Historic England wants your modern photos of old postcard views

A collection of historic postcards is looking to find modern photos of the same views so that past and present can be compared.

Peckham Rye Park, London General view – people on path by bandstand
Nigel Temple postcard collection PC07898 (Image date range 1900-1906)
Source: Historic England Archive

The project is being run by Historic England and is using their Nigel Temple Collection of postcards as the background for the modern photos.

Rachel Prothero, Historic England Head of Content, said: “The Nigel Temple Collection of postcards gives us a wonderful snapshot of a moment past in some of the beautiful parks and gardens to be found across the country. We’d love for people to add their photographs of the same locations so we can see how these cherished landscapes look today and add to their story.”

What to do:

• Find a location near you on their map
• Click on the location marker to find a link to the Parks and Gardens Register entry, including a postcard from the Nigel Temple Collection.
• Take a photo of the same view the next time you visit.
• Upload it to the Missing Pieces Project and add your unique piece of the picture

There are some examples of what they are looking for here.

The Nigel Temple Collection

Nigel Temple (21 January 1926 – 4 November 2003) was an artist, postcard collector, antiquarian and an authority on garden design. He contributed to a number of journals on architecture, archaeology and garden history and was registrar of research for the Garden History Society (now known as The Gardens Trust). His large collection of postcards is a unique and special archive.

The collection consists of seven series, the largest and most important of which is the collection of postcards showing public parks and gardens