STONEHENGE’S oldest family photograph has been discovered in the collection of Queen legend Dr Brian May.
The image will be on display as part of a collection set to a soundtrack performed by May, viewed through a digital stereoscope, and loaned to English Heritage by the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy.
Queen guitarist, astrophysicist and stereoscopic enthusiast Brian May said: “I’ve been fascinated by stereo cards since I was a boy and got one in a cereal packet. This is a fantastic early example and exciting because it’s one of the oldest family snaps taken at Stonehenge.
Stereoview card taken by Henry Brooks Credit: Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy
"It feels even more evocative when set to music – a bit like a silent movie and we thought it would be great fun to recreate the image as a stereo view at Stonehenge and breathe new life into an old photo.”
The 3D image or stereoview was taken by Salisbury photographer Henry Brooks and depicts his family enjoying a day out at Stonehenge in the 1860s.
It was discovered by Denis Pellerin and Rebecca Sharpe, curators of the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy, following a public appeal by English Heritage to find the earliest family photo taken at the stones.
English Heritage historian Susan Greaney said: "We put out a call last year when we launched our temporary exhibition at Stonehenge called Your Stonehenge. It is all contributed family photographs of people at Stonehenge over the years. We had about 1,500 photographs sent into us and the earliest one came from 1875."
But she says they did question whether there could be ones taken even earlier still out there and then archivists from the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy got in touch after finding an image in its collection.
Dr Brian May, Rebecca Sharpe and Denis Pellerin curators of the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy. Photo: Denis Pellerin
The 1860s stereoview shows two nearly identical photographs mounted on a card which together produce the illusion of a single three-dimensional image when seen through a stereoscope.
Susan says they were "incredibly popular" in the Victorian period particularly in the 1850s and 1860s.
"They are really incredibly 3D and quite astonishing even now to a modern eye. They were hugely popular particularly at tourist sites, historic monuments, ruins. Families would have collections to look at in their drawing rooms through all these famous sites," she explains.
"Stonehenge was photographed quite a lot. This particular image was taken by Henry Brooks who was a local photographer who lived in Salisbury.
"We are not entirely sure the exact date but it is about 1865. It was a full ten years earlier than the earliest one we had previously."
The photo can be viewed through a digital stereoscope at the Stonehenge visitor centre, and visitors will be able to enjoy a short film of historic and contemporary Stonehenge stereoviews, accompanied by a piano soundtrack of May playing Who Wants To Live Forever. "
Dr Brian May and the Brooks Family at Stonehenge, 161 years apart Picture: Rebecca Sharpe Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy
Susan says it is "really exciting" to be able to see the site in 3D as it looked in around 1865 and added: "When I first got to see the photograph, because I know the site pretty well and know roughly where the photograph was taken from, there have obviously been quite a lot of changes to the site."
"It is very convincing as a 3D view and so it's really astonishing to see what the site looked like back then. It does give you, in effect, what you would experience in real life but if you were stood there over 150 years ago.
"You get the Victorian perspective of what the site looked like."
English Heritage is now putting out a call to find descendants of Henry Brooks to invite them back to Stonehenge to re-create the photo as a new stereo card.
Are you a descendant of the Salisbury photographer and painter Henry Brooks? Please get in touch with us at YourStonehenge@English-Heritage.org.uk
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