Oldest footage of London landmarks released

The video includes the oldest sound recording of Big Ben

(YouTube)

Incredible historic footage showing iconic London landmarks as they were more than a hundred years ago has been released.

The mini films are apparently the oldest moving footage of the capital’s top attractions and date back to 1890.

Familiar sights, including the Houses of Parliament, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge, are shown in the recently released video.

Old and new footage is played side by side, so viewers are able to see the difference between now and then.

See the full video here

Often there is remarkably little difference between the shots, some of which were taken more than a century apart.

The most obvious change is at street level. In the old footage men wear bowler and top hats, while women wear voluminous dresses and horse drawn carriages are a common sight.

During the video the oldest sound recording of Big Ben’s famous chime, familiar to current Londoners and people from around the world, can clearly be heard.

The video was created by Yestervid; their YouTube channel with more old footage can be viewed here.