Tantara Gatehouse Etching – Then & Now
Tantara Gatehouse Etching - Then & Now This then & now comparison shows an etching of the Tantara Gatehouse, one of the largest surviving fragments of the old Abbey of…
Here is a collection of composite Then & Now photos, showing scenes we have loved and lost around Kenilworth, for better or for worse.
Do you have a Then & Now image suggestion? We’d really like to collect reader Then & Now scene suggestions, or simply old photos you’d like us to create a Then & Now match for. If you have any suggestions, please email [email protected] with your submission.
Tannery Cottages – Then & Now
Tannery Cottages - Then & Now This wonderful colour image seems somehow tangibly recent and yet it captures a long vanished snippet of old Warwick Road, shortly before its demolition.…
St Augustine’s Church – Then & Now
St Augustine’s Church - Then & Now This ‘then’ image of St Augustine’s RC Church (also known as St Austin’s) on Beehive Hill was taken by Rob Steward sometime in…
Rosemary Hill Road Widening – Then & Now
Rosemary Hill Road Widening - Then & Now This undated view shows Rosemary Hill, taken from the junction with Upper Rosemary Hill and Abbey Hill, looking down towards Bridge Street.…
The Queen & Castle – Then & Now
The Queen & Castle - Then & Now This Then & Now comparison shows a surprisingly altered Queen & Castle; ‘then’ as it appeared in its days as a hotel,…
The High Street – Then & Now
The High Street - Then & Now This Then & Now scene of the High Street looks familiar to the modern eye. Mercifully spared the modernisations inflicted upon Warwick Road…
The Ford in Flood – Then & Now
The Ford in Flood - Then & Now Here’s a Then & Now comparison of two scenes of The Ford in very different meteorological conditions. The ‘then’ image comes from…
Bear & Ragged Staff – Then & Now
Bear & Ragged Staff - Then & Now This undated postcard shows a view of Warwick Road looking north. The image is taken from beside the Bear & Ragged Staff…
The Swimming Pool from Above – Then & Now
The Swimming Pool from Above - Then & Now The photo above comes once again from the aerial imagery snapped by the late John Webster, kindly provided to us by…
Upper Rosemary Hill & Albion Street Aerial Photo – Then & Now
Upper Rosemary Hill & Albion Street Aerial Photo - Then & Now The photo above comes once again from the aerial imagery snapped by the late John Webster, kindly provided…
School Lane Aerial photo – then & now
School Lane Aerial photo - then & now The photo above comes once again from the aerial imagery snapped by the late John Webster, kindly provided to us by his…
North-West Kenilworth Aerial Photo – then & now
North-West Kenilworth Aerial Photo - then & now In April 2020 we were contacted by Steve Webster of Nelson, New Zealand, regarding a number of photographs from the collection of…
Cottage on Tainters Hill – Then & Now
Cottage on Tainters Hill - Then & Now In a previous Then & Now, we showed an image provided by Steve Webster of Nelson, New Zealand, of the family cottage…
Cars on Tainters Hill – Then & Now
Cars on Tainters Hill - Then & Now In April 2020 we were contacted by Steve Webster of Nelson, New Zealand, regarding a number of photographs from the collection of…
Peter de Wint’s Kenilworth Castle – Then & Now
Peter de Wint’s Kenilworth Castle - Then & Now The painting in this Then & Now comparison is a watercolour on paper by Peter de Wint (1784 - 1849), entitled…
Clinton Lane & Beehive Hill – Then & Now
Clinton Lane & Beehive Hill - Then & Now This Then & Now comparison shows the area now occupied by the Priorsfield housing estate, bordered by Clinton Lane (left), Beehive…
Elmdene – Then & Now, another angle
In a recent Then & Now article we showed a comparison of the long demolished house known as Elmdene, courtesy of Joanna Illingworth. In the article, we remarked upon the…
Elmdene – Then & Now
Elmdene - Then & Now This Then & Now comparison, of the long demolished house known as Elmdene, comes courtesy of Joanna Illingworth. Elmdene was a Victorian house that was…
Quarry House, Fieldgate Lane – Then & Now
Quarry House, Fieldgate Lane - Then & Now The Then & Now comparison above shows two images used for advertisements of sale for Quarry House on Fieldgate Lane. It is…
Woodcote Avenue – Then & Now
Woodcote Avenue - Then & Now This then & now pairing shows an oblique aerial photo of Woodcote Avenue and its junction with De Montfort Road. The 'then' photo is…
The Great Chamber – Then & Now
The Great Chamber - Then & Now This pair of then and now images compares a watercolour depiction of part of the inner court of Kenilworth Castle, known as The…
Saintlowe Tower – Then & Now
Saintlowe Tower - Then & Now The then and now images above show the intricate tracery of a window of the castle’s Great Hall and a corner turret of Saintlowe…
Leicester’s Building – Then & Now
Leicester’s Building - Then & Now This then and now image comparison of Leicester’s Building is so gratifyingly unchanged, we might as well have converted the ‘now’ image to black…
The Duck Race – Then & Now
The Duck Race - Then & Now part 1 The undated ‘then’ photo above shows the Boxing Day Duck Race, nowadays a firm fixture in Kenilworth’s calendar over the Christmas…
