Tracking that ghost sign on Range Road in Stockport

Powhall and Hovis 2015

Well I went looking for Powhall the name on this ghost sign in Stockport and came up with a blank which confirms that simple conclusion that this ghost sign has passed into history.

It belongs to a house on Lowfield Road, and is unusual because it was painted on the back of the house and not on the gable end.

The property has undergone a fair bit of renovation.

Range Road &Lowfield Road, 1910

The entrance that once faced out on to Lowfield Road has been bricked up as has the shop window which ran along Range Road.

Now painting the sign on the back made sense given that Range Road was once a busy thoroughfare.

At the turn of the last century just a little further along the road there was both  an engineering and hat factory with another hat works almost opposite on Adswood Road.

So plenty of hungry people wanting a Hovis sandwich or the odd cake at dinner time.

And even today I think Range Road will gets a fair bit of traffic and I wonder how many people clock that faded sign.

I am rather glad Graham did and that he then posted it on to me.

I can't exactly be sure when the sign was painted or when Powhill was in business but I bet there will be someone who does.

Looking down Range Road, 2015

Well we shall see.






Picture; Powhall and Hovis, 2014, from the collection of Graham Gill and detail of Stockport in 1910 from the OS for Cheshire, 1900-1910, courtesy of Digital Archives Association,  http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/