James Edward Ellam’s amateur stereography during the first half of the 1890s involved travel to a variety of locations across the North of England.
Today’s stereo features Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, which involved a journey of around 35 miles from the town of Yarm where he lived and worked.
Founded in 1132, Fountains Abbey was a casualty of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries (1539) after which the estate was sold, remaining in private hands until the 1960s.
Since 1983, the site has been owned by the National Trust and, together with the adjoining Studley Royal Water Garden, is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
As James’s stereo well illustrates, “The Surprise View” is the climax of a walk around water gardens that were created more than 200 years ago.
Glimpsing the abbey ruins in the distance was designed to provoke a sharp intake of breath from visitors as they came across it as it does today.
What is noticeable in James’s 3D version is the lack of water on view when compared with a contemporary photo taken at the same spot.
Victorian stereos and Edwardian postcards featuring “The Surprise View” show the same water level as that above, so why might it be absent in James’s version?
A couple of explanations spring to mind.
Perhaps the effect was caused by a severe summer drought (trees framing the view are visibly in leaf) or, alternatively, maintenance work was underway that led to the water garden being drained.
Either way, it suggests that even at this point in his photographic career, James had an eye for the unusual news angle, even when contemplating a vista that would have been familiar to other Victorian photographers.
Tomorrow: “The First Fall.”
Pressphotoman 
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