A crisp, sharp photograph of Penhelig Terrace and the row of houses beyond, a postcard produced by Judges Ltd of Hastings (postcard no.14818). The memorial park, about which I have posted, had not been established and the ground that it now occupies looks curiously empty and rather desolate. The roofs and gardens of Penhelig Terrace are shown in the foreground. The 1864 railway runs past Penhelig Terrace, which was built on spoil from the excavation of the tunnels, one of which is clearly visible here. A footpath appears to run over the top of the hill, over the tunnel entrance. Everything looks so crisp and manicured.
The card is unusued and unmarked, so there is no stamp or postmark data to help with a date. Even though Judge’s is still going in the guise of Judge Sampson, and this postcard is in their archive, there is no information listed about it. Judge’s Ltd was established in 1902 in Hastings by photographer Fred Judge, who bought an existing photography business to enter the poscard trade when postcards were accepted by the Post Office in the same year. His business evolved from a focus on photographic comissions to the publication of postcards the following year. This strand of the business was so successful that in 1910 they moved into wholsesale postcard production, appointing agents all over Britain to sell postcards. In 1927 new premises were built to enable the expansion of the company, with additonal branches established at Ludgate Hill, the West Country and the Lake District in order to facilitiate the distribution of a wide range postcards featuring new resorts and rural areas. The EdinPhoto website says that postcards began to be numbered after 1906, starting with 50 and going up to 31782. A history of Judge’s by Judge Sampson is available on the Wayback Machine website.
The row of houses behind the memorial park to the right of Penhelig Terrace on the main road through Aberdovey has not changed much since the above postcard.
The row of houses behind the memorial park to the right of Penhelig Terrace on the A493.
Penherlig Terrace seen from Penhelig beach:
Aberdovey Londoner 
Its only just struck me what’s so ghostly about all these pictures. Its not the sepia. Its the fact that there’s no people.The long exposures I suppose. And then it struck me that, in all of them, the buildings are still there, but the people who lived and worked in them are nowhere any more. I think I’m going to start reading some one else’s blog. WGB.
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Oh Dad – nearly howled with laughter. There’s one coming up soon with some lovely people in it. It struck me too that is incredibly eerie when a place that even in winter has people bustling around should seem so shockingly empty of life. It hadn’t occurred to me, however, that everyone who lived there has long since gone. Once of the nice things about Dovey, however, is that descendants still live here.
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