Postcards from the past

An exciting start to the day. First thing this morning I went to collect a set of old postcards that have been donated to the Commons Society. There are about fifty items believed to date from about 1890 to 1920. Regrettably, the postcards have been stuck onto sheets of cardboard (I think they may have been on display somewhere for a while) which means we can't see the backs which is a great shame.

Most are from sepia or black and white photographs (I have the original photographs for about ten of them from an earlier donation). A few, like this one, have been colour tinted. Over the winter I will photograph them all and then set about trying to identify the locations so that I can create some 'then & now' images. Those which feature the windmill, church or other prominent buildings should be fairly straightforward. Those that are views of the commons will be much more difficult because the landscape has changed so much.

This view, showing the windmill and miller's house, is pretty much unchanged although the windmill is now fixed to face in the opposite direction and a line of oak trees obscures the view from this side. In terms of dating, it is probably from pre-1920 otherwise St George's, a residential block for the children of Chailey Heritage hospital and craft school, ought to be visible in the background. It's also interesting because it reveals the old (long gone) mill pond in the foreground and, on the lefthand edge, you can just see the pointed top of the conical yew. The tree often features in postcards and photographs as it was planted to mark the very centre of Sussex (combined west and east). The yew also it features in a drawing by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather the famous First World War cartoonist (a future blip I think).