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No help to the location, but with their general dress code of jackets, ties, college scarf and cricket jumper, to me the blokes resemble a bunch of undergraduates. As usual with period photos, the haircuts and clothes make them appear older, but their faces are fairly young-looking. One of them also appears to be wearing a Gannex raincoat, which would date it to 1951 at the earliest, that being the date when that material was invented.

Whatever, they appear to be having a good time.

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1 hour ago, Slim said:

My immediate thought was Camden Town (Regents Canal) with the ABC bakery in the background.

My recollection is that the ABC building came up to the waters edge.

In the picture there is a wide promenade with a bench seat and a small tree with a tree guard around it. Such things weren't normally provided on canal towpaths in the era of this photograph, which would suggest it is more likely to be on a river somewhere.

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2 hours ago, johnthebridge said:

No help to the location, but with their general dress code of jackets, ties, college scarf and cricket jumper, to me the blokes resemble a bunch of undergraduates. As usual with period photos, the haircuts and clothes make them appear older, but their faces are fairly young-looking. One of them also appears to be wearing a Gannex raincoat, which would date it to 1951 at the earliest, that being the date when that material was invented.

Whatever, they appear to be having a good time.

 

It struck me that getting 14 or so blokes all standing up in a wide punt must take quite some skill. I think they must all be reasonably familiar with balancing standing up in boats as the whole assembly looks top heavy to me and likely to capsize. You can see the water marks on the hull as it tipped as they all got in! My guess would be Oxford or Cambridge. My great uncle used to hire out punts from his boathouse at Bedford when I was a child and I vaguely remember some giant punts there, like in the photo.

 

 

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19 hours ago, MtB said:

 

It struck me that getting 14 or so blokes all standing up in a wide punt must take quite some skill. I think they must all be reasonably familiar with balancing standing up in boats as the whole assembly looks top heavy to me and likely to capsize. You can see the water marks on the hull as it tipped as they all got in! My guess would be Oxford or Cambridge. My great uncle used to hire out punts from his boathouse at Bedford when I was a child and I vaguely remember some giant punts there, like in the photo.

 

 

The first (and not the last) time I accidentally fell into the water was when my parents hired a punt on the Ouse at Bedford. I would have been under 10 years old, and I did the classic novice thing of pushing off from the bank and forgetting to jump in soon enough. I seem to remember the name "Silvery Ouse" related to that particular time, but can't be certain.

1 minute ago, johnthebridge said:

The first (and not the last) time I accidentally fell into the water was when my parents hired a punt on the Ouse at Bedford. I would have been under 10 years old, and I did the classic novice thing of pushing off from the bank and forgetting to jump in soon enough. I seem to remember the name "Silvery Ouse" related to that particular time, but can't be certain.

 

19 hours ago, MtB said:

 

It struck me that getting 14 or so blokes all standing up in a wide punt must take quite some skill. I think they must all be reasonably familiar with balancing standing up in boats as the whole assembly looks top heavy to me and likely to capsize. You can see the water marks on the hull as it tipped as they all got in! My guess would be Oxford or Cambridge. My great uncle used to hire out punts from his boathouse at Bedford when I was a child and I vaguely remember some giant punts there, like in the photo.

 

 

Now I come to look more closely, I think I can count 15 on it, so, a Rugby team outing?😁 

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3 hours ago, johnthebridge said:

The first (and not the last) time I accidentally fell into the water was when my parents hired a punt on the Ouse at Bedford. I would have been under 10 years old, and I did the classic novice thing of pushing off from the bank and forgetting to jump in soon enough. I seem to remember the name "Silvery Ouse" related to that particular time, but can't be certain.

 

Apologies as well off topic.

Silvery Ouse used to run passenger boats from Fenlake to Bedford embankment.

One of the boats may well still be rotting at the back of Rookery Nook where I think they operated from originally. Not sure on that though as there used to be a small marina/moorings next door too (Barns Hotel site)

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Is the bloke at the back super tall or standing on the edge of the boat? 

 

20230407_174540.jpg

Punts have a little deck at each end maybe he is on that. I suppose he might be the man with the pole. 

