At Wessex Film and Sound Archive you can see and hear history, from late Victorian times to the present day, through moving images and sound recordings. The Archive contains over 36,000 film and sound recordings relating to Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, including film and tapes of local TV and radio.
This film is part of Free
The Building of the Eastern Road flyover on the M27
The roads around Portsmouth are about to be transformed with concrete and steel in this 1970 film from W J Evans.
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Overview
W J Evans' film begins at the site of the new flyover where, despite the earthworks and heavy construction work, traffic is still using the existing roundabout. We see a large embankment formed and the construction of several concrete supports. Surveyors and engineers are seen on the site. We then move to Langston Wharf where the schooner, Eolus, is berthed. Members of Mr Evans' family are also seen, then it's back to the construction site where the work continues.
W J Evans owned and ran an engineering company in Portsmouth called the Marcyn Works. He was also a keen photographer and film maker and, from about 1937, began to chronicle, on film, a variety of events in and around Portsmouth, including civic events, family scenes, holidays, foreign business trips and activities at the Marcyn Works. In 1969 Mr Evans was elected Lord Mayor of Portsmouth and made this film about the building of a flyover on the M27 shortly afterwards.
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