Bruce Shawcroft Films February-March-April 1970, June 1971
Super 8mm film Colour Silent 02.1970-06.1971 40:28
Summary: A succession of local views in and around Harrow, including High Streets, churches and historic buildings. Reels 1-8 of miscellaneous amateur footage including Stanmore, Pinner, RAF Bentley Priory, and possibly Grimsdyke House.
Title number: 331
LSA ID: LSA/425
Description: A rapid shot of a High Street, showing a car crossing a junction, a lorry with Bardon sign on its side and a pub,the Red Lion, belonging to Benskins brewery. A woman with a dog is waiting by a lamp post in front of the pub and there is a pile of snow that has been piled up. The scene is of a busy High Street, with cars, buses and shoppers in view. The camera is moving rapidly, making it hard to distinguish local details. View down a residential road, looking down hill. There is on coming traffic and there is snow on the roofs and it has been cleared from the pavements. Cars go round a mini roundabout at the top of the road. Despite the snow, it is a bright sunny day. There are parked cars in front of an Ind Coope pub,The Hare on Brooks Hill, that has colourful striped window awnings and a painted pale yellow facade. There is snow on the pavement here and a view onto what looks like a snowy common/field just up from the pub. There is a road sign saying Clamp Hill, in front of a high wooden fence. In front of the Hare pub, a Ford Capri, Mini, Austin A40 are parked. A shot of an attractive semi detached red brick house with a rustic bus-shelter in front of it. There are other houses in a snowy rural setting. The camera moves across open snowy fields, with an Austin van parked at the top. Various shots through trees and snow by the roadside. There are many shots of thick snow and thawed paths on a common or in a field. There is a sign, Royston Park Road, in front of a white picket fence. This is in Pinner, possibly the junction with Oxhey Road. There is a shot of smooth snow and undulating landscape, with a row of trees in the distance. This is likely to be Grim's Dyke Golf Course. A shot of a large and impressive white stucco villa with snowy ground all around it. This is Grims's Dyke golf club house. There is a 360 degree shot of the landscape taken through a wire fence.
A shot of church graveyard. There is a stylised wooden portico at the entrance to the churchyard. The church has a distinctive square tower with a tall grey steeple and is St Mary's, Harrow on the Hill. There are assorted shots in the churchyard of gravestones and vegetation and of the exterior of the church with flintstone walls and ornate stained glass windows. There are shots of sweeping panoramic views including a gas tower,and of a location marker plinth. A view down Church Hill with a close-up of a plaque (unreadable) on the wall of Harrow Old school. There are further views of the famous Harrow School which is a series of beautiful red brick buildings and extensive grounds. There are shots of Harrow as the school is located at the top of the High Street. More shots of the High Street followed by a hot of a cenotaph dedicated 'to the sons of Harrow who died in the Great War'. There are more shots of Harrow School.
A car passes along a snowy road of large Victorian villas; there is a distinctive carved wooden bench dedicated to 'John(?) Arthur Lambert' former pupil at Harrow School at the side of the London Road; there is thawing snow on the ground. Street views showing passing cars and shop (S.Shaw newsagents); two school masters walk by in gowns and mortar-boards. There is a hotel in the background, The Kings Head, with a sign depicting Henry 8th. More street views of the High Street Harrow-On-The-Hill. A road sign of Waldron Road and a burgundy coloured Ford Anglia passing through can be seen. We see Winston Galleries and a shot of St Mary's steeple in the distance. There is a white Jaguar saloon parked on the payment with its bonnet up next to a two-tone Triumph Herald. We see shop signs including 'Anns Pantry' and various shops and restaurants including, The London Steak House. We see different styles of vernacular architecture in Harrow including modern flats.
