It was Saturday 7th September and we set off promptly for home from Torquay with a planned coffee stop and explore at Lacock. The village itself is old and the buildings unchanged, so it has been a film set many times, including as Meryton in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice, Downton Abbey, Cranford, Wolf Hall and Harry Potter among others.
After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the late 1530's, Lacock Abbey became a private home and in the 1800's it was in the Fox Talbot family. Henry Fox Talbot was not the only dabbler in inventing the salted paper and silver nitrate process of creating photography, but he was the first one who managed to stabilise his work so that the images did not fade.
The earliest negative that is still in existence as far as we are aware is this famous one of the latticed oriel window, taken of the South Gallery at Lacock. The image at the bottom of my collage is one I took in the musuem and it is the actual negative from August 1835. The other shots are me (obviously) being excited to arrive at the "British birthplace of photography" as it is billed by the National Trust and the window itself from both inside and outside. I found it a thrilling place to visit.
It's utterly amazing how far photography has progressed. From capturing images on glass to tiny memory cards that not only holds one image but literally hundreds of the highest quality.
Very lovely collage of your visit to Lacock! Love the archway entrance and old doors framing you in the top photo! Very interesting to see both the inside and outside views of the window featured in the original negative!
What a place & what a history! Told beautifully by you too. Must have taken you a good while to look at everything. You look very trendy in your dress & boots!
@happypat Eeee, I don't think anyone has called me trendy for decades! Pragmatic, me. Short skirt and bare legs with hiking boots means you dry off quicker in the rain as your legs dry faster than your clothes! But I shall hug the compliment :)
@casablanca Sensible thoughts but still a trendy look. I love my Doc Martins & looking forward to wearing them again. I must add that they are the soft type!
Thank you for the educational lesson.