Historic England acquires 8,000-strong collection of early landscape photographs

Black and white image of old London and St Paul's

A view from Bankside looking across the River Thames towards Paul’s Wharf and St Paul’s Pier, with St Paul’s Cathedral in the background, by George Washington Wilson

(Image credit: Historic England)

By Annunciata Elwes

published 11 March 2025

in Features

More than 8,000 black-and-white images, amounting to a collection of some of the finest early English landscape photography that is ‘of national significance’, has been acquired by Historic England (HE) for posterity.

Revered photographic consultant Janette Rosing (1942–2021) spent her life building the collection of 19th- and early-20th-century photographs, a passion that started when she stumbled upon a picture of Hartland Quay, Devon, before it was ravaged by a storm. Acquired as part of the Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme, the photographs have undergone a conservation assessment and there are hopes that, with a bit of fundraising, HE will be able to catalogue and digitise the entire collection.

‘From maritime scenes by James Mudd to detailed architectural studies by Linnaeus Tripe, each photograph in this exceptional collection offers a glimpse into the past, showcasing Janette Rosing’s expert eye for quality,’ comments Ian Savage, HE’s collections manager. ‘Rosing’s collection will continue to connect us with our history and inspire future generations to appreciate England’s rich cultural legacy.’

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HE’s Early Photographic Print Collection, of which these new images are now a part, comprises more than 22,000 items and is available to search online; the entire archive of photographs, drawings, plans, documents and publications from the 1850s to the present day numbers some 14 million items.

Scroll on for some of our favourites and visit the HE website to see more.

Architectural ruins of an ornate archway — Samuel Smith sitting on the porch steps at the ruined Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk, shortly after it was largely destroyed by fire, by Samuel Smith

Sepia image of a small fishing harbour — Fishing boats and the Red Lion Hotel in Clovelly, Cornwall, by James Valentine

Dilapidated urban building facade — Former weavers’ tenement houses at 3-5, Club Row in London's Bethnal Green, by Whiffen

Sepia image of ramshackle farmyard — St Clement’s Church in Sandwich, Kent, seen from the south, by W G Campbell

Black and white image of people in Edwardian dress sitting on a bench — People gathered at the Lookout in Clovelly, Devon, by an unknown photographer

Black and white image of an estuary and some fishing boats — Looking down Watermouth Bay, Devon towards the sea, by an Unknown photographer

Sepia image of wooden-hulled fishing boats on a very calm sea — Fishing boats in the harbour at Plymouth — with the Barbican in the background Plymouth, Devon, by W. J. Cox

Sepia image of an ornate section of wall covered in vines — The ruins of St Joseph’s Chapel at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset, by Linnaeus Tripe

Black and white image of a large castle overlooking a river — Looking along the River Tees towards the ruins of Barnard Castle in Durham, by James Mudd

Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.

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