Comments on: Ghost Signs Of Stoke Newington

By: Sam Roberts

Sam Roberts — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 07:09:47 +0000

Thanks Peter. The sign itself is presumably more recent that the date of establishment of the business? The age of the building itself may offer some clue, as can archival photos help to date the sign itself.

By: Melvyn Brooks

Melvyn Brooks — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 15:23:24 +0000

Thanks for this.

If anyone wants a scan of the Jolly Butchers Pub showing the corner of Stoke Newington High Street and Garnham Street, I have an unused postcard of this view. The state of the wall tiles are excellent and the rubric can easily be read by enlarging the image. Gratis of course.

Melvyn Brooks Karkur brooks@netvision.net.il

By: Don McKernan

Don McKernan — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 22:12:02 +0000

I was happily surprised to see Sam featured on this blog. He also has a project called ‘Better Letters’, featuring modern-day sign-painters around the world, keeping the craft alive: http://www.danthoniadesigns.com/blog/better-letters/

By: Janet M

Janet M — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 21:41:54 +0000

I love these old signs that preserve a memory of what was. I have been photographing some of the local ones for a future blog post, but they are not from such a distant past.

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 20:01:17 +0000

Dear Sam Roberts

That is indeed the one I was talking about. But it would seem to be almost 100 years older than I remembered (established 1616)! I was working from an increasingly erratic memory!

I don’t know about the business but a quick search suggests that it was subsumed by Wynnstay of Bridgnorth. Apparently the building is an old warehouse used when the Severn was the main form of transport and the sign faces the river – a beacon for the boats approaching it!

By: Sheila Hanson

Sheila Hanson — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 15:30:42 +0000

Lovely and interesting. Makes me wish I could visit London again with more time to look for these sorts of hidden treasures. Your writing is delightful and I look forward to your next post.

By: Katya

Katya — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 12:35:26 +0000

This was a delight to read about.
We, too, have many old signs in New York on the sides of buildings, though none that I know of from the 18th century. Lucky you!
It sends a shiver to look up at them because unlike reproductions in print, there they are, before our eyes, true living reminders of past ways that so many decades ago defined the way life carried on.

By: Sam Roberts

Sam Roberts — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 12:01:23 +0000

Thanks for all the kind comments.
Peter Holford – is this the one in Bridgnorth?
http://www.hatads.org.uk/ads/ghostsigns/26553/8487/Animals–Agriculture
It is a quite unusual sign that has had the paint kept relatively fresh. Do you know if the business is still trading?

By: Pauline Taylor

Pauline Taylor — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 12:00:36 +0000

How interesting all these signs are and so good that they are being recorded before they either wear away or they are obliterated by modern development. We were lucky where I live in that developers not only retained the sign of the long established business that had previously occupied the mediaeval premises but they restored and made a feature of it, I admire it on my journey into work each day.

The ghost sign here in Northwold Road is of great interest to me as it must have been a familiar sight to my grandparents who lived in Northwold Road at the turn of the century.

Thank you again GA for all these fascinating insights into how the East End of London looked when my great grandparents and grandparents lived there. I am amazed at how much I have learnt from your site already!

By: Patricia Celeveland-Peck

Patricia Celeveland-Peck — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 10:16:44 +0000

Rather than destroying such a sign, a house which must at one time have been a baker’s in the village of Groombridge Sussex, has proudly had the sign re-painted so that it is no longer a ghost.