Ghost signs in Well Hall

Now you can wait all year for a Ghost sign and then two turn up at the same time.

And for these I have Chrissie to thank who as ever on her way to work went hunting for these signs which start the story of long forgotten shops and businesses.

For that is what a ghost sign, the often last reminder of a firm which once flourished and has now gone.

They were painted in the sides of buildings and a few can still be seen.  But most are fading fast, weathered by years of rain sun and neglect.

Some have even been painted over but stubbornly the lettering still forces its way through reminding us of a grocery shop or painting business.

The first of Chrissie pictures is from the corner of Well Hall and Dunvegan Road and you know, I must have passed it lots of times and never given it a glance.

Such are ghost signs.

The second is by the Tiger’s Head in Lee, and before someone mutters that this isn’t Well Hall, all I will say is that you have to take your ghost signs where you find them.

In time I shall go digging into these two signs.

In the meantime thank you Chrissie and for all of you who have passed a sign it is time to record it.

Most will not be with us for much longer, and when they have gone the record of the people who had them made along with their stories will vanish.

And that I think is a shame.

Not least because many of the signs were themselves works of art, carefully planned, beautifully executed and a comment on what what we bought and who we employed.

Today the same publicity will appear on facebook sites, pop up in freebie newspapers and community magazines.

Most were for local consumption, becoming house hold names for a few generations.

So they were and are a little bit of our history.

Pictures © Chrissie Rose 2014