Born in Rochester, Fisher developed a keen antiquarian interest at an early age and exhibited antiquarian drawings at the Royal Academy between 1804 and 1807. On visiting Bedfordshire on a number of occasions between 1812 and 1822, he took to the historic buildings of the county and painted many of them in a precise topographical  style. The Cecil Higgins Gallery holds many Fisher watercolours and sketches of Bedford and the surrounding villages and countryside. Owing to the  honesty of his approach and the  detail  he captures,  Fisher's pictures provide a fascinating resource of images recording the county at a time of growing prosperity and change. The Bricks & Water website is much enhanced by scenes documenting the boom in civic building which Bedford underwent in the early nineteenth century, the numerous houses of religious non-conformity for which Bedford is well known, and many buildings which have now disappeared altogether. 

The Lunatic Asylum

Further reading:

Greenshields, Margaret, 'A Bedfordshire Topographer', Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol 5(1956), pp.135-9

Thomas Fisher Scrapbook, Vol A-CHI, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery (unpublished)

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