‘Bring out your canoes, the Lavants have flooded again!’ | Nostalgia

Today we see the same railway bridge but from the other side.

The picture was taken at the beginning of the last century and the water is so deep from the flooding Lavants you could obviously paddle through it in a canoe.

Many pedestrians are standing on staging to save their feet from getting wet. A photographer on the scene in those far off days was an occasion not to be missed. He was Alf Harris.

See also; So you thought you knew Havant?

When I was a kid I used to pick primroses from the railway embankment on the right. Impossible nowadays.

The embankments were always kept clear otherwise ash from passing steam engines would set fire to the growth. No need for that today of course.

My picture, taken a few days ago, shows a still-rural scene, I am glad to say.

The pedestrians have gone but the bridge and brick remain the same.

Handrails have been added along the top of the bridge for workers to hold on to when walking along the cess (the path beside the railway line). All to do with health and safety of course.

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