HEREFORD BOATHOUSE - FLOTILLA COMMAND

As a Victorian visitor to Hereford once wrote on his postcard home:

"This is one of the finest rivers in England for Boating...."
River Wye - looking towards the Old Bridge in the distance.

Hereford Regatta, on the River Wye, was a famous rowing event from its inception in 1859, the Regatta Course running from the Old Bridge to Hunderton Railway Bridge:

Reverse view - the Regatta Course viewed from the Old Bridge
toward the Hunderton Railway Bridge.

Approximately the same view - but colourised.

Given the success of the Regatta, it wasn't too long (probably around the turn of the century) before Hereford Rowing Club built their own, rather splendid, boathouse on the Wye:

Hereford Boathouse, with steps leading down to the Wye. Old Bridge in the distance.

Another view of the boathouse, far left. The steps (wide enough for an eight) are well shown here.
 Old Bridge again in the background.

As all VBCW researchers will know, the Hereford Boathouse is only a short distance away from Sully's Garage, the home of Lord de Braose's Wye Dredging Public Works Programme:

Old Bridge, with Sullys Garage (white building) on the left.

It was therefore only natural that, as Lord de Braose's dredging programme slowly made the Wye navigable for small gunboats, collectively known as the "Wye Flotilla", the Admiralty chose the Hereford Boathouse as their HQ building. Of course, when we say "small gunboats", sometimes the Wye could accept larger craft:

The Wye in flood, August 1912. Boathouse in the centre. The river's banks and the
rowing steps have completely disappeared beneath the immense flood waters
 - briefly capable of floating a battleship.

And as all VBCW researchers will also know (and be very anxious to tell you, often in excruciating detail), the Edwardian boathouse is one of Hereford's (mercifully few) "great architectural losses". In 1958, a new boathouse was built on the same site:

The Boathouse today (with the Wye flooding). A 1958 "box" structure with little embellishment.

The "glory days" of the Wye Flotilla during the VBCW have, of course, long gone - along with the Edwardian elegance of Flotilla HQ. Argument still rages as to whether this architectural loss was caused by civil war explosion, or post war municipal vandalism : stay tuned for future blogposts and, of course, the shocking but unvarnished truth.

CINEMA IN HEREFORD 1930s

Hereford was slow (some would say pleasingly and/or entirely characteristically) to take advantage of the great cinema going boom of the 1920s and 1930s. It was only in 1936 that the Alhambra, the old fashioned Victorian music hall in Gwynne Street, was demolished; at that point, films then appear to have been shown in the former Corn Exchange - converted into the Kemble Theatre - in Broad Street. Nevertheless, in 1937/1938, Hereford witnessed the construction of not just one, but two, purpose built cinemas - the Odeon in Commercial Street and the Ritz in Commercial Road:

(1). The Odeon, 7 Commercial Street, opened in April 1937. This photograph also dates from
April 1937, the month of release for "Good Morning Boys" starring Will Hay.

(2). A photograph of the Odeon from 1949. Will Hay has long departed (in fact,
he died in April 1949, and the earliest this photograph could have been taken
is July, when "Sorrowful Jones" was released).

(3). The splendid Art Deco interior of the Odeon.

(4). Interior of the Odeon - a view from the right hand side of the dress circle.

The casual tourist (or eager VBCW researcher) visiting Hereford today will search in vain for "The Odeon" and its fine Art Deco interior - unfortunately, it has now to be numbered amongst the "architectural losses" of the cityscape. Unlike a number of other buildings, however, there is no suspicion that this loss was caused by "enemy action" during the course of the VBCW; the demolition of the Odeon in 1984 to make way for the (actually quite sympathetic) Maylord Shopping Centre redevelopment is too well-documented.

A quite different fate awaited the second (and even larger) purpose built Hereford Cinema, the red-brick Ritz:

(5). The Ritz Cinema, 100 Commercial Road, opened on 10th January 1938.

(6). A splendid extended view of the Ritz in the 1930s. A full sized cafe and tea room nearest the
camera. The cinema itself, reflecting the changing concerns and pre-occupations of the generations, was situated on the demolished remains of the Victorian County Gaol, itself built on the ruins of the
 ancient Priory of St. Guthlac.

(7). Interior of the Ritz, complete with the essential organist (Mr Frank Slater). March 1939 photo.

(8). A somewhat fuzzy (but best available) late 1930s view of the Ritz interior, organ in the centre.
Again Art Deco in inspiration, but not quite as exuberant as the interior of the Odeon.

