Ghost signs in Stockport .......the one on Hopes Carr

Now I am back with a ghost sign and a story that I suspect will run and run.

This is the side of a 19th century smithy on Hopes Carr in Stockport and like many ghost signs this one may soon have faded to a point that there is little left to see.

And that is a shame because ghost signs are often all that is left of a business or product which were once household names.

My problem is that I don’t know Stockport as well as I should and do not have access to the trade and street directories for the area which would allow me to identify the company who had the sign painted.

But I bet there is someone who does or can pick out the now very faded name and with that will come a story.

Looking at the 1912 map of Stockport I am struck at the contrast between Hopes Carr then and now and leads me to think that once the sign is identified there could be a shed load more to say about both the smithy and Hopes Carr,

In time I will compare this map with the earlier one from 1870 and explore the history of that smithy.

But for now I shall just make that appeal for any one with easy access to the street directories or better still memories of the place.

Location, Hopes Carr, Stockport, Greater Manchester











Pictures; ghost sign and building on Hopes Carr, 2015 from the collection of Graham Gill and detail of Hoes Carr from the Cheshire OS, 1904-1910, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/