Gone but not forgotten

In my day job as a drainage Surveyor I quite often come across artefacts from a bygone era that go un-noticed by those who do not appreciate their original purpose.

Today I came across this little well set into a wall on the main road through the village of Potterne, near Devizes in Wiltshire. I have seen these on many occasions before & always assumed they supplied drinking water for the horses that were the main form of transport before the advent of the internal combustion engine. Normally I wouldn't give it a second thought but I was drawn to this one by the information plaque fixed above it. On reading the plaque I was interested to see that it had another use after the era of the horse that I hadn't considered before.

This got me wondering, are there other artefacts remaining that have a story to tell from bygone times that we might unknowingly pass by without a second thought?

On the A56 (I think) just outside Groby in Leicestershire, there was a notice "Steam Engines Water" just by the bridge over a small stream. That was in about 1958, caused a bit of joviality every time we passed in in the car.
BobH

I always look out for the ;'ghosts' of advertisements painted on brick walls. I often wonder if anyone records these.

Neil

Fortunately somebody does

http://www.hatads.org.uk/ads/ghostsigns.aspx

As a child I was always confused by road signs that said "Unsuitable for heavy locomotives", not realising that the traction engines I saw at rallies were legally classed as road locomotives.

Brian

Edited By Brian G on 18/11/2015 10:22:52

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Edited By Neil Wyatt on 18/11/2015 11:48:13

Neill Wyatt:

"I always look out for the ;'ghosts' of advertisements painted on brick walls"

So do I!

Two come to mind:

At the bottom of Swain's Hill in Highgate, London there is a sign advertising (from memory) "Company Bunfights".

In the loft on the former end elevation of my extended Victorian EOT is an advert which I am still trying to decipher.

Martin Cottrell:

That brickwork looks to be quite new - anything to add?

In the late '70s the Talbot car name was briefly resurrected for advertising. However there was still a garage at the Alpine crossroads near Stanmore that had the faded letters over it advertising the original Talbot brand. It did get wiped out by a new owner in the '80s but I hope someone got photos for the local museum which I never thought of.

In Bridestowe church they still have a pair of stocks - something that could perhaps also be resurrected.

Edited By Bazyle on 18/11/2015 13:25:02

And I was confused as a child by signs that referred to 'Track Laying Vehicles', notably on bridges over the Abergavenny-Brecon canal.

And on the hill out of Abbeville, to this day, there is the ghosted remnant (just) of an Austin advertisement in script from the BMC era.

Martyn

One of the roads out of Honiton (Devon) has a fairly complete set of toll-gates in position (open, of course) and sunk well into the grass. Or at least it had when I was last there, several years ago ...

And on the English Bridge road into Shrewsbury there is a painted advert for a dealer selling Velocette motor bicycles and Linton cyclecars.

You all know about the signs on Dorset bridges threatening users with deportation if they so much as laid a finger on them?

Cheers, Tim

Not actually on a wall, but going back to my youth the sign on the back of Smith's Crisps delivery vans used to confuse me. It read "We wish to extend our courtesy to the road. Please sound your horn." It meant of course that it drew the drivers attention to the fact that you were behind and might wish to overtake. (Mirrors were not what they are today!) I always thought the van would stop and sell you a bag of crisps.

Mike.

I wants me some of them Bile Beans !

Just before Wimbeldon station (south) you can just make out the Airfix name on a wall of the old factory.

Old advertistments, company /shop names etc appeared in wall of buildings that had been hidden for many years after the earthquakes of 2010/11 in Christchurch NZ, some art work also appeared very shortly after the quakes.

Ian S C

There are some great ones in Nottingham and Burton upon Trent, no pics as always driving past..

Google Streetview is potentially a valuable record.

**LINK**

Check out Trafalgar Square in Nottingham - an unadopted cul-de-sac that looks like it is straight out of the 1940s, aside from the Satellite dishes.

Neil

At least the demolition of the 5 storey Perkins office block, (alongside which the new by pass was built) which had been a landmark for the last 50 years or so, was recorded, so that piece of history was recorded.

(It was not mindless destruction, the building had deteriorated until repair was no longer economically viable)

Howard

When I was a child in the 1940s and 50s in Spalding, Lincolnshire, there was a lovely "ghost" advertisement on a house wall in a street called The Crescent. In letters which must have been 2ft high, it advertised a dentist. I've just checked on Google Earth, and it is still there. Sad thing is that someone has cut a small window in the brickwork, and someone else has put a small modern sign on top of another part of the old advert. Surely there's a case for preserving these old "ghost" adverts?

This one?

Wierd I pasted it in once but three appeared!

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 28/11/2015 13:05:00

Thanks, Neil - that's the very one! Just along the street, beyond the Chinese restaurant, is George Adams's butchers shop, famed for its pork pies. On the upper floor of the same block was a fitness centre run by Geoff Capes - remember, The Strongest Man in the World, and a former Olympic shot putt champion?

Here you go!