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Panorama of the River Avon to Portishead (1902)
A fine variety of views of the Avon gorge taken from various positions downstream from the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Non-Fiction 1902 9 mins Silent
Overview
This journey down the Avon gorge was filmed from the riverbank, from a boat and from the Portishead railway. Among views of the estuary, the cargo ship Vera and the fine wooden warship Formidable (then a training ship), Portishead docks and the entrance to the Clifton Rocks Railway. This underground funicular railway linked the town to the riverbank just below the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Fans of Bill Morrison's Decasia will appreciate the haunting beauty of the decayed nitrate, which makes HMS Formidable appear like a ghost-ship, shrouded in a mysterious white fog.
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