Victorian London Contrasted With The Modern City In Remarkable Video

Video Shows Oldest Footage Of London Contrasted With Modern City

What did London look like in late Victorian and early Edwardian Britain? Pretty much like today, as shown by this remarkable video (above) that contrasts the oldest surviving footage of the capital with the same vistas more than 100 years later.

Included in the footage are scenes from Parliament Square, Westminster Abbey and the House of Parliament viewed from across the Thames, as well as The Monument, Tower Bridge, the City, Charring Cross and Trafalgar Square.

Downing Street is filmed, the home of Arthur Balfour and Henry Campbell-Bannerman free from the security gates that have guarded the street for their more modern counterparts. The Embankment scenes show paddle steamers on the river, while gentlemen in bowler hats move with pace across Blackfriars Bridge.

The video also features maps carefully researched to show where the camera was placed, as the footage skirts between London's historic landmarks.

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