Sign Stories
Ghost sign histories and mysteries.
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The Grand Exhibition of the Society of Sign Painters
The following article is re-posted from the original on Better Letters. This August we’ll be opening a very special sign painting exhibition within the public-facing part of Letterheads 2018: London Calling. It is being curated by Meredith Kasabian of Best Dressed Signs and the Pre-Vinylite Society and builds on her research into an 18th Century […]
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Evans, Jones & Ricketts Restoration in Talgarth, Mid Wales
The restoration of ghost signs seems to be becoming more prevalent in the UK, or perhaps I’m just more conscious of them taking place. While I don’t document every instance, I thought that this one had an interesting back story, as shared by Stefan Lewis of Talgarth History… The sign is on the corner of […]
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Tracking Down Boots in Stoke-on-Trent
Back in 2016 I gave a short talk about my archiving work at the annual conference of the Business Archives Council, where one of the organisers was a project archivist for Boots chemists. Afterwards I shared the above image and forwarded her the archival photo below which was shared on the Ghostsigns Facebook page by […]
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Ancient Lights in English Law
This blog post [site since shut] highlights an entire category of fading painted signs that I have never come across. They are for ‘ancient lights’ and reference an English law protecting the right of property owners to receive natural light through their windows. The assertion of this right has taken the form of signs beneath […]
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Gardiner & Lacey at the Cat & Mutton
The Cat & Mutton pub on Broadway Market in East London has a remarkable array of Victorian glasswork on display in the main bar (see samples below). However, on a recent visit for a family Christmas meal, my uncle and I discovered the above two panels fitted to the front of the upstairs bar. Being […]
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Sgraffito and the Old Dairy at Crouch Hill
These pictorial panels depicting the products and services on what is now The Old Dairy on Stoud Green Road have always intrigued me, and ahead of next week’s talk at the North London Lettering Association I thought I should carry out a little research. The late-Victorian building once housed a branch of the Friern Manor […]