Littlehampton photographs open ‘magical doorway’

Lens Eye View takes scenes from the past and superimposes them on the same location, in the 21st century.

By holding the old image in front of the camera, and taking a new photograph with it in the modern-day setting, the result is an intriguing mixture of the two eras.

Some of the pictures were taken by the public, but most are by museum staff, who describe the exhibition as “a magical doorway to the past”.

The old photographs are interesting themselves, but seem all the more so with today’s buildings showing how much the town has changed... or not.

Among the photos and postcards featured are the Manor House in the early 20th century, Beach Road in 1906, two 19th-century views of Church Street, one with sheep being herded up the road and another with a horse and carriage, and more sheep in an image of the High Street, from 1870.

A 1918 picture of the western end of High Street shows meat hanging outside Burton and Sons’ butchers’ shop, while scenes of Pier Road from the late 19th/early 20th centuries include fishing boats and sailing ships, the old windmill and “pepperpot” lighthouse.

A postcard of the Promenade in 1900 has elegantly-dressed visitors strolling along, and bathing tents on the beach.

“This is a great concept, and it’s wonderful that residents have had a go, too,” said councillor Joyce Bowyer, chairman of the town council’s community resources committee, “The photographs work really well and have created some wonderful views.”

The exhibition, in the museum’s Community Gallery, continues until Friday, June 18.