Now here is a double mystery and a celebration of a fine ghost sign.
Ghost signs are the names of businesses and products which long ago vanished.
They were painted directly onto the walls of buildings and sometimes even on to the roof of a property.
This one is courtesy of my friend Ryan and is on the gable end of what is now Cafe Delight on the corner of Belmont Hill and Myrom Place just off Lewisham High Street.
In time I will go looking for Mr C. Holdaway to solve the mystery of when he was in business and maybe I will also get an answer to what a crainer was.
I can only suppose it was linked to the profession of painting and decorating, but a search has not revealed an answer.
I have found a reference to a Mr Callum C Holdaway who was married in Lewisham in 1958 and other people with the same surname in and around the area from the beginning of the last century into the 1960s.
And here in advance of posting the story I discover that a crainer was a grainer, ...... all to do with how you read the sign.
It was my friend Bill Sumner who told me that he "used to admire that graining or scumbling as we called it.
A local landlord in Gorse Hill did the fronts of a whole block of houses with it and they were the smartest houses in the district for many years. It was possible to choose any type of timber and have your windows and doors painted and grained to suit.
I still have a set of the steel combs that were used, and somewhere have my brothers books that he showed to customers so they could make their choice. He became a master decorator after doing National Service"
Well that saves me from looking a twerp and makes perfect sense.
Leaving me to ponder on whether the bubble writing at the bottom of the wall will still be there in a decade.
Location; Lewisham
Picture; ghost sign, Myrom Place, 2017 courtesy of Ryan Ginn
 |
| Myrom Place, Belmont Hill, 2017 |
They were painted directly onto the walls of buildings and sometimes even on to the roof of a property.
This one is courtesy of my friend Ryan and is on the gable end of what is now Cafe Delight on the corner of Belmont Hill and Myrom Place just off Lewisham High Street.
In time I will go looking for Mr C. Holdaway to solve the mystery of when he was in business and maybe I will also get an answer to what a crainer was.
I can only suppose it was linked to the profession of painting and decorating, but a search has not revealed an answer.
I have found a reference to a Mr Callum C Holdaway who was married in Lewisham in 1958 and other people with the same surname in and around the area from the beginning of the last century into the 1960s.
And here in advance of posting the story I discover that a crainer was a grainer, ...... all to do with how you read the sign.
A local landlord in Gorse Hill did the fronts of a whole block of houses with it and they were the smartest houses in the district for many years. It was possible to choose any type of timber and have your windows and doors painted and grained to suit.
I still have a set of the steel combs that were used, and somewhere have my brothers books that he showed to customers so they could make their choice. He became a master decorator after doing National Service"
Leaving me to ponder on whether the bubble writing at the bottom of the wall will still be there in a decade.
Location; Lewisham
Picture; ghost sign, Myrom Place, 2017 courtesy of Ryan Ginn
No comments:
Post a Comment