Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Eashing Bridge

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Eashing Bridge, Surrey', 1852-1854. Museum no. PH.32-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Eashing Bridge, Surrey'
1852-1854
England
Albumen print from paper negative 
Museum no. PH.32-1982

Eashing Bridge is a medieval double bridge spanning the river Wey. It is the best of a series of bridges on the river between Farnham and Guildford that were probably built by the monks of nearby Waverley Abbey in the 13th century. Turner's view shows the rise of the bridge where it springs just before the riverbank. Although part of the reason for photographing this site must have been its historical renown, Turner showed that his interest was not entirely on the structure but on its context, specifically the intricate patterns of the screen of trees. This is one of Turner's most deliberately two-dimensional pictures where the flat patterning filling the frame holds the interest

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Pepperharrow Park

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Pepperharrow Park, Surrey', 1852-1854. Museum no. PH.37-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Pepperharrow Park, Surrey'
England
1852-1854
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.37-1982

The patterns of branches formed against pale skies on photographic paper were especially appealing to Turner and his fellow calotype practitioners. Trees were a subject that could demonstrate the camera's unparalleled veracity in recording natural forms. They were also venerable subjects with long histories and nationalistic associations. In this photograph Turner focussed on a hoary oak tree producing something akin to a portrait.
 

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Near Hawkhurst Church

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Near Hawkhurst Church, Kent', 1852-1854. Museum no. PH.55-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Near Hawkhurst Church, Kent'
England
1852-1854
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.55-1982

This weather-boarded building, directly opposite the church at Hawkhurst (Museum no. PH.54-1982)  was once a bake-house. Although the building still stands, little-altered, the giant 'church oak' to the right has long since vanished.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Farm Yard

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Farm Yard, Elfords, Hawkhurst', 1852-1854. Museum no. PH.57-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Farm Yard, Elfords, Hawkhurst'
England
1852-1854
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.57-1982

The bare branches of the elm trees and the dark clusters of rooks nests in this image show up clearly against the pale sky. The barrel fixed to wheels on the right is a water cart. Also to the right, a haystack, with a ladder leaning against it, has been cut back and some of the straw piled up as feed for the animals that would have been housed in the barn and fenced enclosure on the left. Concentration on these details indicates Turner's understanding of the cycle of the rural calendar.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Entrance and Gateway

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Entrance and Gateway, Losely Park', 1852-1854. Museum no. PH.39-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Entrance and Gateway, Losely Park'
England
1852-1854
Albumen print from paper negative   
Museum no. PH.39-1982

Turner's pictures of the house and grounds at Loseley House (near Guildford) follow the formal vistas of an approaching visitor in the sequence of his album: the long avenue of lime trees leading up to the house, the entrance gateway, the front of the house itself, and the park and its lake. The entrance gateway, with its geometrical shapes such as the triangular gables - one incorporating a dovecote - and the arch, have long since vanished although the separate bothy to the right and the entrance bridge still stand.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'At Compton

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'At Compton, Surrey', 1852-54. Museum no. PH.33-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'At Compton, Surrey'
England
1852-54
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.33-1982
 

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Compton

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Compton, Surrey', 19th century. Museum no. PH.34-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Compton, Surrey'
England
19th century
Albumen print   
Museum no. PH.34-1982

This farm lay on the path of a pilgrimage route in the Middle Ages. The barn, with its double doors open, was built not primarily as an agricultural building but as a pilgrim shelter. The barn acts as focal point in a detailed farmyard scene. On the left, a thatched cornrick, indicative of the summer's good harvest stands raised on 'staddle' stones to protect it from damp, rats and mice. Behind, a wooden thatched barn with combined dovecote has a pair of ladders, to climb corn and hayricks, hanging on its side. On the right is a haystack used in part for the livestock's winter feed. No sign of the 19th century intrudes. This ordered and abundant scene documents forms of age-old rural practice that were to vanish over the next few decades due to increasing industrialisation.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Head of the Lake