The Ritz remains with us today, but had a somewhat chequered history of takeovers, buy-outs, and partial conversion (the stylish 1930s Cafe became the local Unemployment Benefit Office for a number of years, and part of the cinema was converted - shame to relate -  into a bingo hall). Final closure as a cinema took place in 2014, when an entirely new (multi-screen!) cinema was built in the course of the redevelopment of Hereford's old Cattle Market.

(9). A wet Commercial Road in May 2000; pretty much the same shot of the Ritz Cinema as Photo (6) above. There has been a very noticeable increase in traffic over the intervening 70 years, the once 
stylish Cafe now advertises itself as "Snack Bar and Amusements", and someone has thought to plant
a tree in order entirely to ruin the Art Deco vista. Sic transit....

(10). The 2010s - the once "Snack Bar & Amusements" space converted into an "all you can eat"
Chinese restaurant, trading as "Planet".

(11). The Odeon in 2008. Having previously been divided into a cinema and bingo hall,
the bingo hall has now given way to a nightclub called "Dusk".

(12). It's 2014 - the end. The Odeon has moved to the redeveloped Old Market.
 The nightclub stumbles on, rebranded from "Dusk" to "Fusion".
 The now leafless tree remains.

Post 2014, Christ and Mammon co-habitation. The cinema is now in use as a "Freedom Church", while "Fusion" continues its nightclub activities. The tree has not perked up.

Thankfully, however, as we live in the VBCW of 1938, we do not need to consider the future of demolition and change of use: it is sufficient to celebrate the arrival of two wonderful new cinemas in the centre of Hereford (just in time for the outbreak of the civil war, of course) and the journeys of imagination that Herefordians will soon be entranced by:

A long way from Hereford. Future blogposts will catalogue the types of films seen by Herefordians
during the course of the Very British Civil War.......

Notes:

(A). The Alhambra Music Hall, situated in Gwynne Street and demolished in 1936:

Alhambra demolition 1936.

(B). A local internet wag has cleverly pointed out the similarity between the Ritz Cinema, Hereford, and:

....the Red Banner Textile Factory, Leningrad.

The modern day Textile Factory has, nevertheless, rather more severe "tree issues".

HEREFORD "MULTI-VIEW" CARDS

As the City of Hereford empties of troops in anticipation of "His Majesty's Massive Counter-Offensive" (Spring Big Game 2024 - see HERE) some "multi-view" postcards of the cityscape over the decades:

1930s, clockwise from top left - The Wye Bridge, the Cathedral from the River, the Castle Green,
the Old House. Centre, the Cathedral again.

1940s, clockwise from left. The Old House, Broad Street, Commercial Street, the Wye Bridge

Late 1950s/early 1960s, clockwise from top left - The Wye Bridge, the Old House, Victoria Bridge.

Late 1960s/early 1970s, clockwise from top left - the Cathedral, the River Wye looking towards
the Cathedral, rowing on the Wye looking towards the Wye Bridge, the Old House.

1980s - the Wye Bridge, Broad Street, the Old House, the Cathedral from the River.

A fully illustrated history of the Old House is HERE. Similarly, an illustrated history of the Victoria Bridge is HERE, together with information on the 1937 Jubilee Walk, opened by Queen Mary, HERE. No doubt (battles permitting) blogposts will follow in due course on the Cathedral, Broad Street, and Castle Green....

HIGH VICTORIAN HEREFORD - BY GASLIGHT

Although it has yet to snow, we're now in the depths of the deep midwinter, and so a very early and interesting "street photograph" of Hereford High Town way back in December 1897:

December 1897 is pretty much the apogee of the British Empire - Queen Victoria has been sixty years on the throne, while the country has been through the enormous changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution and is considered the "workshop of the world". The dusty, drab and industrialised Boer War is two years away; the disaster of "The Titanic", fifteen. Only horses hooves and the tracks of carriages disturb the fallen snow in the centre of Hereford, and gaslight is the only illumination. Although the "cabbies hut" in the middle of this scene has long gone - swept away by the passage of time, along with the horses, carriages and gaslight - the streetscape is instantly recognisable even today.

