Back in time - about 400 years

[Hagar]

Here's a few photos I took of the ancient market town of Steyning in West Sussex. I attended the local Grammar School from 1953 to 1959 & this was more familiar territory than my home town. The school was founded in 1614, when William Shakespeare was still alive. No, I ain't quite that old.

This shot was taken on Christmas Day last year. The school is the white timber framed building on the right. The entrance is red brick. This is the original school building & still in use today.


A view from the same spot looking along Steyning High Street.


Further along the High Street. The building below the clock tower used to be the fire station. There was a lot of singing & celebrations coming from the local taverns when I took this shot.


This was taken last weekend. The school is on the left.


St Andrew's Church, a Norman church built in the 12th century on the site of a Saxon church mentioned in the 'Domesday Book'. My brother was married here as his wife came from Steyning. I used to pass this way every day on my way to & from the railway station. Unfortunately I can't show you the station & the nearby market place as they no longer exist.


Apart from that the old place hasn't changed much at all. Hope you enjoyed my little trip back in time.

[Craig.]

Great shots Hagar:) I am amazed how quiet it looks and how narrow the streets are there.

[Hagar]

Great shots Hagar:) I am amazed how quiet it looks and how narrow the streets are there.

Thanks Craig. The roads are narrow as this is the original medieval town. It was not planned for modern traffic. There's lots of places like this around here. The place looks quiet in the Christmas Day pics as everyone was in the pubs celebrating after dinner. I don't like Joe Public clogging up my shots & usually wait for things to go quiet. Maybe that's why my photos appear lifeless but I'm more interested in the scenery than people.

[Craig.]

lol looks much better without the drunken locals:)

[Rifleman]

You present a wonderful idea of how your area looks in the present time......it's a captured moment like this which can't be torn down or rebuilt by progress.........thanks for the look Hagar.......

[ozzy72]

Thanks Hagar, I think I'll go and sob nostalgically into my cup of tea....

Ozzy

[Jared]

ah, looks like a piece brought out of time...:-)

Did you find these in a time capsule?

[Hagar]

ah, looks like a piece brought out of time...:-)

Did you find these in a time capsule?

That's a good description Jared. Steyning is actually a thriving town with many young residents. The High Street in my photos is usually packed with pedestrians & traffic. The town is a piece of living history although like any other community it's continually evolving. There are many such places in my local area as there are all over the UK. I regret not realising this when I was at school there & not having a camera to record how it looked then. The town had its own gas works which has long since disappeared. I remember going there on school science trips. The railway was torn up in the 1960s as a result of the notorious Dr Beeching's drastic butchery of the British railway system & little remains to show that it ever existed. The railway track has been replaced by a main road & the land where the railway station & market were is now a modern housing estate. Such is the price of "progress".