Newly-wedded British couple Denys and Margaret Gardiner spent their honeymoon driving 900 miles up and down the east coast of England in August 1939, just weeks before the Second World War broke out. But the best thing (that is, the best thing for us) was that they took color pictures of the countryside they drove their convertible through.
After the death of his grandmother in February 2014, Barney Britton found an unexpected treasure while cleaning out her attic: a wooden box filled with dozens of 35mm slides documenting his grandparents’ honeymoon trip in 1939. Although Britton’s mother remembered seeing the photos as a child, they were long presumed to be lost after several decades and multiple house moves. To Britton’s delight, most of the slides were remarkably well-preserved even after nearly 75 years of storage. Many of the photos were shot using Agfacolor film—a novelty at the time—providing a rare and exceptional look at England in color in the month preceding the outbreak of World War II.
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| Church of All Saints, Upper Sheringham, Norfolk, 1939 |
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| The road between Morston and Blakeney, Norfolk, 1939 |
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| Common Lane, towards Brancaster, Norfolk, 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| A Ford, in Thetford Norfolk, 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| Boston, Lincolnshire, 1939 |
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| Lincolnshire, 1939 |
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| Hull – New Holland Ferry, 1939 |
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| Hull – New Holland Ferry, 1939 |
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| Nelson Street, Kings Lynn Norfolk, 1939 |
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| Burham Market, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| Sheringham, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Stiffkey, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| Bridge over River Glaven (between Wiveton and Cley), Norfolk, 1939 |
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| Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, 1939 |
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| Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, 1939 |
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| Yorkshire Moors, August 1939 |
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| Yorkshire Moors, August 1939 |
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| Lincoln, Lincolnshire 1939 |
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| High Bridge, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, 1939 |
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| Lincoln Cathedral, from Sincil Dyke, Lincoln, 1939 |
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| Brayford Pool, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, 1939 |
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| Lincolnshire Wolds, 1939 |
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| Lincolnshire Wolds, 1939 |
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| Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, 1939 |
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| Yorkshire Moors, August 1939 |
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| Yorkshire, August 1939 |
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| Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| York, August 1939 |
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| Yorkshire, August 1939 |
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| Hampstead Heath looking over ‘Vale of Heath’, London, 1939 |
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| Embankment, Londo,n 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| Cavendish, Suffolk, 1939 |
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| Prentice Street, Lavenham, Suffolk, 1939 |
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| Wells Next the Sea, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Near Wethersfield, Suffolk, 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| Add captionUnknown location, August 1939 |
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| Walsingham, Norfolk, August 1939 |
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| Lavenham, Suffolk, August 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| Unknown location, August 1939 |
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| Embankment, London, August 1939 |
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| Embankment, London, August 1939 |
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| Thames, London, 1939 |
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| Thames, London, 1939 |
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| Archway, London, 1939 |
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| Above the Wash, Lincs/Norfolk, August 1939 |