The Banqueting Hall – Then & Now
The Banqueting Hall - Then & Now This wonderful old postcard captures the spirit of what it must have been like to visit Kenilworth Castle back before the age of…
Mrs McEwan’s School – Then & Now
Mrs McEwan’s School - Then & Now This pair of then and now images evocatively captures the end of the era from before universal state education was available to all.…
St Nicholas’ Churchyard – Then & Now
St Nicholas’ Churchyard - Then & Now This undated image of St Nicholas’ Churchyard, was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows the path…
School Lane Alley – Then & Now
School Lane Alley - Then & Now This ‘then’ image comes from the photo collection of Rob Steward. The alleyway shown here runs from behind number 2, Bridge Street and…
St Nicholas’ South Chapel – Then & Now
St Nicholas’ South Chapel - Then & Now This undated image of St Nicholas’ Church, was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows the…
The Godcake – Then & Now
The Godcake - Then & Now This undated ‘then’ postcard shows the junction of Castle Green, Castle Hill and Castle Road opposite the Queen & Castle pub, known locally as…
Oxpen Meadow Marsh – Then & Now
This image of Oxpen Meadow, was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. In the distance (left) is the Castle, and in front of it can…
The Stone House Courtyard – Then & Now
The Stone House Courtyard - Then & Now This image of the Stone House’s courtyard, was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. This image pairing…
The Stone House – Then & Now
The Stone House - Then & Now This image of The Stone House, was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. This image shows the garden…
50 – 62 High Street – Then & Now
50 - 62 High Street - Then & Now This image of 50 - 62 High Street was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. The…
Kenilworth Junction – Then & Now
Kenilworth Junction - Then & Now Sometimes it is almost impossible to match a then and now view, and this is most definitely one of those scenarios. This then and…
The Malthouse – Then & Now
The Malthouse - Then & Now This early photo of the southern end of Malthouse Lane is notable for two reasons. Firstly, it shows the road as a rural lane,…
Priory Road Fields – Then & Now
Priory Road Fields - Then & Now This fascinating Then & Now comparison shows a view of Priory Road at a time when the west side of the road was…
Oxpen Meadow – Then & Now
Oxpen Meadow - Then & Now This image of the lake at Oxpen Meadow, Abbey Fields, was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. Formerly a…
Abbey Fields Playground – Then & Now
Abbey Fields Playground - Then & Now This Then & Now comparison is one which, at first glance, appears to be little changed, due perhaps to the relatively small timescale…
Bridge Street from High Street – Then & Now
Bridge Street from High Street This image of the junction of High Street, Fieldgate Lane, New Street and Bridge Street was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late…
Upper High Street – Then & Now
This image of the upper High Street and its environs was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. The ‘then’ image is undated, presumably having been…
Lower Ladyes Hills and Allotments – Then & Now
Lower Ladyes Hills and Allotments This image of Lower Ladyes Hills and allotments was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. The images were both taken…
Abbey Hotel – Then & Now
The Abbey Hotel then & now This image of the old Abbey Hotel wall was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows the Abbey…
Manor Road Bridge – Then & Now
This image of the surviving part of the Manor Road bridge was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows a view from Manor Road…
The Keep – Then & Now
This image of the Kenilworth Castle’s Keep was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows the Keep some time in the late 1980s or…
Abbey Gatehouse Archway – Then & Now
Richard Morris cataloguing architectural mouldings in the Abbey Gatehouse passageway This image of an archway adjoining the Abbey Gatehouse was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg…
The Old Council House – Then & Now
This image of the Old Council House was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. According to Harry Sunley’s A Kenilworth Chronology (Odiborune Press, 1989) the…
Rebuilding the Lapidarium Wall – Then & Now
These images of the restoration of the Abbey’s Lapidarium Wall were provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. Rebuilding the Lapidarium Wall A lapidarium (from the…
The Chapter House Wall – Then & Now
This 1980s ‘then’ image of the surviving part of the Abbey’s chapter house wall was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. The ‘now’ image was…
Lower Bridge Street – Then & Now
Lower Bridge Street - Then & Now This undated image of Bridge Street was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows Bridge Street looking…
The Sally Port – Then & Now
The Sally Port This Then & Now comparison pairs a 1960s ‘then’ colour image of what is possibly the castle’s Sally Port with a 2018 ‘now’ equivalent. The images have…
