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Barnstaple's experimental concrete-hulled ship gets a visit from a jolly Italian admiral.
Non-Fiction 1918 5 mins Silent
Surprising as it sounds, reinforced concrete was the British Admiralty's first choice of material for shipbuilding when steel stocks ran low during the First World War. The experimental method saved 60% of the steel. This attractive newsreel visits the impressive timber-and-steel frame (no concrete yet) of one such vessel in her Barnstaple shipyard, in the rather jolly company of the Italian Navy admiral Sir Giuseppe de Lorenzi.
The Ill-fated Cretepath (referred to here as the Crepath) was completed later in 1918, but was wrecked on a sandbank after her launch. A follow-up attempt, the Cretepond, was more successful, but was completed after the war was over.
Non-Fiction 1918 5 mins Silent Location: Royal Albert Hall
Topical Budget salutes Britain's top brass in this gleefully patriotic newsreel edition, released just weeks after the First World War was won.
Non-Fiction 1918 1 mins Silent Location: Hillingdon
A war shrine is unveiled in Hillingdon by one of Britain’s leading wartime politicians
Sport 1918 0 mins Silent Location: Southend-on-Sea
Women munitions workers from the Kynoch and Vickers Maxim factories take to the pitch in Southend during WWI.
Non-Fiction 1918 2 mins Silent Location: Rhyl
Having survived the menace of the First World War, Rhyl is assaulted by the watery forces of nature
Non-Fiction 1918 4 mins Silent Location: Neath/Castell-Nedd
The sun shines down when PM Lloyd George is in town.
Non-Fiction 1918 1 mins Silent Location: River Thames
The tricky task of tracking London's swans.
Current affairs 1968 5 mins Location: Barnstaple
Children of a Devon primary school try to explain what happens on All Hallows Eve.
Non-Fiction 1915 3 mins Silent Location: Barnstaple
Roll up, the fair's in town - even with a war on.
Non-Fiction 1926 5 mins Silent Location: Barnstaple
Join the crowds in Barnstaple for fairground attractions
Non-Fiction 1898 2 mins Silent Location: Barnstaple
A 'phantom ride' along a fondly remembered Devon railway, crossing the distinctive Taw Bridge into Barnstaple on the way to Ilfracombe
Sport 1980 mins Location: Barnstaple
Barnstaple in pre-season friendly against Exeter City
News 1979 2 mins Silent Location: Barnstaple
Heavy snow fall in Barnstaple during the Winter of Discontent
Industry sponsored film 1960 24 mins
A new luxury express is put through its paces. This film looks over the shoulders of the select band of craftsmen, engineers and operators, whose combined skills try to ensure that a train journey is a delightful experience.
Documentary 1973 15 mins
British Transport Films record the varied daily lives of their neighbours as seen from the high roof of their building in London’s Marylebone.
Travelogue 1953 21 mins Location: York
The Stationmaster at York guides us through a typical day, from dawn to dusk.
Industry sponsored film 1957 20 mins
Illustrating the efficiency of express freight trains, and how they link manufacturers with their customers at the other end of Britain.
Documentary 1952 30 mins
Examining a day in the life of what was then the busiest railway system in the world – British Railways.
Industry sponsored film 1957 9 mins
A 1957 film examining the future for British Railways, and some of the opportunities provided by a new modernisation plan.
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