The Coal Holes of Old London
These hundred and fifty drawings of cast iron plate covers for coal chutes were sketched by a young medical student, Dr Shepherd Taylor, while studying at King’s College Hospital in the Strand in 1863. “I determined to try to reproduce them on paper, and, although I had no particular artistic skill or genius, I found no great difficulty in making a fair sketch of the more simple devices,” he admitted proudly. Whether Dr Taylor was a purist who omitted those with their maker’s names because he preferred abstract design or whether he simply could not do lettering, we shall never know.
Dr Taylor was ninety years old before his cherished designs were published in 1929 and he christened them Opercula, which means a cover or a lid. I will give a prize to anyone that can send me a photograph of any of these opercula drawn by Dr Taylor still in its location today.
You may also like to take a look at
you’re on!
might take a while though 🙂
I have been “collecting” these for decades, including the ones with names on.
See here: http://www.janeslondon.com/search?q=coal+holes
and also on my flickrstream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr/albums/72157607753988900
Pretty certain I can overlay a lot of the above line drawings with photos of the actual things.
Greetings from Boston,
GA, very interesting. Where do you find these things? All I can think of is that these various designs must have been created in foundries by workers eager to express their artistic bents although their work would remain anonymous.
Then again, because there were so many “coal holes” on every street, they must have been distinguished from each other by a particular pattern?
Truly lovely geometric designs …
Thanks for sharing the link to your study of coal holes, Jane. Really fascinating.
I wonder how many of our ancestors, and we ourselves of course, trampled over these without giving them a second thought, but it is good to see that this man recorded so many, and thank you for showing them to us.
I have recently seen this article about T Shirt printing from these types of cover – hope it’s ok to post the link GA? I thought it was a great idea and your post has just reminded me of it
https://www.boredpanda.com/pirate-printers-manhole-covers-raubdruckerin/
Wow I wonder how much time he invested in doing these?
Quite a few of these still exist. When I get a chance I photograph them.
I am big fan of coalhole covers particularily the Bartles ones around Notting Hill and North Kensington. Bartles was a foundry in Lancaster Road W11. And was next door to Rillington Place, No 10 was right up against the back wall of Bartles. I have discovered that often ironmongers sold their own brand coalholes. Pearsons in Notting Hill Gate was one such place.
Found loads! You are Chalky White and I claim my prize. Will email to you the evidence when I return home. Woot!
Ooooh! This post makes me so happy. Thanks you GA for sharing Dr. Taylor’s illustrations. I’m a big fan of all street hardware and appreciate that you’ve shined the light on handsome evidence once again.
Many examples of the patterns Shepherd Taylor recorded are still to be found in London but not in the situ he recorded them in. In fact some of the streets he gives no longer exist. I had hoped an example of the grid patterned round plate he recorded in John Street might still be there, as it is quite a common design and a lot of plates still exist in John and Doughty Streets, but if it is I didn’t photograph it when I was there.