Robin Stone of Clare’s Market Hill Antiques and Clare Auctions bought the images at a Surrey sale and his work, Clare: A Picturesque Market Town in Suffolk, was launched in the town last month.
He says: “It’s a unique book that’s never been done before for Clare and it was sheer luck that I got hold of most of the pictures.”
The 190-page book contains more than 380 images covering 140 years of this old wool town’s life.
The earliest picture dates to 1863 and shows the cutting of the first sod when the railway line was being built. Another dated to 1887 depicts celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee outside the Cock Inn. The most recent image was taken in 2004 of a J15 locomotive which was brought to Clare.
One of the most poignant is the photo showing members of the local football team with a winners’ cup and a board marked Clare Town 1913-1914.
Stone adds: “Most of the photographs are one family’s private images over a period of 70 years or so. Once people in town knew of the proposed book they offered their own personal photographs for inclusion and allowed the book to encompass the 20th century.”
The book is only available from Harris & Harris Books in Clare at a cost of £17.99.
Profits go to the Clare Christmas Lights Trust.
“Once people in town knew of the proposed book they offered their own personal photographs for inclusion
