Intriguing exhibition looks back at Littlehampton’s past

Littlehampton Library, in Fitzalan Road, is one of the first in the county to host the touring display by the Francis Frith Collection.

It includes pictures taken by photographer Francis Frith, who spent most of his life travelling to every corner of the UK with his camera, documenting everyday life as it happened, together with later images captured by other photographers working for the organisation which perpetuates his name.

The exhibition, of about 18 photos, shows Littlehampton’s Victorian High Street, with the former Anchor Brewery, still standing, in 1892.

There are also images of the town’s pier, South Terrace and the former Beach Hotel, on The Green, as well as a picturesque scene of young children playing on Littlehampton’s beach, in the early 1900s.

Pictures also show Rustington’s North Lane and Broadmark Lane, during the 1920s and East Preston’s Sea Lane, in 1965.

The display, entitled Britain’s First Photo Album, ties in with the new BBC television series on the Victorian pioneer, which started last week.

About 200 hundred photos are being shared between libraries in Littlehampton, Chichester, Bognor Regis and Crawley, this month.

Martin Hayes, county local studies librarian, who has helped to compile the exhibit, said: “This is a truly unique chance to see what life in Littlehampton was like during the Victorian period.

“It’s fascinating to see just how the town has changed, in little more than 100 years.

“In some of the photos you can still see the remnants of the old brewery in the High Street.

“It was a truly local-based economy, back then. The hops for the beer were harvested from local fields and then refined in the town’s brewery.

“Then the beer was sold to the town’s pubs. Now we live in a globalised society, full of international exports.”

Frith is known for taking more than 365,000 pictures of almost every town and village in the UK – many of which were later turned into picture postcards.

He originally set up the photography group Francis Frith and Co, in 1859, whose mission was to document life in as many villages, towns and cities in the UK.

It was later disbanded in 1968 but was reformed, by new owners, in 1970, as the Francis Frith Collection, which aimed to preserve all the work that the Victorian pioneer had begun, more than a century before.

After this month, the displays will travel to the Horsham, Worthing, Shoreham-by-Sea, Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath libraries.

All of the photos in the library displays can be viewed online www.westsussexpast.org.uk under, West Sussex past pictures – which has a database of about 2,000 digitised, Frith photos.

Images in the exhibition can be purchased on A3 hand-made mounts for £12 at the libraries hosting the tour.