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Colorful England: Pre-WWII Honeymoon Snaps Found in Grandma’s Attic_teo
Newly-wedded British couple Denys and Margaret Gardiner spent their honeymoon driving 900 miles up and down the east coast of England in August 1939, just weeks before the Second World War broke out. But the best thing (that is, the best thing for us) was that they took color pictures of the countryside they drove their convertible through.
After the death of his grandmother in February 2014, Barney Britton found an unexpected treasure while cleaning out her attic: a wooden box filled with dozens of 35mm slides documenting his grandparents' honeymoon trip in 1939. Although Britton's mother remembered seeing the photos as a child, they were long presumed to be lost after several decades and multiple house moves. To Britton's delight, most of the slides were remarkably well-preserved even after nearly 75 years of storage. Many of the photos were shot using Agfacolor film—a novelty at the time—providing a rare and exceptional look at England in color in the month preceding the outbreak of World War II.
Church of All Saints, Upper Sheringham, Norfolk, 1939
The road between Morston and Blakeney, Norfolk, 1939
Common Lane, towards Brancaster, Norfolk, 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
A Ford, in Thetford Norfolk, 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
Boston, Lincolnshire, 1939
Lincolnshire, 1939
Hull - New Holland Ferry, 1939
Hull - New Holland Ferry, 1939
Nelson Street, Kings Lynn Norfolk, 1939
Burham Market, Norfolk, August 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
Sheringham, Norfolk, August 1939
Stiffkey, Norfolk, August 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
Bridge over River Glaven (between Wiveton and Cley), Norfolk, 1939
Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939
Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939
Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939
Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939
Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939
Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, 1939
Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, 1939
Yorkshire Moors, August 1939
Yorkshire Moors, August 1939
Lincoln, Lincolnshire 1939
High Bridge, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, 1939
Lincoln Cathedral, from Sincil Dyke, Lincoln, 1939
Brayford Pool, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, 1939
Lincolnshire Wolds, 1939
Lincolnshire Wolds, 1939
Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, 1939
Yorkshire Moors, August 1939
Yorkshire, August 1939
Norfolk, August 1939
York, August 1939
Yorkshire, August 1939
Hampstead Heath looking over 'Vale of Heath', London, 1939
Embankment, Londo,n 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
Cavendish, Suffolk, 1939
Prentice Street, Lavenham, Suffolk, 1939
Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939
Near Wethersfield, Suffolk, 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
Add captionUnknown location, August 1939
Walsingham, Norfolk, August 1939
Lavenham, Suffolk, August 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
Unknown location, August 1939
Embankment, London, August 1939
Embankment, London, August 1939
Thames, London, 1939
Thames, London, 1939
Archway, London, 1939
Above the Wash, Lincs/Norfolk, August 1939
