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Discovering Lost Devon |
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| A
rural scene at Stoke Canon - one of the images in Discovering
Lost Devon |
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Discovering
Lost Devon by Peter Thomas features century old pictures which have
been rediscovered. |
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And they
say nostalgia isn't what it used to be...flicking through the pages
of Disovering Lost Devon will get
you all misty-eyed over what our county used to look like.
Author Peter Thomas has chosen the title of the book well - because
it really does show what we have "lost."
The term bygone era doesn't do it justice - it's like another world.
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| Cockington
Forge in Torquay, pictured around 1895 |
Thomas
has brought together a collection of over 200 slides.
They were taken by the Tremlett brothers from Exeter, using an old
Magic Lantern.
The slides were produced by Alan Tremlett between the late 1800s and
the early 1900s, and then developed by Ernest.
The
pictures were used to entertain public audiences - a sort of forerunner
to the cinema. Some
of the pictures haven't been seen for a century.
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| Moving
sheep across Dartmoor |
The images
were taken at places all over Devon, with Exeter featured heavily.
But there are also some amazing rural and moorland scenes, and pictures
of people going about their business in villages and coastal towns.
There are people farming, fishing, and simply relaxing outside their
homes - this
was Devon before the destructive 20th century came along.
It
looks so peaceful, and all the more attractive for the absence of
traffic, crowds of people, and ugly buildings.
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| Launching
the lifeboat at Lynmouth |
The sense
of community is also clear to see, and one of my favourite pictures
shows the men of Lynmouth in North Devon hauling the lifeboat to the
beach ready for a launch.
I do have one little gripe, however, and that is an image of Torquay
harbour which is printed the wrong way round!
Luckily
for us, this wonderful collection of images has been rediscovered
for us all to enjoy more than 100 years after many of them were taken.
Peter Thomas owns an archive of historic images - the Isca Collection
- and has written a number of books about his collection.
He also contibutes towards magazines and exhibitions throughout Devon.
Details of the book are on the left of this page.
Article published: 4th May 2005
Images
reproduced with permission
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