This page includes some of the faint traces of public
(mainly trade)
lettering
to be found in the town. Once again, we include these because they
exist,
even though they may not be clearly readable at the screen resolution
used
on this website. Worry not: the signs are spelt out in the captions.
'H.H. NEARS LTD' (over the central bricked
up entrance -
note the different
brick colour), with ' COACH ... BUILDERS' on either side. The close-up
of
the central panel (below) reveals that the capitals had a drop-shadow.
Although the lettering is not visible in this 1989
photograph (below)
taken
from the Charles Street multi-storey car park (The Arboretum public
house
is at the left on High Street), the coach entrance appears still to be
in
operation, with its ramp onto Charles Street.
[UPDATE (13.2.08): Sadly this building has been
demolished to make way for, inevitably, apartments/flats which at the
time of writing are being completed so close to the road - on the same
building line as the H.H. Nears Ltd workshop - that the road has to be
closed for a prolonged period for the work to be completed.]
Almost not there: 'MI(?)... WAI...' Largely covered by
coloured masonry
paint, these ancient-looking characters are a ghost of previous
businesses
and previous lives. This example comes from the Buttermarket, between
first
storey windows above the Buttermarket Lighting Centre on the opposite
side
to the Past Times shop.
-
And then, high above the street and on the side of the
old Woodplan
shop,
Old Foundry Road (now a restaurant - the new proprietor questioned the
photographer
as why he was photographing his property...). An area of red brick
(pictured
above) which was presumably once covered by a sign and therefore not
painted
cream bears the legend: '...Y(?) ROAD' and a possible '...LS' below it.
We wonder if it once read 'Old Foundry Mills'? It is certainly a tall
mill-type
structure which once had teagle doors over the street. It really is
there.
In Tavern Street, opposite the entrance to The Walk you
can find
several
panels which someone has done their best to expunge. They still (just!)
advertise the wares of a previous shop - probably Woottons the
hairdresser [thanks to Trevor an ex-Ipswichian exiled in Norfolk (left
in 1957) from the Guestbook]:-
'BRUSHES AND COMBS'
PERMANENT WAVING ... FACE MASSAGE'
and out of shot:
'TOPS, GAMES, FANCY CHINA, EBONY GOODS'
What a wonderful period ring those words have. Most easily made out are
the words 'Permanent Waving' to the right of the second window, the
caps
of the first word being more condensed to fit the same measure. Serif
capitals
in maroon on a cream or buff background panel.
There are plenty of other examples of partially obliterated lettering
on
this website.
Return
to Ipswich Historic Lettering website, trade page
Return to Historic Lettering from outside
Ipswich
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clicking here.
©2004 Copyright throughout the Ipswich
Signs and
Ipswich
Lettering sites: Borin Van Loon
No reproduction of text or images without express written permission