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.

Freshwater, Isle of Wight - "Faded London On Tour" 2010

A quick weekend away near Freshwater on the Isle of Wight provided a couple of ghost signs from the immediate area. Being pushed for time  (OK, the whole set was me grabbing a couple of snaps whilst visiting the local supermarket ),  I decided to concentrate on the signs rather than general items of interest. This was mainly because I'd have a better chance of spotting them when passing in the car rather than any sort of value-judgement coming into play but I can't really claim to have identified anything really spectacular, mainly trade names above shops. The most frustrating part though was spotting a couple of good ones in Newport the island capital and not having the time to stop and photograph them!

Newport IoW -  The one I did get. Moorman & Sons Upholsterers were mentioned in the London Gazette of January 7th 1898 so they've certainly been around for a bit. Sadly it looks as though at least one of the 'Son's' was a casualty of the First World War as the local memorial records that

Arthur MOORMAN - Son of Mr. and Mrs. G. Moorman, of 48, Orchard St., Newport, Isle of Wight, died whilst on active service with the Isle of Wight Rifles in Egypt 15 Oct 1916. An In Memoriam notice appeared from his parents in the Isle of Wight County Press on 13 Oct 1917.

Freshwater IoW - "Cycles must not be left in the passage..." To be honest it didn't look to be the most inviting place to leave a cycle and you can only wonder if it was a sudden spate of cycle abandonment that caused the local council to finally lose its collective patience. I doubt it's been a problem for a while anyway.

Freshwater IoW - 'Twymans' The lettering on this one is quite modern and could have been painted any time from the 70s onward. It's a bit messy although you can see that there was originally a portrait underneath the lettering and what looks like some tents or houses underneath that. The very bottom of the wall has some new painting for 'Fend Pad'. Obviously its quite a complicated bit of signage and it would be interesting to see a photo of it in its heyday. The Twyman family seem to have been involved in both the building trade and funeral business in Freshwater so judging from the buildings at the bottom of the picture I'd guess this one is more to the building side of things.

Freshwater IoW - This is one of those frustrating signs where only sitting on the roof of the neighbouring building would give you a chance of getting a decent picture.  It's also a bit patchy but seems to read "Meader - Fruiterer, Florist, Greengrocer, Pork Butcher and Sausage Maker" which covers pretty much all the bases.

Freshwater IoW - And finally... a sign completely obliterated that is starting to re-emerge as the paint fails to stick to the old lettering beneath. Hours of patient cross-eyed staring at this particular sign produced the legend   "A. Rutland, Ladies & Gents Hairdresser".

Considering that Freshwater is something of a 'blink and you'd miss it' sort of place I'd say that four signs wasn't a bad haul (well five actually, but as the fifth was totally illegible I didn't bother posting it). Newport definitely has more gems tucked away but that's the way of a flying visit - you're always left ruing the missed ones!

London Coalhole Cover 'Lost' In Maidstone!

I was in Maidstone, Kent this morning for a bit of a family 'do' when I came across this interesting coalhole cover. I say 'came across' but actually it had been covered with a very heavy A board which I had to grapple to the side before I could get a good look.

'Faded London' has been on tour before and as we are looking at a London foundry - and one I hadn't recorded before - I felt more than justified in adding it to the canon. As you can see it's quite an ornate and interesting design with quite a lot of clues as to the producer

The Hope Foundry Co.

5 Upper Thames Street

London EC 

Despite all the information I haven't had much luck so far in tracing the Hope Foundry and it's not listed in Gillian Cooksey's excellent "Artistry and History Underfoot". There are certainly mentions of the name, such as this one

Hope Foundry Co.
The Hope Foundry and Engineering Co. is recorded as making sad irons at the Hope Works in West Bromwich, c1866. It is possible that there was also a Hope Foundry in Leeds.

but it's more than likely that these were entirely seperate enterprises although I supose I can't rule out the possibility of a London branch. In a trade journal from1870 I also came across the General Iron Foundry Co. oalso based in Upper Thames Street that was apparently selling stoves, mantels, and bronzes but again whether or not this has anything to do the Hope Foundry - whether by using the same site or just by way of a change of name - remains to be seen.  

There were quite a few small-scale local foundaries at the time and I suppose it's more than possible that many weren't that long lived. It could be I've a bit of a rarity here but only time and a bit more research will tell.

Ghost Signs at the Lock

Well it's been a while since I was a 'regular-casual' stall holder at Camden Lock.... about twenty five years as it happens, but for a few years  I regularly spent my weekends at Camden, Covent Garden and the Battersea Arts Centre selling my home-made range of bookends and other band-saw created knick-knackery. The preferred mode of transport was a cheap and cheerful Jawa 350 with a sidecar piled high with the apple-boxes full of bookends I'd spent the week making in my Brixton flat. By using skip recovered wood and other penny-pinching wheezes this process generally provided me with just enough income to make it through the week and the early morning ride up to Camden through Trafalgar Square was a real pick-up after staying up through Saturday nights getting things finished off.

