There is another film called "Barging From Old London To Shepperton Over The River Thames in 1924 in colour" on my channel There are many more old, restored & colorized films about old London on my channel: ru-vid.com/group/PLP_6hUsQRi8sOgzj80XqJ5nUUTxL_KDWb *Please press the CC captions button to read the locations while the film plays* and do me a favour by not commenting "Everybody in this film is now dead" nor "Not a fat, obese person in sight", because that is só cliché and boring... Please also note that race-related comments will be blocked by the activated RU-vid filters on this channel, because somehow films about old London attract numerous of such comments. Kindly comment on how London was about a century ago, like sharing experiences by your (grand) parents with us.
Thanks for this - I remember when I was v young - 1950s - walking across the little bridge in Salmon Lane with my mum and waving to my grandfather who was going down the canal on a barge - he was born in 1888 so he could be in this film or his dad who was also a bargee.
Amazing. My Grandad was a bargee from Birmingham (lived in Stoke Street near the Gas Street Basin) who often used to take the Grand Union down to London with his horse. He retired in the 50's so in 1924 he was about 35. Fascinating to see the past brought to life.
Life was so hard back then for so many , War the Depression & much more , but looking at this everything seems so peaceful so beautiful as people stop and observe , truly touching....Thank you kindly 🇨🇦
Now its constant stress in London of watching your back for mugging. No sense of community and a constant sea of degeneracy. London is no longer English. I would take the 1920's over what it is now.
Thanks for this wonderful recollection of the canal, and parts of the East End. Camden Lock before it became a rather "hippy" tourist attraction. Interesting to see the "hutted village" in front of the elegant frontage of Kings Cross Station was there even then, and scruffier looking than when it was finally cleared away! The cellar arches underneath St Pancras Station were constructed to a specific size to allow for the storage of barrels of Burton beer. My Uncle Charles worked for the Midland Railway at Somers Town goods depot on Euston Road, now the site of the British Library, taken on as a "junior" in 1912, two years later he'd be in the British Army, fighting on the Western Front. In 1982 I enjoyed a lunchtime cruise from work along the stretch of canal by London Zoo, drifting along in summer sunshine with wine and food, it was hard to imagine this had been the workplace for all those bargees and labourers when the canal was a commercial lifeline of London.
@@yasminm7157 Thank you, he and his brother John were among the "lucky ones" I only knew my Uncle Charles when I was a boy, and sadly when he came to see us in the last years of his life, his talk would turn to those War years, and his memories were so vivid that I had to be sent to play in another room. RIP Charles Craft, lifelong railwayman and "Soldier of the Great War".
I am most familiar with the section just before Regents Park and then inside the park itself. The canal side buildings are still there pretty much the same except the area is very expensive now and all the stucco is painted in pastel colours, here it’s dark. In the 1990s I used to take the passenger barge from Little Venice to Camden Lock. That alone seems a lifetime ago, let alone all the way back to 1924!
This brings back memories! My father would have been 4 years old when this was shot. He was born and bred in Old Ford so would have been familiar with the canal, particularly the Hertford Union through Victoria Park. Of course the Blitz from 1940 substantially altered much of the East End shown here. The leafy bits further West are still the same though. I even had a 40th birthday party on a couple of narrowboats on the section through the London Zoo to Paddington Basin (31 years ago!!!).
My dad was about ten years old when this was filmed,also from Old Ford. This film helps me find a connection to his life before blitz, a time he could never share while he was alive.
6:33 ... looks like Camden/lock/Basin?... then on through to 'London Zoo'... during the school summer hols (c1965), I worked casual labour for pocket money at 'London Zoo'... I remembered it was somewhat sad to see about 15 grown men line up waiting to be picked for work... washing dishes, cleaning this and moving that... my claim to fame was working in the 'Penguin House' tea room serving cold drinks like Coke etc... it almost put me off the stuff as where the drip tray overflowed, the concentrate burnt a nice big hole in the floor tiles... lovely memories... great video BTW!
Rick, your Teddington to Shepperton river journey is where I live. This is where I spent 25 years working. From 1987 & remember Limehouse Basin being an absolute tip. Then Limehouse link was built immediately under the barge, then all of the flats. Old Ford and Hackney Wick only really took off after the Olympics and the Overground completing (Ken’s greatest achievement). Wonderful 🥰
I cycle this route every day! it's strange how it's so different but every now and then you see shapes you recognise, the curve of the tow paths, the different bridges. The lighthouse building in King's Cross!!! So glad they never tore that down.
Lovely to watch and I hope children learning British history in schools in Britain get to watch them too. Life was easier in some ways then, but so much harder in others.
