If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 624

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gate House, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England

 

This Francis Frith unused black & white postcard features a photograph of the Gate House at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, England.  The identifier KLW.4 is seen at the lower left corner and the name of postcard company Frith is found at the lower right corner.  This card was one several I found in a jumble of cards in an old shoe-box at an antique pavilion.  It is not dated and does not have a divided back.  The quality of the print looks too recent to have been made prior to 1900, so this card may be a reprint of an older photo.

 

Francis Frith (1822-1898) was an English photographer who traveled extensively, sometimes to exotic places, with very large cameras (16” x 20”) on at least one of his trips.  Sometimes working in hot stifling tents, he used the collodion process.  For readers interested in this process, there is a link included with a video from the George Eastman Museum.  

 

 Originally apprenticed in the cutlery trade, Frith later became a grocer and then a printer.  In the 1850s he became interested in photography and was one of the founding members of the Liverpool Photographic Society.  He reproduced many of his photographs in illustrated books which became quite popular.  In addition to taking scenic pictures during travels to foreign places, he was one of the first photographers to establish himself as a retailer of scenic photos on a large scale.   

 

After his marriage to Mary Ann Rosling in 1860, Frith began a project to photograph every town and village in the United Kingdom, focusing on historical and interesting sites.  It was during this period; he began publishing his own images and founded F. Frith & Co.  The father of 5 children, two daughters and three sons, his sons, and later a grandson, took over the business following his death in 1898 at age 75.  The company was the vanguard of postcard development after the divided back was allowed in Britain in 1902.  The divided back allowed for a full-sized picture on one side of the card with spaces for a message and the name and address of the recipient.  The company was active until it finally closed in 1971.

 

The Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England and managed by English Heritage.  The castle was founded in the 1120s during the Norman conquest of England. Construction, additions, and renovations, were done over several centuries.  Historically, Kenilworth was subjected to what is thought to be the longest siege, 6 months, in 1266, and formed a base for the Lancastrian operations in the War of the Roses. 

 

The picture on the card shows the Gate House built on the north side of the base court.  It replaced an older gatehouse and provided an entrance from the direction of Coventry.  The exterior battlements, and towers reflect architectural styles popular a century or so earlier.  The interior has wood paneling and is a more contemporary Elizabethan style.  The gatehouse is one of the few parts of the castle that still remain intact.  Another building that survived is the stables built in the 1550s, constructed mostly of stone and found on the east side of the base court.  Gardens fill much of the right-hand curt.   

 

The castle passed out of private hands in 1958 when it was gifted to the town of Kenilworth.  English Heritage has managed the property since 1984.  Attempts to restore the gardens to more closely resemble the original were made between 2005 and 2009 at a great cost and criticism since not enough archaeological information was available to accurately complete the work.  In 2008 new plans were submitted to re-create the look of the castle including a lake that could be used for boating and waterside recreations.  Since 2017 an exhibition “Speed and Power:  John Siddley, Pioneer of the Motor Age” has been on display.  Also, in 2020 an episode of Antiques Roadshow was filmed at the castle.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keniworth_Castle

https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Kenilworth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Frith

https://www.francisfrith.com/us/pages/frith-postcards

 

Link to video:

https://smarthistory.org/the-collodion-5-of-12/

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note:  Fans of Beth Brower's fictional "The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion" may recognize Kenilworth.