Thursday, April 26, 2007





Faded signs update! Here are two vintage hand-painted beauties from an enjoyable drive last Saturday morning. The first is sadly only half a sign from an abandoned premises in Willington, Co.Durham. I like the light blue drop-shadow on the "M.A" and the rather elegant lower-case enamel work on the word "newsagent".

Farther down the road in the super-quiet market town of Crook I was entranced by the Ironmongers shop in the main street. This is a highly distinguished Victorian shopfront anyway, just look at that burgundy iron framework on the second storey. But here's a real Northern Archaological discovery: the current lower fascia has been removed to reveal the duck-egg blue original "Arthur Lax, Established 1840, Ironmonger". I had to record this one before it's covered up once again!

2 comments:

Boring Being said...

Really makes you wonder what is under all those newer, plastic fascias. There's a great old Ironmonger in Ulverston in Cumbria with a lovely (if a bit wierd) floriate sign. The town is a treasure trove of lovely old shops of the sort selling bri-nylon dresses and turban-style hats to the white-haired local ladies. There's also a decidedly ancient Chemists shop.

John Bagnall said...

I've never been to Ulverston, BB, though it sounds like my kind of town. Isn't there a Stan Laurel connection?

As for old-ladies clothes shops, I saw a great one in Scarborough last year. Again it had a 19th century iron window structure and clothes dummies that made "Are you being served" look the height of trendiness!