A magic lantern show finds
a safe home in Wiltshire

In 1909, or thereabouts, a Mr W Lane travelled the length of the River Avon from its sources in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, through Amesbury and Salisbury to Christchurch on the Hampshire coast. During the course of the journey he took about 150 glass slides and made notes, from which he compiled a magic lantern glass slide show. During the next nineteen years he regularly gave slide shows at a variety of venues, which are recorded in the back of the shorthand notebook he used when giving his talks.

From the information passed to Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office, when the slides and notebook came into their possession, it appears that members of Mr Lane's family continued to give the talk until 1958. Little is known about Mr Lane, except that 'he was a keen Congregationalist at Christchurch in what is now Dorset, and then Hampshire, because he supported their funds with his slideshows', according to Principal County Archivist John d'Arcy.

His talk was a mixture of stories, observations and descriptions. Of the river's sources, he says 'The ancients attributed marvellous but fictitious properties to rivers at their sources. This would therefore have been deemed a fortunate or disastrous place to live or visit, as the case may be'. More topical was his slide of a post office in Amesbury which was destroyed by fire shortly after the picture was taken. He also recorded landmarks, including Stonehenge, along with the more whimsical, such as ten year old 'pet lamb' and its owner.

The glass slides and notebook can be seen at Wiltshire & Swindon Record Office, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wilts BA14 8JN, tel: 01225 713138, email: wsro@wiltshire.gov.uk.