Rather surprisingly the Rev Dew finished his ‘Trip down the River Avon’ talk in Warwick, rather than continuing on down to the river Severn, though perhaps there was a part two from which the photographs have not survived.)
Can you help us?
The final photo in this series is a puzzle: it was labelled simply ‘Warwick’ in the original catalogue. I assumed it was Westgate until I tried to take an ‘after’ picture today and found it impossible to match things up. And when you look closer the fenestration is wrong for Westgate chapel (and where is the archway under the chapel?) It looks like a church tower covered in creeper but is clearly not St Nicholas Church, nor St Mary’s. The wide pavement and lamp-post suggest a substantial town so perhaps it was actually Leamington Spa or even Stratford (where the Rev. Dew came from). The tall post on the right-hand side suggests a flagpole or something similar. I’m stumped!
A trip down the River Avon revisited
This is part of a series of ‘before and after’ photographs based on the Rev. E.N. Dew’s lantern slides for a talk about the Warwickshire Avon. The original photos date from around 1900 and the linked article explains the history of the photographs.
I would be very grateful if someone can solve the mystery for us.
Comments
This photo generated a lot of interest at a talk I gave at the Record Office. It was finally identified as St Andrew’s church in Pershore (a town to the south-west near the river Avon). This suggests that the Rev. Dew did indeed continue his trip down the Avon to the Severn. If the other set of slides ever emerges I’ll take a bet it will contain a photo of Westgate mis-identified as ‘St Andrew’s Pershore’! Many thanks to our observant sleuth for clearing up the mystery.
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