Shots of a group of adolescent boys running along the street in gym kit. We are then back to scenes in the snow - with roofs thickly covered. A sign, Christ Church, Roxeth and then a view to a small ornate brick church set back from the road. There is snow everywhere. A young nurse runs through the shot, wearing a black cape, white hat and knee high socks. There are shots of Harrow Hospital, with its impressive moulding above the entrance. A road sign says, West Street. There is public sign saying, London Borough of Hillingdon. This is by what look like a large expanse of common land. There is a bridge with a small stream running underneath and then the shot goes into a farmyard, with a barn with ship lap cladding. It is unclear whether this is farm land or a residential development. Interior shots that are too dark to distinguish.
Shot of large church and churchyard, Parish Church of St Lawrence, Little Stanmore, that is packed full of gravestones. Close up of gravestone that says, 'William Powell: the harmonious blacksmith'. We are then back in a busy street. There is a routemaster bus: no 18 and then a couple of shots of a middle aged woman outside a house, which may be his wife? She is posing for the camera. In Edgware High street, there are timber framed tudor styled shop;Pearce Glaziers, Seabrooks, Jensen Bros, Handbag boutique, Landaws. There are lots of cars and people. There is large stone cross that is a war memorial. There are two refuse collectors, with dustbins on their shoulders, talking and smiling at the camera. In front of Landaws, there is a refuse truck. There is a hospital sign, saying Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. There is a grand entrance with brick columns and wrought iron gates. We see a man in a smart black uniform and peaked hat - who maybe some security guard. A ca is driving through the hospital grounds which are extensive and reflect different styles/periods of architecture. We can see a man in a white coat with some patients/visitors outside of a building. There are many hospital signs and an obelisk in the grounds.
There several similar shots of a lake followed by what appears to be cricket pitch with several cars parked on the periphery. There is an impressive Gothic-folly house by a lake;
there is no indication as to where this is. We see a wall with lurid stone cladding. A shot of a large well-tended garden with a stone slab with an inscription (indecipherable). A young woman in a mini-skirt and knee-high boots, walks across the lawn towards the slab. It seems she is calling to a dog to come to heel. There a various shots of a large church by a road. There is a sign marked 'Parish Church Of St. John the Evangelist', Great Stanmore. We see a man dressed in a dark suit wandering among the gravestones. We see a close up of a gravestone marked Mary B Wordsworth. More shots of gravestones, tombs and memorials; the inscriptions are, unfortunately, unreadable. There is a shot of a dilapidated church tower. We see a brick wall along a road with another street view of houses with large brick chimneys. We see a medieval wooden door with the inscription 'The Church House' above it. There is an ornate stone pot(?) on a plinth followed by a shot of brick wall with a sign 'The Manor House'. There is a view of an entrance to a Tudor-style building with a height warning sign above it.. we next see a row of old houses next to garage. Back to a grave with a cross. It is inscribed 'William Leefe Robinson V.C.'; there is small red wreath on it. We see another street view with cars speeding along which changes to another street with a white half-timbered house and a tudor-style house. We see Pinner Parish church with its unusually-shaped Loudon Memorial, in the grounds followed by a sign that states Pinner Parish Church. We see views of houses and Pinner High Street including The Queens Head. A policeman talks to a woman outside the premises of 'E E Beaumont & Son' body repairs. More views of the high street and shops including an 'Ind Coope' pub (sign dated 1580), a close-up of 'Wilson' newsagents, and 'Quinns' antiques. There follows a shot of the Elm Park Court, Flats Pinner, followed by views of a rustic rundown house. Lastly, we see a memorial stone with an inscription which is unreadable.
Credits: filmmaker: Bruce Shawcroft
Further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary's,_Harrow_on_the_Hill
http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/11322
http://www.francisfrith.com/uk/harrow-on-the-hill/harrow-on-the-hill-the-kings-head-hotel-c1960_h27109
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leefe_Robinson
http://www.pinnerparishchurch.org.uk/home.php
Locations: United Kingdom;England;London;Harrow; Pinner, Harrow on the Hill
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