Market Street, Alton, Hampshire, 1878

A photograph showing the Market Street in Alton, Hampshire taken in 1878.

On the left in this 1878 picture of Market Street was the home of the Clinker family of blacksmiths. For a hundred years they had operated a smithy at the rear with access down an alley from the Market Square. A footpath to the smithy ran alongside the side of their property and it is still a right of way today. The house beyond the one with the double bay  windows was occupied by the Mechanics’ Institute. This was the first site of the Museum.