Panorama of the River Avon to Portishead (1902)

Portishead
1 Jan 1902
Silent
3m

A fine variety of views of the Avon gorge taken from various positions downstream from the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

This journey down the Avon gorge was filmed from the riverbank, from a boat and from the Portishead railway. Among views of the estuary, the cargo ship Vera and the fine wooden warship Formidable (then a training ship), Portishead docks and the entrance to the Clifton Rocks Railway. This underground funicular railway linked the town to the riverbank just below the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Fans of Bill Morrison's Decasia will appreciate the haunting beauty of the decayed nitrate, which makes HMS Formidable appear like a ghost-ship, shrouded in a mysterious white fog.

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From the collection

On the Move

Britain in the early 20th century was a society in a hurry - and transport was changing fast.

The era of mass transportation launched by the Victorians gathered pace in the Edwardian age. Mitchell & Kenyon’s films feature countless trains, buses and trams, as well as horse-drawn coaches and bicycles, though cars are still a rarity.

People where the duo’s stock-in-trade, but transport could also take a leading role. Films feature boats, ferries and ocean liners, but much more common - and frequently magical - are those which take us on a journey by train or, especially, by tram, gliding through space and time into the heart of the towns and cities of our ancestors.