Furness Abbey on the outskirts of Barrow in Cumbria was another historic religious site that James Edward Ellam (1857-1920) visited with his stereoscopic camera.

Founded in the early 12th century by Stephen, later King of England, its ruins inspired both William Wordsworth and JMW Turner and are today owned by the conservation body English Heritage.

For his stereo portrait, James featured a group of women and children in the middle distance to help viewers gain perspective on the size of the surrounding structure.

Furness Abbey was more than 100 miles from Yarm in North Yorkshire where he lived and worked during the first half of the 1890s.

So perhaps his visit was part of a holiday or a trip organised by the Stockton Photographic Society of which he was Secretary between 1890 and 1896.

The type of printed sticker on the verso featuring his credit – “J.E. Ellam, Yarm” – is unique among the 30 stereos in my collection of his work, but his handwriting with its distinctive letter “F” is again present.

Tomorrow: “Bracklinn  Falls, Callander.“  

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