‘Britain from Above’ is an on-line, free access archive exceeding 90,000 aerial photographs taken between 1919 and 1953, with some later additions. While these were commercial photo’s rather than an exhaustive survey of the UK, they give fascinating views of the nation, peppered with evidence of its past and glimpses of the future – sometimes surprisingly short-lived. Then there’s hidden Britain; discreet homes of the rich and famous, MI5 safe houses, a corset factory secretly producing code breaking machines, the radio station linking Roosevelt with Churchill via Selfridges, and much more.

We explore themes using BfA photo’s to illustrate and provide evidence. Additionally, we use the National Library for Scotland’s splendid collection of British Ordnance Survey maps, ‘You Tube’ clips and other available Internet sources. Recent examples include the development of gardens from the Tudors via the great landscape gardeners to the 19th Century. Aerial images put the gardens and their houses / mansions in context, showing how tastes and approaches changed over time.

For England’s hospitals over a thousand years, we spanned the treatment of specific conditions (e.g. leprosy, scrofula, mental illness), to treating particular professions e.g. seamen and dockers.

We are a small, light-hearted group who will happily explore the unexpected. If this interests you, do contact me.