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Head of the Lake, Losely Park', 1852-54. Museum no. PH.41-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Head of the Lake, Losely Park'
England
1852-54
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.41-1982

Continuing directly through the entrance gateway seen Entrance Gateway, Losely House (Museum no. PH.39-1982 ) the visitor eventually finds him or herself at the head of the lake. Cropped at top and bottom the tree on the right acts as a framing device with one long, dark branch cutting diagonally across the top of the picture like a bolt of lightning.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'The Willowsway

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'The Willowsway, Elfords, Hawkhurst', 1852-1854. Museum no. PH.58-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'The Willowsway, Elfords, Hawkhurst'
England
1852-1854
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.58-1982

This view shows a lane of pollarded willows. Pollarding is a way of cutting back trees to promote growth of new, slim branches used for firewood, brooms or weaving into baskets. Willow is also used for making artist's charcoal. Turner's son recalled how, even in his father's skilled hands, making one exposure 'never took less than three quarters of an hour'. Turner made two other known negatives of this scene so he probably spent about two and a quarter hours here. The image places the viewer on the path, framed with willows either side, as a traveller approaching the gate.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Scotch Firs

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Scotch Firs, Hawkhurst', 1852-1854. Museum no. PH.59-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Scotch Firs, Hawkhurst'
England
1852-1854
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.59-1982

This was the photograph Turner exhibited most frequently during his lifetime. His favoured motif of the rural lane, this time lined with tall Scotch fir trees, is shown dramatically. The fence sweeping diagonally to the right is made partly of wood but also of wire - an unusual modern note. But the rest of the scene shows familiar Turner subjects, the ancient trees, the reflection in a pond, the old farm buildings and a cartwheel.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Causeway

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Causeway, Head of the Lake, Losely Park', 1852-1854. Museum no. PH.42-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Causeway, Head of the Lake, Losely Park'
England
1852-1854
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.42-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Hurtmore Lane

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Hurtmore Lane, Surrey', 1852-54. Museum no. PH.35-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Hurtmore Lane, Surrey'
England
1852-54
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.35-1982

A closer view of the shed seen in another view of Hurtmore Lane (Ph.36-1982)  presents more of the tangle of coppiced branches on the left and a small pair of wheels placed curiously in the foreground. An alternative negative of the subject (in the collection of the Royal Photographic Society) reveals one minor difference: the wheels have been replaced by a bundle of sticks showing how Turner was not averse to tinkering with foreground details to enhance meaning or improve the composition and the apparently natural evidence of rustic disorder.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Hurtmore Lane

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Hurtmore Lane, Surrey', 1852-54. Museum no. PH.36-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Hurtmore Lane, Surrey'
England
1852-54
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.36-1982

In this photograph Turner photographed a country lane cutting between a house and a simple shed housing what appears to be low farm wagons. The composition is of two distinct halves with the lane curving tantalisingly off into shadow at the left, begging the eye to continue the journey, while past the gate and the shed at the right the land rises into a high embankment, defying the expectation of a low horizon.

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Hawkhurst Church

Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Hawkhurst Church, Kent', 1852-54. Museum no. PH.54-1982

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
'Hawkhurst Church, Kent'
England
1852-54
Albumen print from paper negative
Museum no. PH.54-1982

Hawkhurst's 14th century church - with its 15th century tower - is in this image perfectly reflected in the still village pond on a bright winter morning. The bundles of sticks stacked up to the right may be poles used for growing hops, or willow branches that would have been soaked in the pond to soften them for fashioning into fences, baskets or suchlike. Given that the mirrored image is a house of God, the scene can be read as a meditation on the nature of divine truth and its reflection in the physical world. Turner's alternative title for the picture - A Photographic Truth, which he used when it was exhibited at the Royal Society of Arts in 1852 - suggests it can also be understood as a comment on the self reflexive nature and philosophical possibilities of photography