05-02-2025
Tracing the mystery 70-year-old photos of Chipping Sodbury
Buried deep inside the treasure trove of Salisbury's Antiques Market, Oliver Barnes could not believe his luck. The 20-year-old, who loves antique cameras, came across an extremely rare 100-year-old Kodak that not only worked, but still had a film it developed revealed snaps of a big event on what looks like a British high street from the 1950s.A lot of help from social media and some internet detective work led Mr Barnes to Chipping Sodbury, in South Gloucestershire, where speculation about the photos has been the talk of the town.
"It's amazing, it's my favourite place to go to in Salisbury," he said, looking around the antique market where he has become a regular.
Mr Barnes described spotting a bag hiding in the corner, inside of which he found a No1 Pocket Kodak, which went into production in the working out the stiff complicated release mechanism, he opened it up and found film inside."I was in complete shock, I was so worried I had exposed the film because they are very, very light sensitive," he said."It's, like, 100 years old so I wasn't expecting the film to come out of it."
Just a few doors up the road from the antiques market is a business with the kit and skills to deal with such old film. "It's nice to see the enthusiasm of a youngster buying this camera and getting it developed," said Ian Scott from the Fujifilm Salisbury revealed the first clue to identify the photos; although the camera is a century old, this particular type of film did not enter production until the late 1950s."Nobody had opened the camera and ruined the film in 70 years, which is incredible," he said.
"They're really good quality for how old they are, I wasn't really expecting anything," said Mr Barnes."An event's definitely happening in the photos."The pictures are taken from an upper floor of a building overlooking a high street with a war memorial. Dozens of people in smart dress are crowded round the entrance of a hotel, a handful of classic cars are parked outside and what appears to be a television camera crew are filming from across the making out the name of the hotel as the Portcullis, and spotting a street sign showing a short distance to Bristol, Mr Barnes tracked the location to Chipping Sodbury.
"It's caused quite a fuss on social media round here. It got shared literally everywhere," said local photographer, Richard McDonough."We've had all sorts of people coming up with speculation and different ideas of what it might be."The theories include an event linked to the American army's nearby posting during the war or perhaps a celebrity or royal visit."There are so many different scenarios," said tourist centre volunteer Barry Townsend. "It does make you wonder - is it a wedding?"
So far, neither they nor Mr Barnes have identified the event in question, nor the people or location of another photograph found on the film of two young men on a bridge. They are all hoping by sharing the story they can prompt somebody's when it comes to hunting down old photographs, Mr Barnes is hooked."It's exhilarating. I'll always get a different kind of thrill from film photos than I do from digital photos, it's a chemical experience I can't really explain," he said.
