Shop Mosaics of Bath (Faded London on Tour 2010)

Faded London has taken the opportunity of a few days in the fair city of Bath to have a look around to see what there is to tantalise and tickle the taste-buds of a capital city snapper. As it turns out there was quite a bit. In fact I'd go so far as to say that the whole city revolves around the notion of the 'fade' to the extent that ghost signs especially seem to be treasured items, especially in the city centre, as you'll see in a later post. 

One area that might have a hint of the more 'accidental survivor' about it than most is the shop mosaic, of which there seem to be a fair few around. I didn't particularly take note of the locations of these items, although if I can vaguely remember the area I'll indicate its whereabouts, but  really I was just interested in recording the items themselves and I'm sure some local preservation society has them all mapped out and recorded for the local connoisseur!

Now a beauty salon, I was lucky enough to spot this one having stopped to photo a ghost sign whilst heading home toward the A4. Usually it's the name of the company that's recorded, not the business itself.

I think this one was in the vicinity of Poultney Bridge, near the weir. One of those examples where subsequent owners took the time and the money to remove the original owners name, without putting their own in its place!

If I recall correctly, this was the entrance to a bank on the High Street

Duck, Son & Pinker - a bit of an unwieldy name but still a music shop just beside Poultney Bridge. One of the more colourful of the Bath shop mosaics.

I thought this one had a thirties feel to it. It's still owned by the same company so whatever they've been doing it's obviously been ok.

One of a pair of fine mosaics in the shopfront of a now empty building. Most recently a beautician's, I'd love to know what they originally sold.

At the top of Union Street I believe. Payne is long gone but the mosaic lingers on

The same goes for L. T. Pound. No suggestion as to what he might have been involved with.

Why do I immediately think of yellow rubber gloves?

It's still the Bath YMCA with a grand mosaic to match!

My favourite Bath mosaic. A complete list of all branches in the town, even though the name of the business is missing! It's just around the corner from the Royal Crescent and next door to an Austrian shop selling cuckoo-clocks, strudel and a superb cherry flavoured hot chocolate!
 

The Mitcham Obelisk

The Faded London eye has been a bit busy over the last few weeks so things have been rather quiet on the posting front. However a recent stroll through Mitcham did reveal one of those intriguing items that are so big you never notice them. Or rather you notice them but totally misinterpret what they are.

Side view of the Obelisk

In this case it was a large, dark and rather foreboding obelisk at the far end of the Cricket Green. I've driven past it many times and had always assumed that it was a war memorial of some sort and not paid it a great deal of attention.  This time I was on foot and as I approached could make out two distinct plaques - One recorded the date of 25 September1822 whilst the other seemed to be a few biblical verses. Intriguing stuff!

 The inscription and verses - as best I can make out - were these

????? to the goodness of GOD through whose bounty water has been provided for this neighbourhood
God opened the rock and the waters gushed out. They ran in dry places like a river  Psalms C105 V41

He turneth dry ground into water springs Psalms CVII V

For everything that hath breath praise the lord Psalms CL
A fountain shall water the valley ?????

The dedication and biblical inscriptions

Well there's obviously a strong water theme going on here and the date reminded me of the recent post I did on the Tooting artesian well a few weeks back which had a date of 1823 upon it.

Quite imposing but a bit on the austere side

My suspicion was that with the boring for water in Tooting such a success, there must have been a temptation for other local villages to get in on the act whilst the borers were still in the area. This seems to be confirmed by an article in Journal of the Society of Arts of 1877 which noted

"The Wandle valley presents a probably unique feature in the number of overflowing wells it contains. The oldest of these the public well near Tooting Church, was bored in 1822. Owing to the success of this boring another was bored by Mr Cranmer at a house called 'The Cannons' in September of the same year."

 Mr Cranmer wasn't just Mr Cranmer but actually the local Reverend and descendant of the famous Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury for Henry VIII and leading light in the foundation of the Church of England. No great surprise that that the inscription was so biblical then!

If this letter to The Mechanics Magazine of 1825 is to be believed it seems that not only was the well still flowing but that the Rev Cranmer actually had more than one well sunk. This account notes there were three, presumably separate, wells bored on his land.

To instance a few wells thus bored, - there is one on the coach road side at Tooting, five miles from Westminster Bridge, bored at the expense of the parish; and another at the same place on the premises of Mr Rolason, nurseryman, both abundant springs; there are three wells on the estate of the Rev. R. Cranmer, Mitcham Surrey and one on the premises of Messers. Holden, Coach proprietors, Mitcham.

The Mechanics Magazine 1825

It might well have been flowing in 1825 but it seems that the joy of Mitcham with its new water supply was short-lived

It's starting to feel its age a bit

"Erected 1822 by the Rev. Mr Cranmer then rector, who lived here, in order to commemorate the happy discovery of water by the sinking of an artesian well. It bears an inscription of thanks to Almighty God for the discovery which really was a boon to the poor at that time, the village not being well supplied. Shortly after the erection of the monument however, the supply of water failed [and]  the inscription has been allowed to become illegible."

Greater London: A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places by Edward Walford

So that seems that a very religious local worthy took advantage of Tootings success with the artesian well, hired the borer, hit water amidst general rejoicing and then commissioned an expensive monument only to have the well go dry soon after. The obelisk must have been a bit of an embarrassment for the Rev. Cranmer and was gently shunted off to a corner of the Cannons estate before finally being rescued and placed on a street corner. Still, if nothing else it does emphasise the importance of fresh clean water to the communities of the time and the lengths to which they'd go to obtain it.