I’ve Been Mashing Up Chester!

Hi everyone. I’m Bob Hadfield a Chester based photographer with a passion for being creative and doing something different! On that note I’ve started doing what I call ‘mash-ups’. Taking a photograph of a scene in Chester and then combining it with portions of vintage photographs or drawings so we get a unique insight into the past. It’s also interesting to show culturally significant buildings that are no longer with us and present the notion “what if it still stood today?”

See what you think – here are a few.  If you want to see them all, I have a gallery here.

(Above) The Old Exchange building what was then the Town Hall of Chester. Built in 1698 before it burned down in 1862. The Town Hall as we know today was then completed in 1869. This is how the Exchange Building would have looked if it still stood today. I think it’s interesting that it was positioned centrally in the Market Square. Some locals think the outline of the Exchange Building should be marked out in the square to show where it used to stand.

The 1829 drawing of the Exchange Building used here was obtained from Chester Image Bank.

(Above) Is that a fire engine coming out of Chez-Jules?

Until 1973 the building that is now the Chez-Jules restaurant was in fact Chester fire station.

(Above) The Bridge Gate here restored to how it would have looked at the time of the English Civil War.

(Above) The Old Market Hall. Ever wondered what that tiny strip of old building is in the alley way by the Dublin Packet pub? It’s the only remaining part of the old Market Hall. Here is how it would have looked if it still stood today – extending on from that tiny part that still survives.

(Above) Northgate Street is restored to a busy conduit for traffic! In 1972 (when the historical part of this image was taken) it was clearly a busy street – a far cry from it’s mostly pedestrian traffic today.

Thanks for looking at my work. If you have any ideas yourself for what could make great mash-ups for me to work on, by all means drop me a line at bob@hadfieldphotography.co.uk. You can follow me on Twitter