Work

Prologis Park entrance, Ridgmont, 6 March 2020

Linda Swain, Z1749/4/1/1

In recent years large distribution centres and industrial parks have sprung up particularly in areas near major roads such as the M1. Although landscaping and planting are used to minimise their impact they are large features of the modern landscape but do not have the picturesque or architectural features that attract a photographer and therefore are rarely recorded.

Volunteers working at Warden vineyard, 13 March 2020

Ian Whiting, Z1749/3/5/4

Knowing whether workers are paid or volunteers helps to understand the economics of the businesses depicted.

View across harvested grapes towards the remains of Old Warden Abbey gatehouse, 9 October 2013

Ian Whiting, Z1749/3/5/3

Record quality photographs should be clear and matter of fact rather than artistic or picturesque but that still leaves room for some dramatic and interestingly composed images.

R S Cars Ltd at Greenfield, 3 March 2020

Greg Harrison, Z1749/2/6

Small business premises are often well known to locals but are rarely the subject of record and the site may change rapidly and extensively if the business closes so a photographic record is useful to have.

Ingles butchers 5 Bedford Street, Ampthill, 27 November 2011

Martin Nellist, Z1749/5/2/1

Note the pheasants hanging outside the shop. The business was taken over by B W Deacon in 2014.

Wyvern Shipping, Grand Union Canal, Linslade, 15 June 2020

Kathryn Faulkner, Z1749/8

This snapshot in time records the effect of the pandemic on the leisure industry. Canal boats which would normally have been rented out for holidays were all left moored outside the Wyvern Shipping office when the lockdown prevented leisure travel.

Thatching in Woburn Road, Ampthill, 31 May 2017

Martin Nellist, Z1749/5/2/14

From a record point of view this would have been a more useful if we had the name of the thatcher.

New road surface being laid in Willington Road and Northill Road, Cople, 6 March 2020

Ian Whiting, Z1749/3/1/16

Photographs of people at work and the machinery and techniques in use at the time have obvious use for the social historian.

A tattoo studio and a clock maker/repair shop share a building (No 16) on High Street, Sandy, 23 March 2021

Chas Leslie, Z1749/1/6/7

Small details in photographs can prove very useful when there is a lack of other documentary information. Note the telephone numbers, the lack of a 1 in the number given on the clock maker’s sign shows that the business has been going since before 1995. In order for such details to be picked up photographs need to be clear. High resolution digital images allow users to zoom in on details.

Prologis Park from Ridgmont station, 6 March 2020.

Linda Swain, Z1749/3/4/1/3

The view shows footpaths encouraging workers to travel to the Park by train.