Note : for a reverse view of the same area, but lit by electricity in 1939, see THIS POST 

Add Edit: roughly the same view - in daylight, and therefore rather more prosaic - in 1915. The "cabbies hut" is still there, but everything about the world has decisively changed from 1897:

and again sixty years later, in 1975, when High Town was pedestrianised:

HIGH VICTORIAN HEREFORD - "TUCK OILETTES"

The well known firm of Raphael Tuck & Sons changed the postcard trade in Britain forever (see their INTERESTING HISTORY HERE), and produced a number of views of High Victorian Hereford in their "Oilette" series:

Top to Bottom - the Cathedral; High Town looking
towards the Old House; and Castle Green, with
Nelson's Monument, looking towards the Cathedral

Top to Bottom - the Old House; the River Wye looking
towards the Victoria Bridge; the River Wye at Jordan's
Boathouse, looking towards the Old Bridge and Cathedral.

Notes:

(1). Downloading and enlarging the above pays dividends (for the true aficionado).

(2). The majority of these views are instantly recognisable even today, some 120 years later. The exception is the last card, the river view of the Old Bridge. This view (a favourite throughout Hereford's history) was tragically destroyed by the construction of the road bridge across the Wye in the mid 1970s.

A famous view destroyed - the 1970s Hereford road bridge,
with the Old Bridge and Cathedral partly obscured.

(3). For a heavily illustrated look at the Old House through time, see HERE.

(4). For a heavily illustrated look at the Victoria Bridge through time, see HERE

THE SECRET OF OFFA STREET, HEREFORD

Offa Street is a short side road in the very centre of Hereford, leading from East Street to St. Peter's Square, the site of Hereford's War Memorial. A sharp right where Offa Street meets St. Peter's Square, along St. Owen Street, and the eager VBCW tourist quickly arrives at Hereford Town Hall. But Offa Street itself has always remained somewhat anonymous:

Offa Street in late Victorian times. St Peter's Church prominent
at the top of this anonymous side road.

The same view some 100 years later, and Offa Street is little changed.
The buildings on the near left have disappeared, replaced by a car park.
This loss has been variously attributed to  municipal vandalism,
 road widening, subsidence and neglect, or (most persuasively)
 bomb damage during the VBCW.
St. Peter's Church still dominates the view.

The top of Offa Street, 1909. St Peter's Church is behind us.
T. Lindsey Price, a purveyor of "furniture, carpets and linoleums",
occupies the commercial premises where Offa Street meets St. Peters Square.
The first floor appears to be vacant. Note column in entranceway.

The same view sixteen years later, in 1925. T. Lindsey Price has now given way
to Frank Hodges, an "Up to Date Tailor" and maker of breeches.
The first floor has been taken by the Pearl Insurance Office.
Within 13 years, by 1938, both businesses will be deeply affected by the VBCW.
(Frank Hodges order book for breeches had never been so full, while the
 Pearl Insurance Office rapidly entered insolvency in the face of
 of a huge number of damage to property claims). The column remains.

A contemporary photograph, nearly 100 years later. Frank Hodges is long gone, as is the
Pearl Insurance Office. The building has been renamed "Offa House" and smartened up,
but is externally unchanged. Sunderlands & Thompsons, local estate agents, occupy the
whole of the refurbished building. The column appears to have escaped remodelling.

But this is not our usual blogpost of "before and after the VBCW" photographs of Herefordshire. Oh no. What could be "The Secret of Offa Street", and what does it have to do with the Very British Civil War ? In order to answer these very pressing questions, we need to take another short walk, back down Offa Street itself...

The modern view down Offa Street, Sunderlands & Thompsons on the left.
Two eager VBCW researchers, one carrying a heavy bag of VBCW guide books,
 cross from right to left and head downwards. Their destination is only too obvious....

At No. 3 Offa Street lies the Victorian red brick Headquarters of the Hereford Cattle Society, formerly known as - big spoiler coming up - the Hereford Herd Book Society.

A contemporary photograph of the Hereford Cattle Society, a fine Victorian
red brick on the corner of Offa Street and East Street. The building is unchanged
from Victorian times (see photographs 1 and 2 above, on the right) and hence
from 1938.

A contemporary close up of the entrance to the Cattle Society, demonstrating in stone
the importance of the Hereford breed to the globe - or, as some say, the world economy.
 The ever present St. Peter's Church to the left.

The Hereford Herd Book Society was founded in 1878 by Mr John Hungerford Arkwright of Hampton Court (Castle). This followed the publication of the first "herd book" of Hereford cattle in 1846 by Thomas Eyton of Wellington, Shropshire. As the modern day Cattle Society have recently noted : "Since 1886, the herd book has been closed to any animal with a sire or dam not previously recorded, so for over 130 years there has been continuous breeding."

