotherham trams, and Sheffield and Mexborough & Swinton trams, both having running powers into the town.
Whilst pointing the camera in every direction along the streets, Scrivens caught a rare glimpse of Rotherham Corporation’s Track Cleaning car no 31in operation, winding its way past the Market Place. Many city and town tramways used these vehicles though it is unusual to spot one in a postcard.
A spectacular town feature was the Coronation Fountain, standing 32 feet high in Effingham Square. Businessman James Hastings offered to finance the project in November 1911. It was unveiled in a ceremony which took place on June 20, 1912. Scrivens did not waste the opportunity to gather together a number of individuals to pose alongside the clock and this gives some idea of its scale.
In some of Scrivens’ street scenes there are glimpses of traders’ properties. In a Church Street view we see Albert Upstone, seedsman; Alfred France, butcher; Woodhead Bros, electrical engineers; Henry Gorrill, grocer; John D. Eaton, pawnbroker; Harold Maxfield, toy dealer; and the Singer Sewing Machine Co. Ltd.
Although he generally liked to populate his postcards, there are views depicting solitary buildings. Falling into this category are images of St Anne’s Council School, the Town Hall; the Grammar School; and the Hospital.
After the 1914- 1918 War, Scrivens was keen to record memorials erected to those who had fallen in Rotherham and elsewhere. The Rotherham Grammar School’s Old Boys’ Association was responsible for a War Memorial Scheme. The Memorial is in the form of a cross, designed from the period of the school’s foundation, the late 15th century. The names of the 58 boys and one master who were killed in the war are inscribed on bronze panels. From ground level, Scrivens depicts the solitary cross in a stark empty scene.
Scrivens’ importance as a postcard photographer is that he has not only captured the former rural splendour of some villages, but uniquely recorded with outstanding clarity and carefully composed compositions their evolution into sprawling mining communities.
In Rotherham district, this evolution is most evident in the views of Dinnington and Maltby. The sinking of the shafts at Dinnington colliery to the Barnsley Seam began in 1903 and was reached in February 1906. In a postcard of Doe Quarry Lane, Dinnington, Scrivens depicts colliery housing with the usual collection of individuals happily facing the camera though standing in an, as yet, unmade road. Dinnington’s population by the Second World War was about 7,500.
Scrivens was quick to record buildings and facilities made available for miners and this is shown in views of the Dinnington Colliery Institute and the Bandstand, Coronation Park.
Maltby remained quite a small place until the 20th century. The population had reached no more than 716 by the 1901 census. Within the next ten years, Maltby colliery had started production, so too had a local brickworks, the population swelling to 1,750.
Scrivens took two charming views of rural Maltby, most notably those featuring the Don John public house and the Well. These contrast starkly with pictures showing later housing, road and commercial developments within the area as well as along the main thoroughfares.
He was not self- conscious about setting up his plate camera in busy thoroughfares.