peak_tram_track_1890s.jpg

Sat, 05/07/2022 - 15:48
Date picture taken
1890s

Comments

The photo shows the Peak Tram from Barker Road to the Upper Terminus. We have another photo on Gwulo showing the same view.

1910s Peak Tram - Barker Road Station
1910s Peak Tram - Barker Road Station, by Moddsey

I think the same negative was used for both. Therefore the date of the b/w photo should be more 1900s, or even later. It shows Mount Austin Barracks which were built in 1897. Behind the Barker Road Bridge over Peak Tram is Glenshiel which was built in the early 1900s. There is no roof above the station, so it is definitely before 1919.

I agree with Klaus.

Of the buildings in view, the latest to be built was probably Quarndon, constructed sometime between 11 Aug 1902 (site auction date) and 18 Mar 1904 (named in Peak Renumbering Exercise). Assuming construction took at least 6 months from auction, earliest completion date would be early 1903. Therefore, early 1903 is the earliest that the photo could have been taken.

Immediately to the right of Mount Austin Barracks are the sites of, firstly Edge Hill, and secondly Ewo Mess, identifiable by their massive terraces. I don't know when the terraces were completed, but buildings were not immediately constructed upon them, see https://gwulo.com/media/19576.

The Ewo Mess site is clear to see and obviously vacant. As Ewo Mess was constructed in 1912 and 1913, the photo must have been taken in or before 1913.

It's difficult to see what's happening on the Edge Hill site. It looks like something is there, but it's too blurred to know what. It could be Edge Hill under construction or completed, or perhaps it wasn't there yet and it's The Haystack standing behind the vacant site that can be seen. Edge Hill was built sometime between 14th September 1908 (site auction date) and 25th Feb 1910 (mentioned in 1910 Jury List), so if that blurred patch on the Edge Hill site is just the vacant lot, then the photo was taken in or before 1908, but if Edge Hill is actually present in whole or part, then the photo was taken in 1908 or later.

So the photo can be confidently dated to the range 1903 - 1913. Depending on what you think the blurred patch on the Edge Hill site represents, it can be further narrowed to 1903 - 1908 (Edge Hill absent) or 1908 - 1913 (Edge Hill present).

Does anyone have a clearer copy of this photo please?