By 1938, of course, the Herd Book (in fact, by that time, quite a number of books) had some 50 years of records, not just of breeding, but of planned improvement via breeding. While the Cattle Society and Herefordshire's farmers were entirely innocent of any greater (or malign) purpose than increasing the heft and value of Hereford cattle, the presence of such a rare archive of biological information was an irresistible lure to a wide variety of less well disposed VBCW factions - principally the sinister eugenicists of the BUF "Scientific Research Section" and, for very different reasons, the Lysenkoists of the Presteigne Soviet.

On the hunt for the "Hereford Herd Book" - Storm Leader Starborgling
and members of the sinister BUF Scientific Research Section. Could they use
 the historical and biological information within the  Hereford Herd Book as a
 valuable tool in their continuing eugenic quest to create "a BUF Superman" ?

Nor was that all. By 1938, the Hereford Herd Book Society had exported the Hereford breed to many different countries, principally the United States of America and Ireland. Acquisition of original historical breeding records, represented by the "Hereford Herd Book", could therefore be considered a "top national priority" in these countries, and the rumoured despatch (with full deniability, of course) of "Snatch Squads" from Washington and Dublin to the chaos of VBCW Herefordshire is still a matter of heavily contested debate within specialist historical circles.

Eamonn O'Toole (etc.) and his Squad of "Mad Bomberz". Sometimes portrayed
as no more than a Fenian Anarchist, was the O'Toole in fact "a deniable agent" of
 De Valera, tasked with ensuring the destruction of the Hereford Herd Book
 before it fell into "the wrong hands"?  

Not our Hereford.......the entrance road to Hereford, Texas, USA. Some say that this prominent
sign is no more than the usual "Madison Avenue chicanery"; others suggest that
 "Hereford Texas" originated as a secretive US Govt. scientific research station, set up to
exploit the knowledge of the "snatched Hereford Herd Book".

One day, perhaps, the full and accurate story of the valiant defence of the original "Herd Book" by members of the Hereford Society will be told - the smuggling of the records, the checkpoints, the betrayals and gun-battles. However and for some time yet, we suspect, it will still remain "The Secret of Offa Street"....

Notes :

(1). for an interesting and detailed view of the Arkwright family and of Hampton Court, see HERE.

(2). for our "List of Hereford Country Houses", including Hampton Court, see HERE

(3). for the modern day Hereford Cattle Society, including valuable particulars of forthcoming stock auctions and semen sales, see HERE. For obvious and entirely understandable reasons, the Cattle Society's historical commentary entirely omits any mention of "the difficult years" of the VBCW.

(4). Equally unsurprising, at least to dedicated VBCW researchers, the relevant national records of the United States and the Republic of Ireland are either still under permanent security embargo, or simply listed as "missing, presumed lost".

(5). For a speculative and highly colourised American account of relevant VBCW events, published shortly after "The Pentagon Papers" in 1968 and therefore shorn of the public attention it otherwise deserved, see "The Hereford Herd Book Heist" by Runyon (Area 51 Publishers, Nevada). It is now difficult to get hold of a copy, perhaps on the basis that the US Govt. are alleged to have instituted a "mass purchase initiative", but the occasional PDF can still be found on the dark web. 

HEREFORD GENERAL HOSPITAL

During the course of the VBCW, Hereford General Hospital was usually overwhelmed with casualties. A variety of Country Houses throughout the County were converted in to "battlefield clearing stations" and "convalescent centres", but the General Hospital, situated in Nelson Street right in the centre of Hereford, bore the brunt of medical care. 

Hereford General Hospital from the River Wye.

A colorised postcard, again from the right bank of the Wye

Another colourised postcard, from slightly downriver.

The Hereford General Hospital served the City and Country from 1783 to 2002, when services were transferred to the new Hereford County Hospital. The General Hospital buildings were then converted into residential flats. For this reason, it is not open to VBCW researchers, but tourists can still "soak up the authentic VBCW historical feel" when traversing the grounds. See the General Hospital's WIKI entry HERE

A modern day view of the main General Hospital Building, now flats, from the non-river viewpoint.

Notes:

(1). The General Hospital is located close to the Victoria Bridge, and often appears in the same photographs and illustrations. See the Victoria Bridge blogpost HERE