Aerial Photographs

The aerial photos were taken in July 1966 from a Tiger Moth airplane. Images were reproduced as framed prints and sold door-to-door – pre global satellite and continued to be marketed in subsequent decades to new owners of each home. By 2006 with the advent of Google Satellite imagery, these images became a significant historical record for comparison – and provide the Tardis Tourist with a virtual map of the 5 flight paths across the Kempley/ Dymock district of today. Note for example the Travellers Rest services at Jn.4 of the 1959 constructed M50. (Tardis Nº 250).

Browsing this photo record like browsing a map, it is often the peripheral information that is the most illuminating.

Here is a literal snapshot of July 1966 – most of the gardens are productive vegetable gardens, the close proximity of orchards (or plecks), the commercial businesses – the dairy yard with its churns, the bottling plant, the brickyard, the bakery – and, of course, the wealth of chapels, vicarages and church buildings.

The aerial photos are copyright of SkyViews Film library and are not available for download. They have a library of some 10 million UK aerial photos – but no way of relating the negative’s number to the street location.