• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Ghost signs of Birmingham

I have just been on a guided walk around the Jewellery Quarter looking at ghost signs. Will sort my photos and post some of them shortly. However, if this has not been mentioned before on this thread can I recommend https://brumsghostsigns.tumblr.com/ by Tracey Thorne who was the guide on our walk and is making a research project on the subject.
 
These are some of the photos I have taken. Tracey our guide on the walk that I did today is concentrating on hand painted signs

A well know sign on the line out of Snow Hill Station. Photo was taken through a hole in a gate on Livery Street.

DSCN2096Small.jpg

This is not open to the public. A former motor repair shop in Henrietta Street now a boxing gym

DSCN2097Small.jpg

A difficult one to see. High up on a building in a back yard on the corner of Henriette Street and Constitution Hill

DSCN2099Small.jpg

This is one that many will have seen H S Tank and Sons. Constitution Hill. The company was dissolved 2012 according to the Registrar of Companies. What the authority was for displaying the Royal coat of arms on the building I don't know. I think they are the arms of King William IV (1830s)

DSCN2100small.jpg

Sorry folks the rest will have to wait another day. It time for my bed
 
I do have some more photos but have been very busy with work being done in my house. Sorry but it might be next week before I get a chance to add more
 
The one for HS Tank, with the lovely heraldic device, is interesting David.
The Tank sign says it was only in 1968 when the company was established - leisure wear it seems - so presumably the royal patronage (believing your comment might well be correct) would have applied the the original owner of the premises, who I assume was there until they closed down. I guess the usual (suspects;)) here may well be able to shed some light for us all on the history of the property.
 
In answer to Radiorails regarding H.S.Tank, occupying 60-62 Constitution Hill. :
Corrected Version
In later years this was a part of Taylor & Challen, whose original buildings were next door) . Originally it was the factory of James Cartland & Co, who moved here in around 1823, and named it the Great Western Bress Foundry
 
Last edited:
Two buildings with traces of signs on Aston Lane (around #218). The first shows it's always worth keeping an eye open on buildings undergoing building work.

image.jpeg

The second building is just a few doors down from the one above and is on the corner of Aston Lane and London Road. Viv.
image.jpeg
 
DSCN2102Small.jpg DSCN2101Small.jpg OK I am back again with photos of signs I saw on the walk led by Tracey Thorne a couple of weeks ago. Sorry for the delay.

Junction of Constitution Hill and Northwood Street. The building is no longer a pub but is still an off licence

DSCN2101Small.jpg

This is one on Constitution Hill which it is very difficult to read
 
Not strictly a ghost sign as the business is still trading from the same premises. Corner of Key Hill and Hockley Hill



Hylton Street in the Jewellery Quarter, now residential property.




Spencer Street. A major fire has destroyed this building. Most likely future would be for it to be fascaded and converted to residential. (Photo added later as original was too large)
 

Attachments

  • DSCN2104Small.jpg
    DSCN2104Small.jpg
    118.4 KB · Views: 32
  • DSCN2105small.jpg
    DSCN2105small.jpg
    101.8 KB · Views: 16
  • DSCN2106Small.jpg
    DSCN2106Small.jpg
    152.4 KB · Views: 20
  • DSCN2107Small.jpg
    DSCN2107Small.jpg
    169.7 KB · Views: 21
Last edited:
Thanks David. If you didn't know about it you probably wouldn't notice the Constitution Hill sign. Viv.
 
Somerset House at 37 Temple Street has an interesting stone carving above the entrance. It shows various trades and a sailing ship. Was this something to do with insurance? The building dates to 1936. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
Difficult to know as the building had such a long list of companies - many were insurance. I have attached the list from 1940 Kelly's (nearest I can access). The symbols seem to indicate some of the professions. Scales for solicitors, dividers for planners etc. There is a bit about it here https://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1930/somerset.html
 

Attachments

  • Somerset House 1.JPG
    Somerset House 1.JPG
    44.5 KB · Views: 10
  • Somerset House 2.JPG
    Somerset House 2.JPG
    38.9 KB · Views: 10
  • Somerset House 3.JPG
    Somerset House 3.JPG
    20.4 KB · Views: 11
Last edited:
I had this with my photos of Somerset House Viv.

It is an Art Deco building dating from 1936.

Relief of a ship. To the left, scales, a quill and a book, keys. To the right a compass and other tools (not sure what they are). It also looks like a scroll.

Somerset House of 1936 by Essex & Goodman, with bands of wide windows between tower-like end bays. Over the entrance is a relief of a sailing ship.
Click to expand...

Above info from Pevsner Architectural Guides: Birmingham by Andy Foster.
 
Thanks Janice and Ell. Looks like all sorts of industry has been connected to the building at one time or another. To put the frieze on the building must have had a specific meaning. Maybe it was built for a cross-industry type organisation like an early Chamber of Commerce ? Viv.
 
Janice
You did not miss much with the 1940 Kellys. The date 1930 must have been the design date, as the 1932 & 1933 Kellys both list another building at no 37, while the 1936-38 editions do not list anything there, it appearing only in the 1939 edition (below in two parts)
 

Attachments

  • Kellys . 37 Temple st 1939.1.jpg
    Kellys . 37 Temple st 1939.1.jpg
    33 KB · Views: 10
  • Kellys 37. Temple St 1939.2.jpg
    Kellys 37. Temple St 1939.2.jpg
    28.8 KB · Views: 7
Thanks - Mike. The suggestion on the Manchester site is that it was built in 1936 but that could have been the start date. It probably opened 38/39 hence listing in 1939 edition.
 
I think there's another clue in the scrolls at each end of the frieze. Each scroll is tied up with a ribbon and there's a key tucked into the ribbon/scroll. Wondering if it was originally a place of education but specifically related to ships/ shipbuilding trades ? Not something I would immediately associate with Birmingham. The ship certainly dominates the frieze which seems odd when there's also a scythe included. Still confused. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
There are also compasses, the symbol for which I always associate with Masons. Do you think the building might have been owned by a masonic organisation, as most of the symbols seem to be associated with various trades. The building is, after all in Temple st
 
I thought of the Freemasons when I saw the compasses but they usually show the compasses with a square whereas the symbol here is shown with a protractor. OK both a square and a protractor are used for angles. However the date of the building is after the old Masonic Temple in Broad Street was built, now demolished. Somerset House is more a a generic name these days unlike the more famous Somerset House in London which was the site of the palace of the Duke of Somerset. As the entries from Kelly's Directory soon after the build show the building in multiple occupation by many companies and the building has an Art Deco look, I am thinking it was just the architect's artistic ideas.
 
A different sign. King's Heath High Street - currently number 96 and occupied by HSBC. A quick look on Kelly's does not give the same number but it looks as if it was built as a bank.
 

Attachments

  • K Heath 1.jpg
    K Heath 1.jpg
    370.8 KB · Views: 23
  • K Heath 2.jpg
    K Heath 2.jpg
    392.7 KB · Views: 23
  • K Heath 3.JPG
    K Heath 3.JPG
    16.8 KB · Views: 23
pjmburns said:
Thanks - did HSBC take over Midland?
Click to expand...

Yes much to the regret of those of us who appreciated that Midland signified the foundation of the bank in Birmingham. Even now that they are moving the head office of their UK retail bank back to Birmingham, they are not reviving the Midland name.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top