We’re all used to seeing pictures of the past in stark black and white but now for the first time there’s a chance to see how the past really looked. Our new series takes applies a colourisation process to some familiar scenes in towns in Wales and the borders and transforms them in to glorious colour.
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IF you don't know what's going on in this picture, you can probably guess it's not pleasant, particularly for the ox taking centre stage who is about to get cooked, sliced, and diced and put on a plate. The setting is Monmouth Cattle Market and the date is August 9, 1902, and the gathered assembled were preparing for the Coronation ox-roasting. Amongst the crowd gazing at the photographer as if he were an alien life-form is Mr J. Mackie. He's the man with the ladle and he was in charge of the spit and the carving of the beast. Yet before you spit out your avocado in disgust, remember, that the ox flesh was later distributed to the poor and needy of the town! People gotta eat fella! (Pic supplied )
BEFORE there was Beavis and Butthead there was Beavis and Davis. And unlike the MTV cartoons they didn't sit around all day criticising lame bands, they ran a popular tobacconists and confectioners in Cinderford. Tobacconists were the shops that used to sell the stuff we smoked before vaping was a thing, and confectioners were the posh word for tuck shops! Pauline and Pat Davis and Bob and Mar Beavis shut up shop in 1992 and with them, an era ended. Keen-eyed readers will notice a John Player Special sign in the window which along with Dunhill was once the discerning smoker's fag of choice! (Pic supplied )
SOME institutions and buildings become such an integral part of the geographical area where they are based that it’s easy to forget they haven’t always been here. Think the White House and Washington, Big Ben and Westminster, the Eiffel Tower and Paris, and then, taking an almighty leap of the imagination, think Pen-y-Fal and Abergavenny. Originally known as the Joint Counties Lunatic Asylum, and later the Monmouthshire Mental Hospital, the sprawling Tudor Gothic-style building which overlooked and cast a shadow over the Gateway to Wales for well over a century was erected in 1851. Pen-y-Fal finally closed its doors for the last time on August 17, 1996, and a large part of the original building still stands as part of a sprawling housing development riddled with an abundance of clues and pointers as to the former legacy of the site. Here's the men who built it! (Pic supplied )