Its not a striped boating blazer but not far off. I think as MtB mentioned it could be Oxford or Cambridge.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think it could be in Cambridge - the Cutter Ferry. See map link below. Or maybe one of the three "private" ferries marked just upstream.  It does look like a ferry punt rather than a sitting down and looking languid while drinking Pimms punt.  The ferries here, at the Fort St George (just to the west), and at Chesterston (downstream) are now all replaced by footbridges, but back then there were no bridges downstream of Victoria Bridge (ignoring the railway bridge, which has only last year had a footbridge added).   This ferry would have provided access to many of the College boathouses on the north bank.

I am cruising there tomorrow, and will try and get a photo of those cottages, which do look familiar.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side-old/#zoom=16.5&lat=52.21097&lon=0.13351&layers=168&right=ESRIWorld

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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The Cutter Ferry bridge has been there since at least 1928 (with the present bridge dating from 2005). This photo (from https://capturingcambridge.org/chesterton-2/cutler-ferry-bridge-dants-ferry/) shows the footbridge in 1928, and the ferry is still present. But I can't imagine the ferries would have survived long after the footbridges were opened.  Surely the OP's photo is later than 1928.

Screenshot-2021-09-11-at-20.29.06-768x52

 

 

Edited by David Mack
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 I will defer to David Mack on the history of men's fashion, I suspect he is right.  This is the best fit I could spot from the river this morning, at the location I suggested earlier.  Close but no cigar I think (door in the wrong place).  Judging from the perspective in the original photo, this house (in Cambridge) is I think too far from the river.

 

If it stops raining I might explore on foot.  There's been an awful lot of redevelopment along the river in Cambridge in recent years, which makes it all rather harder .... It's possible than none of the buildings in the photo still exist.DSC_2057.JPG.91e8e2927757ed7631c0f7254c27a8de.JPG

 

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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Scholar Gypsy could be very close here.  His link to the side by side map is centred on where G P Hawkins bakery was housed in premises at the end of Parsonage Street, overlooking Midsummer Common. in which case the photographer would have been on the north bank of the Cam, at one of the College boat clubs, facing south. The bench can be picked up on Google maps!

 

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Well the rain finally stopped so I went for a walk (and now I am back on the boat the sun is coming out ...)

 

Here's a shot of the target house. It's been altered quite a bit. As you can just see, the left hand section is made with breeze blocks, the right hand is the original. There are also clear signs of the doors and windows being moved around. I didn't want to get arrested, and so didn't take any close up photos!

DSC_2061_1.JPG.583e45ace55478194543470994511354.JPG

 

Here's a shot using a normal focal length (50 mm in old money, 35mm on my digital camera) from the river bank. Parsonage St is to the left of the modern block of flats - I think the old bakery.

DSC_2065.JPG.0ceb8d5788123cafa77c3e3c502b30b4.JPG

Here's the ferry crossing, you can still see the indent on the opposite bank (to the right of CUBC boathouse) where the ferry would have been stored overnight. There are still steps on the near side bank.

DSC_2066.JPG.4c84ce1cc02a67c582dadacab7833dd2.JPG

 

Wide angle view of boathouses, ferry steps, target house, and the bench is there somewhere (but there are a lot of them!).
 

DSC_2069_1.JPG.d46b12f1e8e6bbb59beb8a31f587eb63.JPG

 

And a bit further upstream, a rather charming ferry cottage (near the Fort St George) 

 

DSC_2070.JPG.61886db8f66c8b1f87620bdfc5b0bb68.JPG

 

So now we just need a fashion expert.  I should add that "stand-up" punts like this are still in use, for example during the Bumps rowing races to ferry people to and from the Plough Inn at Fen Ditton, which is on the non-towpath side.\
 

PS This is Parsonage Street today.

 

DSC_2063.JPG

Edited by Scholar Gypsy
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56 minutes ago, John Brightley said:

Shouldn't they have a stick or something on there?

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5 hours ago, John Brightley said:

 Very nice.  I wonder if CUBC just kept the ferry for the photo opportunities for the crew, or to save them getting tired by walking over the nearest bridge.  I remember when CUBC used to train in Cambridge, not a very suitable bit of river.  They now train in Ely, rather harder, and in a single club for men, women and both lightweight crews.

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Edward Paget-Tomlinson could have helped with this thread as he was a rowing blue at Cambridge, IIRC, though one university is just like another to me. His widow still had his oar on display last time I visited.

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13 hours ago, John Brightley said:

 

Not only that, but several (if not all) of the blokes in this photo are recognisably present in the original pic. 

 

 

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