Ummagumma

Other than "in Great Shelford," do any of you know where the photograph for the album's cover was shot? I've been trying to narrow it down to the exact house.

I don't know I'm afraid - my knowledge of Pink Floyd stops about when Syd left.

Didn't Philippa Pearce also live in Great Shelford and base a lot of her books (especially Tom's Midnight Garden) on a house there too? What a busy village.

The house belonging to the Kitsons in TMG is based upon one near Mitcham's Corner, apparently - but other scenes in the book are idenitifiable as the Shelfords, including the mansion which is the Mill House where Pierce lived as a child. I delivered their papers a couple of times when the paperboy didn't show up for work; it's not a bad little place. Tom Sharpe lives in Great Shelford too and used to come into the paper shop occasionally, and Barack Obama's ancestors lived there too (presumably the white ones, because up until a couple of years ago 99% of the people in Shelford would have formed a lynch mob had any black person have come within a mile of the village).

Not sure the exact one, but Paul Simon also played there, and it's listed as "1965-10-00 Great Shelford, Private party performance Douglas Family". Would finding the location of the back cover help? I'd guess that it's shot in a field nearby. I'll ask my g/f's folks, who live there, as that seems like the kind of local lore that would stick around (like the basement near my folk's house with the original members' names carved into the wall.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaudah_Equiano
This chap settled down in Soham some centuries ago so there were a few black people in these small villages, but I completely understand what you mean about the lynch mobs. When I visit Balsham I know that a lot of people are not far from it, and would certainly discuss forming a modern lynching set if the Daily Express told them to.

In late 1965, Simon performed at a large house in Great Shelford near Cambridge which was the location for the 21st birthday celebration of Libby January, girlfriend of Pink Floyd album cover designer Storm Thorgerson.

There is a well-known, well-heeled January family around these parts ... in fact I think the former estate agent Januarys was founded by a Douglas January.

Quite a few new bits of GS too aren't there? Which would either narrow the hunt down or obliterate its target, depending on what was built, where. /helpful

Yes, it appears Libby January, whose 21st party Paul Simon played at, was definitely daughter of Douglas January the estate agent.

My folks also live in Shelford ... I'll ask them if they know if there is still a January family in the village. I'll bet the house is still there.

I know an old hippy in GS, old enough to have been there at the time. I'll ask him next time I see him.

Let us know, I like stuff like this!

Come to think of it, I know an old lady who knows everything that has happened there for the last 80 years, too. She might know more, because although she's not one of the local landed gentry she's the undisputed boss of the village.

If it helps, Great Shelford hasn't expanded a great deal since the 1960's - here's an OS map from 1950 (reduce the slider at the bottom to 100% to see it). http://www.ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html?z=14&x=0.13604164123535156&y=5...
Compared with today: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=great+shelford&hl=en&ll=52.150818,0.1...

The new developments have mostly been to the north along Hinton Way and Cambridge Road. Though of course this doesn't mean that the house in question hasn't been swallowed by an infill development in the centre.

Ooooh, I know this one. It was shot in the back garden of Trinity House, 11 Cambridge Road. On the Trumpington side of the railway bridge, just before the cemetery, there is a private road that leads to some very big houses. Trinity House is the big one at the top of the drive.

There's a book called 'A Pink Floyd Fan's Guide to Cambridge' by Mark Worden and Alfred Marziano that has the the Floyd locations in. It is a small self published book but very good.

You see this is what I love about Google Maps... you get a location, drag the little man onto the road, and there you have it. I thought this looked like the place.

Might have a look up there at some point, in that case.

> Come to think of it, I know an old lady who knows everything that has happened there for the last 80 years, too. She might know more, because although she's not one of the local landed gentry she's the undisputed boss of the village.

I'm wondering if that's my gran.

> Didn't Philippa Pearce also live in Great Shelford and base a lot of her books (especially Tom's Midnight Garden) on a house there too? What a busy village.

It was were I used to work. The house is in Church Street Barns on the road out towards Little Shelford and directly opposite the church. It's just been sold and was owned by Sir Leslie Martin the late architect who lived there with Bill and Sue Mason who ran a company called Homes Directories that was also owned by Adrian Bridgewater who is the father of Emma Bridgewater (estranged I think as he's a mad, angry lunatic).

Old Rocker, turn 180 degrees and that's more like it. It's the same side of the road as the cemetery, the house being at the end of the drive by the railway line. It's all very private, and a new house is being built up there at the moment too.

When I read 'Ummagumma cover photo' I thought of the equipment on the runway. I found that very impressive at the time. I was told it's Bourne airfield.

Yes, I know roughly where it really is trigger - I just thought it funny that I was looking for a big posh house and that was the view I got. I suspect it's the big greenish one you can see from the railway bridge.

A few other Cambridge Floyd locations as listed in book above:

19 Earl Street - childhood home of album designer Storm Thorgerson
60 Glisson Road - Syd's birthplace
Scout Hut on Perne Road - rehearsal space for Gilmour's pre Floyd bands
109 Grantchester Meadows - Gilmour's childhood family home
183 Hills Road - Syd's teenage family home
42 Rock Road - Waters' family home
6 St Margaret's Square - Syd's Cambridge hideaway

I have read in various places that David Gilmour was born in Trumpington, but not found anything further.

The list of Gilmour's pre Floyd band gig venues are quite interesting...
Staff Social Club, Fulbourn Hospital
Memorial Hall, Great Shelford
Village Hall, Harston
Village Hall, Trumpington etc...

The house used for the Ummagumma infinity cover shot was indeed taken at the rear of Trinity House, 11 Cambridge Road, Great Shelford. Known as ‘The Ummagumma House’, Pink Floyd returned here in 1969 at Floyd album artist Storm Thorgerson’s suggestion for a location for a new album cover.

The location was a significant one, as it was pretty much where the first meeting of the two bands that would merge to form The Pink Floyd took place – The Tea Set (Barrett, Waters, Wright, Mason & Klose) & Jokers Wild (Gilmour, Clive Welham etc) who both played at the house of local estate agent Douglas L. January in a garden Marquee one weekend in October 1965 in celebration of Storm Thorgerson’s then girlfriend at the time and daughter of Douglas, Libby January’s 21st birthday along with her twin sister Rosemary. The party was also attended by a young Paul Simon who had recently arrived from the US. Douglas January was a well established local estate agent and to this day January’s remains a successful property consultants based in the heart of Cambridge.

The aerial shot showing the band and all their equipment laid out was actually taken at Biggin Hill aerodrome in Kent as opposed to Bourne Airfield (which would seem the most obvious location being situated just to the north of Cambridge!)