Britain From Above

Just had email/newsletter from 'Britain From Above' saying goodbye; my reaction was "Oh no!" however it is just the last newsletter, not the end of access to this wonderful resource

Peter mentioned 'BritainFrom Above' in a recent newsletter,which acted as a reminder to visit the site. So, among recent additions to the collection was an aerial view of Crumpsall, Manchester in which I was able to spot my grandparents house. The photo was dated 1935 and I recalled an aunt aged 90 saying that the family
moved there when she was about 16 years old. Another aerial view dated 1932 shows other houses on the estate, some in various stages of construction, but my grandparent's house not yet built. So I began to doubt the date my Aunt May said they had moved in as it had become obvious that it must have been a newly built semi detached house ( a family of 6 children, Grandpa a sheet metal worker..how did they do it?)
I zoomed in on the 1935 image and there in the back garden...the concrete bird-bath I remember from my childhood, which later my Dad had in his garden at Macclesfield after the death of Grandpa.
My Aunt was born 1916 so she was spot-on with her recollection.

Earlier aerial views c 1910,and looking at old maps of the area of their previous house, show that also to have been fairly new, built around 1908. My Dad was born there 1911.I have a family photo of Christmas 1916 at the house with Aunt May on Grandma's lap, a baby born in June 1916.

You have to sign-in to 'Britain From Above' in order to use the zoom facilty

 

Great site and had a lot of fun pinpointing from a 1946 photo my paternal Grans house in Sparkbrook, Birmingham. I knew it was off the Stratford road, but where as it a long road? Then I pinpointed a church, then a school (that my Dad attended) and finally an open area that could only be the location of Smith Coaches, which was at the bottom of Gran's road. Finally the clincher was an open 'bomb-site' area half way up the street and a railway at the top. Then it was a matter of triangulation, which is a posh way of saying 3 houses up from a small side terrace and bingo!

I hope to try for other Birmingham locations and there are over a 1400 aerial photos mostly covering landmark industrial areas -Like Longbridge, Fort Dunlop, BSA and many similar although some are in 'wrap-around' form which means duplications. Whether I am successful or not depends on how early they were taken (the site covers aerial photos between 1911-1953) as the earlier ones show open fields, where houses had still to be built. Still it will be great fun trying and instructive along the way.

 

I agree, a great site. I'm one of the volunteers helping to transcribe the Aerofilms flight logs and so far we are up to 1981 but I don't know if English Heritage, oops, sorry, Historic England as it is now called, will get more funding to put those shots on the site.
The program about moving the Aerofilms building at Hendon is still on iPlayer at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01flvwz/brick-by-brick-rebuilding-our-past-episode-1.
Have you also seen www.historypin.org? It has lots of old photos from around the world and you can add your own copies too. The photos are a bit of a mixture as not all of them are old but you may find a gem in your area of interest.

 

Pity that BBCiPlayer programmes can only be played in the UK. Thanks all the same.