Canterbury & District

Enjoy a tour around a Kent without cars in Sydney Bligh's film from 1928 - featuring historic landmarks, quaint villages and the old pontoon ferry at Grove Ferry

Starting at Canterbury's Westgate Tower we visit various city landmarks such as St Stephen's Church and the preserved locomotive Invicta. The tour of Kent follows with stops at Fordham church and the River Stour. Chilham's quiet lanes and quaint buildings are followed by an old mill on the Lesser Stour at Wickhambreaux. We see the ferry at Groveferry taking its passengers back and forth across the Great Stour. The film ends with a quick glimpse of Southampton's Bargate.

Sydney Bligh ran a wireless and electronics shop called S.W.Bligh, which was on North Lane in Canterbury. He was an early pioneer of radio, beginning his experiments in 1913 using the call-sign BXA. By the early 1920s Bligh was broadcasting his own shows - before becoming one of the founder members of the British Broadcasting Company. As well as his work as an amateur filmmaker he also was an early pioneer of television and developed some components that improved television reception.