So I was quite looking forward to seeing the old place again after thinking that the children might find it an interesting place to spend a Sunday morning. They did. I did as well as it happens but while some bits like the Electric Ballroom doesn't seem to have changed a bit,  pretty much everything else has developed almost beyond recognition and the site of my old stall - a fairly dingy covered area as I recall it, is now an open-air land of wooden kiosks, railway arches and truncated Lambrettas!. I've a feeling it might have been the site of the fire that cleared the area, but whatever the reason I was looking at the area through fresh eyes...and Faded London eyes at that...

The area is an eclectic mix of old and new and this is a good example of how they exist side-by-side. Anyone whose been down the High Street will know that the modern shops have some spectacular signage (probably enough for their own posting) but this low-key example is covering up what appears to be a butchers shop sign if the words 'CHOPS' and 'SEASON' point to anything

There was an attractive mosaic as well and no points for guessing the pub either

Up near Camden tube station there were a couple of ghost signs easily visible, the most famous of which was undoubtedly this Boots the Chemist sign that I've seen many times on various sites making it a bit of a Ghost-Sign Centrefold. At least I know where it is now.

More interesting to me was this building across the way plastered in ghost sign lettering. Miller, Beale & Hider Ltd.

As you can see the company were glaziers but this particular premises seems to have specialised in ecclesiastic glassware. Presumably doing well out of the Victorian boom in church building but also restoring ancient stained-glass leading and other glass maintenance and cleaning.

There's signage on three of the four sides of the building and the view below gives an idea of how imposing  and visible it must have been in its hayday

One thing that intrigued me though was the the clearly visible signature at  the bottom of the wall with either the name of the artist or, far more likely, the name of the signwriting company. I've another of these signatures and I might well keep an eye open for a few more

Swansboro seems to be the name, or at least part of the name, but any further information could be obscured by the (now) attached building. There's a town called Swansboro in the USA which is no help at all, but a bit of research in old trade directories might be called for here I think.

Well that was that for my Sunday morning Camden visit. I'm sure there are loads more ghost signs in the area and it's such a popular place I doubt many of them have remained unrecorded but as usual its the pleasure in coming across them unexpectedly that's a big part of the fun.

Raynes Park and the Mysterious Electrical Item

If proof were needed that driving around is no way to see your neighbourhood, this particular item is as good an example as any. It's located at a hectic cross-roads just before the busy A3 and I must have driven passed it hundreds of times over the years. It was only when I went past on foot the other week though that I actually noticed and then when I did see it I was left wondering how on earth I never saw it before! To be fair though, it is set back from the kerb, painted green and sited against a backdrop of trees and bushes which is probably how it's managed to survive so long...

The question is of course, what is it?  With all the 'classic' mouldings around the base, it  looks as though it's an old lampost but the fact that there's a door at the front at it's base would suggest  that it was always intended to have a more significant role. The two boxes on the side also suggest that the whole contraption was  a bit on the 'Heath Robinson' side, with sections being added as required.

Discounting the possibility of being a lampost, what else might it have been? I did wonder if it might have been a traffic light of some sort but it's distance from the road makes that unlikely. Could it have been the control box for early sets of traffic lights though? An early  switchboard box maybe?

I haven't really got much of a clue about this one so I took a number of photos in the hope that someone might be able to help out.

 Side view - showing distance from the road

There's a large box of tricks next to our post. Could it be it's modern equivalent or is it something unrelated like a telephone exchange?

Acme Lighting & Engineering Co.

Waverley Road, St Albans

I was hoping that this would provide some information but I've not been able to find out much about this company at all. There have been a number of mainly engineering companies under the Acme name in Waverley Road but the lighting branch has been a bit elusive to date.

The remains of the old heavy duty wires are clearly visible as is the wooden backing board, along with a bit of rust and a few cobwebs.

Presumably there was originally a door on the front of this section which covered up the vertical pipe coming up from under the pavement

A closer look reveals some three-core cable and the remains of some insulation. Possibly a fuseboard of some sort?

Pipes going in, coming out, going to boxes, going down pipes and all the time looking like an old-school cyberman's head from the BBC

The views below take in the larger of the two side boxes. Again not much to see and one of the hinges has been broken

And finally at the top of the post there's what looks like a cap. Originally painted white it has three side screws - presumably to hold it in place - and a final screw on the top. Was it always on the top or was it put on when (presumably) the top assembly was removed?

I'll be dropping some emails to other specialist sites to see if they can identify this but if you've any ideas please feel free to leave a comment.

The Greenwich Burton Bags A Brace

Some time ago I came across the phenomena of the Burton's commemorative granite plaque. This item was to be found wherever Montague Burton opened a branch of his gentleman's Tailor's and for some reason always seemed to be laid by a member of his direct family. I was so intrigued by this I even wrote about the practice on this blog . I had originally found plaques laid by Lady Montague Burton and her sons Arnold & Stanley and ended it with the prophetic words

I hope to find some inscriptions from Barbara and Raymond as well as from Montague himself in order to complete the set and with over 600 potential sites I'm sure it won't take too long.

