INCREDIBLE footage showing Hereford more than a century ago has been saved from being lost forever.

Whilst revisiting some nitrate scans, the team at Huntley Film Archives in Ewyas Harold have uncovered a rare piece of Hereford history, almost completely lost due to significant nitrate deterioration. The documentary footage, dating to the early 1920s, shows crowds in High Town, possibly during a May fair.

The view looks towards St Peter's Street, with the timber-framed Black and White House Museum (as it is now known) on the far left, and if you look carefully, you can even see a helter-skelter.

You can view the footage by clicking here.

Film archivist, Thomasin Summerford, said: “As you can see, there is a frustrating amount of damage marring the image due to the decomposition of the unstable nitric acid in the base and silver nitrate emulsion of the celluloid film itself.

"We’ve been lucky to piece together a relatively stable image of this glimpse into Hereford life, because we can scan and digitise the celluloid, but so many stories like this one are lost forever because the reels haven’t been preserved early enough.

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"Despite the damage, films like this are a valuable window into the past and an example of how important it is to preserve our media heritage.

This may be a short fragment, but each second is brimming with amazing little insights into the relationships of those in the crowd: young friends walking side by side on a day out; jaunty hats and confetti strewn shoulders of partygoers; and two rather mysterious looking men in dashing fedora hats making their way through the hustle and bustle.

"My favourite moment (captured in the featured image) shows the surprised expression of one lad as his hat is unceremoniously plucked off his head, to the great amusement of those nearby.

"Some readers may even have memories of the double shop facade of furrier 'Augustus C Edwards & Sons', grandly branded, 'The Furriers of the West'!”