Derby Then and now : Derby River Gardens 1955 to 2025

Описание: In this Derby then and now I'm standing on the grass area at the back of the Riverlights Bus Station looking west towards the Council House.

In the 1955 view the main thing you can see is the ornamental fish pond with fish and Lilies.
In both views you can see Derby council house which was built in 1939 but construction was halted for World War II so wasn't finally completed until 1949.
Above the council house on the right in both views you can see the pinnacles of Derby Cathedral.

In the 1955 view on the far right above Exeter bridge you can see Derby power station and a chimney which was built in 1921 and demolished in the early 1970's.
In the 1955 view above the council house on the left is the iconic clock tower of Derby's Guild Hall, you can almost make it out through that tree in the 2025 view.
In both views on the far right you can see the left part of Exeter Bridge, a single span concrete bridge over the river Derwent. This was opened on the 20th March 1929 and designed by Charles Aslin.
In the 1955 view on the far left is the roof of Derby Market hall, which opened in 1866.
In the 2025 view far left is a brick building with the three circles on, it is the rear of Derby Combined Court Centre which was built in 1989 on the Morledge on the site of the former
Covered Market which opened in 1932.

At either end of the rectangular pond you can see two bronze turtles cast by John Smith's foundry which were installed when the river gardens were made, these were moved in 1985 to the pond at Allestree Park. In 2023 they were once again returned to
Derby river gardens as part of the "Our City Our River" plan, this time on plinths.

Photo A taken : 1955 Postcard
Photo B taken : 13th July 2025
Time elapsed : 70 years

Past & Present - in fading Photographs.
High quality resolution fading photos showing local scenes as they were and how they are today from exactly the same view point. Then and now, Now and then, Past and Present, Old and New, Before and After. Call it what you want, just try one and see the effect!

The presentations you can see here are the result of many hours of work put in by myself ensuring that the old and new photographs line up precisely, I don't publish any if I'm not 100% happy with the match.

http://www.derbyphotos.co.uk/thenandnow/

Please note that the Then & now section on my website is currently in need of a revamp as they were all created back in 2005 using Flash and this is no longer supported so I will have to recreate all of my work again using a different method. In the meantime I'm publishing them on my YouTube channel like this one.

Best viewed on a large computer screen or smart TV as this is recorded in 4K resolution with great music so a real waste watching it on a small phone screen. Did you know you can cast it to your smart tv from the YouTube app?

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Music Credits :
'The Restoration' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
   • 'The Restoration' (from 'Monomyth') [Ambie...  
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Thanks
Andy