Blipping - 142 years ago

Surrounded as I am right now by fragments of history, I apologise for sharing one more - but it does recall a day when blipping would have involved a lot of very awkward equipment, a lengthy and tricky developing process - and no web to publish it all on. By a long chalk - because this was 1868. (Disraeli was about to be Prime Minister!)

24 January 1868 saw the culmination of a storm that had ripped along the east coast of Scotland, among other damage sinking four boats of the Newhaven fishing fleet. It didn't quite have the force of the storm a few years later that brought down the Tay Bridge with a loaded passenger train on it. But it was certainly strong enough to uproot thousands of trees - and whip the roof off this church at Holy Corner in Edinburgh. It had only been built in 1863 (at a cost of £2,200) - and had suffered from architectural defects from day one. The high roof, victim of the storm, had made for poor acoustics and cold and draughty seating.

So I dedicate this blip to our noteable ancestor - whoever he or she may have been - who popped round with the photographic paraphernalia to capture the scene days later.

Digging his/her work out of a cellar 142 years later - I snapped it all over again.