Absolutely beautiful. Went for a lovely sunny stroll a few weeks ago by the Islington tunnel. It’s such an oasis of calm away from the traffic noise from the roads above.
@@shabbos-goy9407 Tens of millions slaughtered in two World Wars during this period and many millions dying young from preventable illness... Hardly sane.
@@peterburry2014 ahhh but not if you could go back in time with that knowledge at hand. When the action finally kicks off you could go into hiding a year prior somewhere remote and ease your way back once the fighting is over. Not to mention the fact that you could live like a king using all the common knowledge we’ve all got from the present. Don’t know about you but I’d ‘invent’ oranges. Take a trip down to Spain bring a bag home on ice and sell each one for the price of diamonds, repeat twice a year and never have to work again. Yup that’s the life for me.
Thank you for a very interesting video, so evocative of past times and a world long gone. The sound track is very suitable and creates a wistful atmosphere around the visual.
It has always amazed me how despite the cold climate, very little weather protection was offered for drivers of all vehicles - trams, trucks, trains and even canal boats in those days.
This is crazy! I walk under that railway bridge at the beginning every day! Recognised Limehouse basin instantly, crazy to see such huge ships and masts in there, considering it's almost all canal boats now.
While this was being filmed this was the 'present day' for these people. Between wars. Great to view, the fact that they're colourised, means one can pick out more detail. With the film speed adjusted it becomes so evocative. Love these clips!
Hard life back then.We cant really understand how hard.But you get the sense of purpose in the stride of the people.Look how much has changed in london because of this. Fantastic film, well done.
My Nan who is still around today would be 7 in 1924, being raised in a work house would recognise these everyday scenes. I understand that life was hard back then with non of the welfare state we have now to fall back on. I know it's silly but what shocked me the most was the lack litter and no graffiti we see today.
As you say, "priceless" and we see the pale sun trying to penetrate the appalling atmospheric pollution from a million coal fires, coal fired power stations and dirty filthy steam trains. My beloved of the very late 1960s/1970 lived in a house with the back garden backing onto a railway embankment. The sparks from the steam engines set fire to the banks half a dozen times each Summer. London was no more pretty in 1924 than it was in 1969/1970 or than it is today. I'm glad that I lived my early years in Hertfordshire where the Grand Union canal was beautiful. I remember my first sight of a grass snake when I was 10. It was swimming the canal near Hunton Bridge.
You're not saying anything profound. I think we're all of us aware how we benefit from greater, and more equitably distributed, comfort, safer housing and products, better medical care (the humble antibiotic being the greatest single advance). And yet with all these advances people today seem to lack the self-possession and individual dignity that leaps out at me when I watch these films. I see no po-faced fatties shuffling along poking at a smartphone (or walking along the pavement absorbed in doing the crossword, to take the tech out of it). There's good with the bad. My grandmother would've been 31 and living in London in 1924, and I don't recall her shrinking in horror whenever I asked about the old days. And she was a very practical Lancashire lass from a modest upbringing. And I find that I am now just old enough that I'm starting to hear the time I grew up in (1970s) described by people (born in the 1990s) as though it was some sort of Neanderthal horror show. So pinch of salts all round and enjoy the films. And let's be allowed to enjoy a little harmless nostalgia in peace.
The eastern end of the canal, like Limehouse Basin, and Hackney would have been some of the poorest parts of London then, not "gentrified" like they are today.! Then they suffered badly in the "Blitz" during the War.
Not sure what has a better impact on watching this. The colorization, or the adjusted speed. Its always hard for me to watch raw footage with everything moving so fast. Great video!
I really appreciated this film because my Father was born in 1924. I believe that when I first saw this it came with a John Barry soundtrack which I thought really complemented the film. If at all possible could you please tell me what that piece of music was so I can play it again. I think that the way you have restored these films is absolutely exceptional. Thank you!
The John Barry music is correct. However, because it is copyrighted I had to change it. I think I used `John Barry - Across The Sea Of Time` You can find it here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RgHbFi4deYs.html
@@Rick88888888 Thank you for providing me with the soundtrack. I cannot express how much this means to me, I just think of my Father when I watch your film. Once again thank you so much!
Slums, untreated sewage, poverty, no healthcare, no pensions - thousands of dead horses every week on the streets of London alone. The petrol/diesel engine was seen as a green alternative to horse manure on the streets and canal paths which says it all.
You say while staring at a screen that gives you access to all of human knowledge while watching a film from a hundred years ago featuring people who were largely illiterate.
![Barging through Old London over the Regents Canal in 1924 in colour! [A.I. enhanced & Colorized]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
