THE BRITISH Film Institute (BFI) yesterday (24th May) announced the release online of more than 750 films from 1900 to 1999, which includes long lost footage of the Wye Valley and Monmouthshire area.

The Rural Life films include ‘The Wonderful Wye’, a 1926 promotional film on the attractions of the Wye River and surroundings ‘The Wye Valley’, a 1948 journey from the mouth to the source visiting the castles and towns of Monmouth, Ross-on-Wye, Hereford and beauty spots such as Symonds Yat.

The collection also features ‘Silage Making’, a film from 1950, one of a series made by or for Monmouthshire’s organic farming pioneer Lady Eve Balfour, founder of the Soil Association who ran a farm in Monmouthshire for the Women’s War Agricultural Committee during World War One.

An earlier highlight from the treasure trove of local footage is a 1913 film titled ‘Cheshire Territorials at Abergaveny’ (the title card was misspelt), showing troops leaving Stockport and setting up camp at Abergavenny.

For the men of industrial towns like Stockport, a camp in South Wales was a welcome break, despite all that marching.

Despite being drawn from English towns, the 159th (Cheshire) Brigade was part of the Welsh Division of the Territorial Force, hence the camp in Abergavenny. Stockport was the home of the 6th Battalion, but this film may include other local troops.

Summer camp plans in 1914 would be overtaken by events, and after mobilisation at the outbreak of the First World War the 6th Battalion were already in France by November.

The films in Rural Life date from 1900 to 1999 and are drawn from the collections of the BFI National Archive and the UK’s Regional and National Film Archives, with content spanning the whole of the UK.

Anyone can explore Britain’s rural past through the Britain on Film map, which reveals films shot in almost every county.

With this new collection, there are now over 5,000 films to see online, 97 per cent of which are free.

By 2017, thanks to National Lottery funding and the support of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, 10,000 film and TV titles from 1895 to the present day will be newly digitised and available to view.

Robin Baker, Head Curator, BFI National Archive said: “These films offer an unrivalled record of our rural heritage in all its richness across the 20th century.

“It’s an immersive experience to watch them, and often deeply moving. People who live and work in the countryside will be fascinated to see how their forbears used to live.

“It’s a very potent portrait of an often neglected cornerstone of our national life.”

Visit player.bfi.org.uk/britain-on-film