Abbey End 1980s – Then & Now
This 1980s image of Abbey End was provided to KHAS from the collection of the late Reg Palmer. It shows the section of Abbey End which was redeveloped post-war, to…
Buck Print of the Abbey – Then & Now
Buck brothers' engraving of the Abbey of St. Mary, Kenilworth This Then & Now comparison attempts to match the view of St Mary’s Abbey, Kenilworth as captured an engraving by…
The Square and Lord Leycester’s Lodge – Then & Now
This then and now comparison shows a pre-war view of the clock tower at Abbey End. It can be identified as pre-war simply because it shows part of Lord Leycester’s…
Hollar Print of the Castle – Then & Now
This then and now pair of images shows part of an etching by Wenceslas Hollar of Kenilworth Castle, matched with a modern view from 2017. Hollar, properly known as Vaclav…
High Street Aerial View – Then & Now
This Then & Now image is a cropped portion of aerial photo EAW025675 taken from the wonderful Britain From Above website. If you have a moment, I can highly recommend…
12 – 16 Warwick Road – Then & Now
This ‘then’ view shows the east side of Warwick Road between Station Road and Talisman Square, once the site of The Tannery. Most interestingly in this view, is a glimpse…
The Ford – Then & Now
This old postcard of a horse and cart crossing through The Ford is instantly recognisable, despite subtle changes in the scene over the years. The good citizens of Kenilworth have…
Whateley’s Nursery & Railway – Then and Now
This week's Then & Now comparison comes courtesy of local historian Robin Leach, who has written extensively on the town's history, including books focusing specifically on the railway such as Rails to…
Buck Print of the Castle – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison attempts to locate the vantage point of a famous engraving, entitled The East View of Kenilworth Castle in the County of Warwick by Samuel and…
Prince of Wales Visit to the Castle – Then & Now
This pair of Then & Now images shows the visit of Edward, Prince of Wales to Kenilworth Castle. The ‘then’ image is an artificially colourised version of another black and…
Carnival on Castle Hill – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison shows the Carnival of 1978 as it climbs up Castle Hill towards the High Street, matched with an equivalent image taken from last year’s carnival.…
The Fairy Bridge – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison shows what is variously referred to on old postcards as either the ‘rustic bridge’ or ‘fairy bridge’, which once connected Mortimer’s Tower to the outer…
Turner’s ‘Kenilworth Castle’ – Then & Now
It is testament to the fame that the romantic ruins of Kenilworth Castle attained in the early 19th century that an artist of J. M. W. Turner’s calibre chose to…
Site of Lord Leycester’s Lodge – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison shows the site of another casualty of the night of the 21st of November 1940, when a lone Luftwaffe bomber dropped a parachute mine over…
The Site of the Globe – Then & Now
On the night of the 21st of November 1940, a lone Luftwaffe bomber dropped a parachute mine over Abbey End. The above-ground explosion destroyed a swathe of the densely packed…
The Tannery Pits – Then & Now
This week’s Then & Now comes courtesy of prolific local historian Robin Leach, whose recent research on Kenilworth’s involvement with animal skin processing, in particular on two major sites in the…
The Fellmongery – Then & Now
This week's Then & Now comes courtesy of prolific local historian Robin Leach, whose recent research on Kenilworth’s involvement with animal skin processing, in particular on two major sites in the…
Midland Bank, Warwick Road – Then & Now
The pictures above show a much modified Edwardian terrace, now numbered 44 - 46 The Square, Kenilworth. The ‘Then’ picture was taken from a Kenilworth Weekly News article published in…
Kenilworth House – Then & Now
This etching comes from a beautifully printed invoice from the wonderfully named “Mrs T.R. Stevens, Milliner and Costumier, Ladies & Children’s Outfitter, Depot for Dr Jaeger’s Clothing”. The millinery shop…
Old House, Bridge Street – Then & Now
This colourised postcard shows a collection of wonderful old timber-framed properties on Bridge Street, which were the subject of our very first Then & Now comparison back in December 2015.…
Fire Brigade – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison shows a photograph from 1883 of Kenilworth Fire Brigade posing with their manual pump fire engine on Upper Rosemary Hill. At the time, the brigade’s…
Cosy Cafe – Then & Now
This postcard shows the Cosy Cafe on Castle Green, which served teas to tourists who came to the town to take in the majestic ruins of Kenilworth Castle. It boasted…
House in The Common – Then & Now
This quaint postcard of Kenilworth Common shows a pair of semi-detached Victorian houses, with smoke pouring from the chimney stack. A family gathering of the inhabitants poses for the camera.…
Leicester’s Stable Interior – Then & Now
This Then & Now comparison shows Lord Leicester’s Stables, Kenilworth Castle, when it first became used as a cafe for visitors. Later renovations and alterations have since removed extra beams…
