Author Topic: where is this?  (Read 3648 times)

Offline maddys52

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where is this?
« on: Friday 27 May 22 01:51 BST (UK) »
Hello, I've seen some amazing finds on this board and wondered if anyone could recognise this location?

My grandparents were on a trip to the UK and Europe in the 1950s (I think)  and this was in their photo collection. (It's not my grandmother in the photo, unfortunately I don't know who it is.) I'm guessing it is a hotel and whilst it is a citroen in the foreground, and some kind of scooter in front, in front of that is what OH says may be a Ford Zephyr.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.  :)

Offline Rosinish

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Re: where is this?
« Reply #1 on: Friday 27 May 22 02:06 BST (UK) »
Can't help with location but UK going by the cars...

My uncle had a Ford Zephyr (Maroon colour) which looks to be the same in your pic.

Did you have relatives in the UK who they may have visited which may help with an area?

Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee

"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"

Offline maddys52

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Re: where is this?
« Reply #2 on: Friday 27 May 22 03:10 BST (UK) »
Thanks Annie. Yes, my grandmother was born in London, however her mother was from Ickford, which they definitely visited whilst there. Her father was born in Blackmore, though so far as I know they weren't in touch with any relatives on his side.

Offline Ruskie

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Re: where is this?
« Reply #3 on: Friday 27 May 22 05:12 BST (UK) »
Zooming in makes the image too blurry, but are you able to discern the number plates on the original photo? Not specifically the numbers/letters but the format, in the hope that it might help with the country at least, though they may have driven to the continent in that Zephyr.  :)

I think this building is in Europe somewhere rather than Great Britain. The windows behind the arches in the ground floor are interesting, but it’s hard to determine “depth of field” so I can’t work out how far behind the stone arches they are. Not that it helps with location.

Are there any other photos in the collection which include the same car/s or the unknown woman?

Your grandparents must have been quite wealthy to take that trip in the 1950s/60s. It wouldn’t have been the norm. :)


Offline Neale1961

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Re: where is this?
« Reply #4 on: Friday 27 May 22 05:17 BST (UK) »
The architecture of the building reminds me of the area around northern Italy-Switzerland, perhaps the Tyrol.
Milligan - Jardine – Glencross – Dinwoodie - Brown: (Dumfriesshire & Kirkcudbrightshire)
Clark – Faulds – Cuthbertson – Bryson – Wilson: (Ayrshire & Renfrewshire)
Neale – Cater – Kinder - Harrison: (Warwickshire & Queensland)
Roberts - Spry: (Cornwall, Middlesex & Queensland)
Munster: (Schleswig-Holstein & Queensland) and Plate: (Braunschweig, Neubruck & Queensland & New York)

Offline maddys52

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Re: where is this?
« Reply #5 on: Friday 27 May 22 11:44 BST (UK) »
Zooming in makes the image too blurry, but are you able to discern the number plates on the original photo? Not specifically the numbers/letters but the format, in the hope that it might help with the country at least, though they may have driven to the continent in that Zephyr.  :)

I think this building is in Europe somewhere rather than Great Britain. The windows behind the arches in the ground floor are interesting, but it’s hard to determine “depth of field” so I can’t work out how far behind the stone arches they are. Not that it helps with location.

Are there any other photos in the collection which include the same car/s or the unknown woman?


Thanks Ruskie, it is very difficult to make out the number plate on the original too. It is possibly 3 figures (numbers or letters - to hard to say) a gap, and then 2 figures.

The windows on the ground floor do seem to be quite deeply recessed. I think there are flower boxes in front of each window near the citroen.

No other photos of the same building or car. So many photos have been in a shoe box for a very long time, and are quite mixed up, hard to put in any kind of order - I'm trying to sort them out and put them in albums. Very time consuming, but enjoyable too.


Your grandparents must have been quite wealthy to take that trip in the 1950s/60s. It wouldn’t have been the norm. :)

Ha! I wish. No they weren't particularly well off. My grandfather (in Australia) worked for a Swiss wool company. I think this trip was part work related. They certainly did spend time in Basel, but also toured around the UK and definitely France, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Germany. Maybe some other places too. The photos of Switzerland are generally all together in a separate group, though as I mentioned the shoe box of photos has been mixed up a bit over the years.


Offline maddys52

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Re: where is this?
« Reply #6 on: Friday 27 May 22 11:48 BST (UK) »
The architecture of the building reminds me of the area around northern Italy-Switzerland, perhaps the Tyrol.

Thanks Neale, certainly sounds possible, they were in Switzerland (Basel) as part of the trip, as I said above, though I didn't think this photo was part of the same group as their Swiss photos, but I could well be wrong about that. There are photos of the Matterhorn, but they were in a different sleeve. The hill (mountain) to the right of the photo does have an alpine look.

Offline shanghaipanda

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Re: where is this?
« Reply #7 on: Friday 27 May 22 12:03 BST (UK) »
There seems to be ? writing on the wall inside the arch directly behind the lady's head.  Is it possible to make it any clearer?  Zooming in just blurs it.

Offline maddys52

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Re: where is this?
« Reply #8 on: Friday 27 May 22 12:08 BST (UK) »
I thought it was writing at first too, however enlarging it I think it looks something like hat racks. Something very even anyway, not letters. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Modified: Actually, having another look now I've changed my mind. Maybe it is writing, I'll try to attach an enlargement.

Modified again: Or maybe not, now that I've enlarged it.  :-\