Historical Gripe

cliveh

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As someone who is very interested in Historical Photography, can I say how dismayed I was when visiting Lacock Abbey some years ago, to find that in the basement there was a large sign stating that part of Harry Potter was filmed here. William Henry Fox Talbot used this space as his darkroom, but there was no mention of this. What is the world coming to? Can others give examples of similar perplexity?
 

Mark Crabtree

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Surely there is some mention of William Henry Fox Talbot at the site isn't there? That would be crazy if there is no mention.

Not a gripe, but a interest in seeing more documentation - I've been collecting GPS location data for the sites Walker Evans photographed in my area (northern W.Va.) and would like to see some sort of markers. I'm thinking maybe just small disks set into the sidewalk or something of that sort.
 

edp

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The Fox Talbot museum is just up the road, in the village.
 

pentaxuser

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The problem is that as a NT property Laycock Abbey has to appeal to the general public who are mildly interested in the history of photography but very interested in Harry Potter.

pentaxuser
 

Photo Engineer

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Yeah, I thought it was Harry Potty!

Actually, Mark Osterman teaches there in the summer under the auspices of GEH and the Talbot curators to reconstruct many of the old methods that Talbot used right there in the Abbey.

PE
 

BrianShaw

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Can one petition the NT for recognition of the photographic history aspect of the location?
 

nhemann

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Well I know its only related to OP's final sentence - but I am currently working in the drydock where the USS Missouri was built and most of the people that work here don't even know that - a bit annoying to say the least.
 

moose10101

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nhemann said:
Well I know its only related to OP's final sentence - but I am currently working in the drydock where the USS Missouri was built and most of the people that work here don't even know that - a bit annoying to say the least.
Click to expand...

Even if you told them, it would probably have no significance for them.
 

Leigh Youdale

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Lacock Abbey is hardly the epicentre of Talbot's work. The museum in the village is much more interesting from that aspect.
And the village itself is very photogenic.
Since the OP mentions his visit was a few years ago, maybe it's time for a reprise.
 
OP
OP

cliveh

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I would say Lacock Abbey was very much the epicentre of Talbot's work. There is an area within the Abbey dedicated to Talbot and his early work, I was just dissapointed that his darkroom area was not pointed out in preference to Harry Potter.
 

Alan W

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nhemann said:
Well I know its only related to OP's final sentence - but I am currently working in the drydock where the USS Missouri was built and most of the people that work here don't even know that - a bit annoying to say the least.
Click to expand...

Did they build that one before or after the USS Enterprise?
 

BrianShaw

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Please don't tell me that you have neithre read one of the HP books, nor seen one of the HP movies???
 

David Lyga

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This is a striking example of how I cannot stand our current culture (and why I read nonfiction, instead of fiction). What interests most does not interest me.

NOTE: I consider Dickens to be NONfiction because it really is a historical representation and an accurate window onto the past. - David Lyga
 
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