Well last week, on the way back from the Greenwich Observatory, I hit the jackpot. Not quite the full house but getting there as I bagged both Barbara and Raymond to add to the tally. *

Of course it was pure luck, as these things often are and it was only when the distinctive Scottish granite caught my eye that I realised the coffee shop on the corner was actually an ex-Burton's. I was pleased to spot first one, then a second plaque but also had the bonus of a very attractive floor mosaic as well.

That seemed to be good enough but after crossing the road and heading toward the railway station I realised that the old shop had extended around the corner and that there was yet another plaque and mosaic needing recording. Over I went for another quick look and another photo...

For those in the area the shop lies on the corner of Nelson Road and Greenwich High Road and it's nice to see that these particular memorials have been left undisturbed and in place. With Barbara and Raymond I think all I need is one from Montague himself and I'll have the full set!

Raymond was one of the Burton twins, along with brother Arnold

Barbara was the only Burton daughter

 The two entrance mosaics, one in each street. I suppose these would be regarded as late examples of the shop mosaic art but I find them quite attractive in their own way. I particularly like the design of the  'O' in 'Tailor Of Taste' - but then I'm easily pleased...

*Of course having checked back on my original post I now notice that Sebastien Ardouin actually mentions these mosaics and plaques in the comments section. Still, they don't really count in the 'Faded London' universe until I spot them myself and as I came across them unintentionally I can put this down to fate and a happy coincidence rather than the chasing up of a kind lead!

While I had the camera out this old painted street sign also caught my eye. There are quite a few of these about but they still seem worthy of recording. I might well collect enough to make a posting about them but until then here is the Prince of Orange Lane acting as a trailer for the main event...

The' Ghost Sign' Bakery of South Wimbledon

As they are usually there in an advertising capacity, it's not often that you come across ghost signs in back streets as the number of passers-by doesn't really warrant the expense. However every now and then one does pop up, not as an advert but as a company name. I think this is the case with this frustratingly incomplete ghost sign I spotted the other week. Kirkley Road is a small residential street in the south of Wimbledon that leads onto the busy Kingston Road and pretty much the last thing I expected to see as I turned into it from Shelton Road was an intriguing old building with the remains of its signage still visible.

It's set just back off of the road and the address gives a bit of a clue as to what it might have been used for, namely The Bakery, 2A Kirkley Road. With that in mind you can just make out the word Bakers or Bakery in the top right. The other words are beyond me though: I thought The first word might have ended  -ing and that the presumed name of the Bakers might start with  KIT or even KING. It also looks as though there might be several layers of paint involved which doesn't help trying to work it out

I couldn't find much in the way to help on line for bakeries in Kirkley Road so I visited the local library to have a look at a few of the trade directories. Again not much luck until I started looking for bakeries on Kingston Road. It occurred to me that it was more than likely that the bakery was the 'behind the scenes' section of a high street shop, and as soon as I worked out roughly what number on the Kingston Road the premises would occupy then I had a few results.

92 Kingston Road seems to have been a bakery for many years, with several changes in ownership. The ones I spotted in the local Kelly's Directories were

1926             George Harrington,                     Baker

1938             Fred[eric]k, H[enr]y Martin          Baker

1940             A. H. Edwards (Caterers Ltd.)   Bakers

None of these names fit easily with the ghost sign, although I am sure that a bit more research would through up some other, later owners.It does however suggest Catering might be the first word though, making a top line of Catering Bakers a possibility. Not being too old a sign may help in the search of its origins as well so fingers crossed that someone might have some more thoughts on this one. The shop at the front is no longer a bakers but now deals with staffing for social care workers but that also looks a fairly recent transformation. So, who were the mystery bakers of South Wimbledon???

And whilst on the subject of Kirkley Road...

"Graphic Stories of Heroism & Narrow Escapes" - Wimbledon & Merton News August 23  1940

As a slight digression, one thing that came up when looking for information on the bakery was the actual position where I had stood to take some pictures! This was basically at the junction of Kirkley Road and Shelton Road and would definitely NOT have been a good place to stand on 16th August 1940 as it was the exact site where a German bomb fell in the early days of the blitz. 

According to Norman Plastow's book Safe As Houses - Wimbledon at War 1939-45 the bombs were relatively small 50kg High Explosive bombs but they caused a great deal of damage and the loss of 14 killed and 59 injured in the surrounding streets. I had a look in the local papers of the time to find the headline 'Suburbs Bombed in Nazi Attempt to Raid London - Crowd Caught In Streets During Rush Hour' . Not surprisingly no specific streets or individuals are mentioned in the newspaper coverage but it does make for interesting reading. Whether or not anyone was hurt by the Kirkley Road bomb I couldn't say but I've no doubt  the bakery would have been badly shaken up by it.

(ADDENDUM: Some interesting comments on this one and thanks for those that made them. Sebastien Ardouin has identified the top line of text as being 'Hygienic Bakery' and he certainly looks to be spot on with that one. He has an interesting article on them as well.

With regard to the August 16th raid, Duncan has pointed out that there was a picture on flicker of the bomb damage in a neighbouring street taken after the raid which is also very interesting.)