Clinton Lane – Then & Now
Readers of this Then & Now feature will be familiar with the fate of some of the buildings shown on this Then & Now comparison. The surviving timber framed cottage…
E.H. Watts VG Stores – Then & Now
In previous Then & Now comparisons we saw how the old fashioned terraced shop belonging to W.H Watts at number 30 Warwick Road was converted to a modern supermarket by…
W.R. Barnett and W.H. Watts – Then & Now
This row of Warwick Road properties has undergone so many alterations and demolitions that there aren’t very many clues as to which are their modern day counterparts. However, from similar…
32 Warwick Road Demolition – Then & Now
This Then & Now image shows the demolition the frontage of what is now numbered 30 Warwick Road. As We will see in subsequent Then & Nows, this work was…
Boots the Chemist, Warwick Road – Then & Now
This Then & Now pairing shows Boots the Chemist on Warwick Road, some time in the early 1960s and its modern day equivalent location. This grand old double bay windowed…
Abbey Hill – Then & Now
This Then & Now image is taken from Upper Rosemary Hill and shows the Abbey Hotel which stands at the junction of Priory Road, Abbey Hill and Rosemary Hill. Very…
Cumnor House – Then & Now
This then & now pairing shows an etching of the grand property named Cumnor House, which sits opposite the War Memorial at 17 - 19 Abbey Hill, along with a…
Warwickshire Hunt – Then & Now
This pair of then & now photos show a once familiar scene when the Warwickshire Hunt gathered for its traditional Boxing Day meeting in the car park of Kenilworth Castle.…
Postcard of The Square & Clock Tower – Then & Now
This postcard of The Square can be dated between 1906 when the clock tower was constructed and the 1930s when alterations were made to the buildings comprising Numbers 1 &…
Tannery Gates, Warwick Road, early 1965 – Then & Now
Pictures of the gates of the old Tannery on Warwick Road, where Talisman Square now stands, are relatively few and far between. This one was taken in early 1965 by…
Randall Road Junction, 1971 – Then & Now
Here we see yet another Then & Now pairing which illustrates the scale of the demolition along Warwick Road in the 1960s and 1970s. This scene shows a row of…
Post Office, 1969 – Then & Now
This then & now pair shows the old Post Office building on the corner of Barrow Road and Warwick Road in 1969, shortly before its demolition, taken by John Drew…
Mr Hughes’ Bakery, St John’s – Then & Now
The postcard above shows an undated view of Mr J. Hughes’ bakery, opposite St John’s church, with the proprietor and presumably his son and daughter in the doorway. A horse…
King’s Head Sign, Then & Now
For a number of years the location of the former King’s Head pub, known to have existed from licensing records, was lost to us. All that changed with an intriguing…
Fairview, July 1964 – Then & Now
Younger readers may be unaware that a row of houses, named Fairview, once stood where the entrance of the Sainsbury’s carpark now lies. This ‘then’ photo was taken in July…
Old Vicarage & Tithe Barn – High Street
This famous old postcard shows the demolition of the old Old Vicarage, in preparation for the building of the Parochial Hall. The vicar of St Nicholas’ Church, to which the…
Cars Parked at Abbey End – Then & Now
This then and now pair shows a snowy Abbey End as it appeared in the 1960s, still unoccupied since the rubble was cleared away from the destruction of the parachute…
Little Virginia Cottage – Then & Now
This pair of Then & Now photos shows just how poor the state of repair of the cottages in Little Virginia had become by the late 1960s and early 1970s.…
151, 153 & 155 Warwick Road, 1964 – Then & Now
The narrative of this then & now post will be familiar to regular readers. This mid 1960s photo shows a row of brick cottages that comprised 151, 153 & 155…
NatWest Bank – Then & Now
This week’s Then & Now comparison is provided by two local guest contributors who worked in Kenilworth’s NatWest Bank branch before it closed on the 13th of June 2017. The…
High Street Children – Then & Now
This Then & Now pair of photos shows a group of children posing for the camera at the junction of High Street, New Street, Bridge Street and Fieldgate Lane. The…
86 Warwick Road – Then & Now
Had it not been for the fact that the mid-1960s ‘then’ photo above was labelled as ‘86 Warwick Road’, it would have been very difficult to identify the ‘now’ equivalent.…
Castle Hill & New Row – Then & Now
This undated postcard shows Castle Hill and Little Virginia, with the keep of Kenilworth Castle looming behind. An abundance of foliage has sprung up in the intervening years which means…
17 – 23 Warwick Road, 1964 – Then & Now
If you were to gather together all of the timber framed and thatched properties demolished in Kenilworth from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s you could build yourself a very pretty,…
The Swimming Pool, Abbey Fields – Then & Now
This week's Then & Now comparison comes from our guest contributor, the esteemed local historian Robin Leach. Robin has written numerous books on the history of Kenilworth, maintains two websites on…