Photo history can sometimes send the researcher off in unexpected directions.
This was the case recently when Pressphotoman was asked for help identifying the location of this photographic print from the 1860s.
In a bizarre coincidence, I had visited the same place for the first time only a few days earlier.
Largely unchanged in 150 years, it was immediately recognisable as the market place in the Northumberland town of Hexham.
Among the various shop signs visible in the photograph was that of ‘Gibson,’ a name synonymous with photography in the North East of England.
© Author’s collection.
John Pattison Gibson (1838-1912) packed a considerable amount into a lifetime as his biography compiled by Northumberland Archives confirms.
When he married in 1861, Gibson’s stated profession was ‘photographer’ and he soon established his own business in Hexham offering portraits and local views.
From British Newspaper Archive.
One of the gems of Hexham is its abbey, a building dating back to the late 12th century that is well worth a visit.
Gibson was well aware of the abbey’s appeal and this carte de visite dating from the early years of his career captures the magnificence of one of its transepts.
Carte de visite by J.P.Gibson c. 1860s.
© Author’s collection.
Pressphotoman 
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