• 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

G

Gez

New Member
Hi All

Does anyone have any info or pics of Hack Street, Digbeth. I am particularly interested in this street as there are several remains of ghost signs of previous business trades that have been there over-lapping eachother. It would be good see any visibly evidence of the signs may have looked.

Thank you.
 
A sign as been taken down on a building on Cuckoo Bridge. Underneath reads GREEN & VIB----.
Anyone know the name of this company and what they did?
 
I find old ghost signs on walls fascinating. They can give us so many little clues about the activities within or around the building in the past. And they're often left untouched until the building is demolished. These two photos have some nicely visible signs:

Junction of Edward Street and Parade in 1967. Here we can see on the far left the business was a Hercules Cycles dealer - perhaps it was a cycle shop or repair shop. (The frontage - or is that an alleyway? - has been boarded up, but it's intriguing to see a man up a ladder above it and one at the window, so the building still has some signs if life). There's also an old Walls ice cream enamel sign above the Swopshop, and two others at street level. So the Swopshop must once have been a sweet shop/newsagents or possibly a grocery shop.

The second photo shows a fading sign of the Birmingham Household Supply Association in 1962. It even advertises the manager's name. The sign was revealed when the Casino was demolished in Corporation Street.

Viv

u5e9yben.jpg



yhaje4e7.jpg
 
That's very interesting Viv.
I love ghost signs, there are still quite a few to be seen in the old areas of London as well.
 
Yes, I too am always on the lookout for these. It often means looking up above street level - amazing what you can see. Some business owners certainly intended that their names would remain as long as the building stood standing like the Vaughton Gothic Works in Livery Street. The name is prominent in red terracotta, but the business activity is slightly obscured by plaster. Possibly the first word is 'Glass' perhaps?

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1348758120.959064.jpg

This more humble sign next door to Vaughton's has left just a shadow of Joseph Cook & Son. Nice doorway features though. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1348758184.153103.jpg
 
Excellent. And great detective work to boot. Is "Ghost signs" coining a new word or is it in general use ?

I wonder why the bloke on the ladder had 2 ladders up the same bit of wall ?
( I'm sure the answer is simple - but I haven't spotted it )

I wonder if the Birmingham Household Supply Association was the forerunner to the Co-operative
 
Last edited:
Hi Stephen. I think 'ghost sign' is now in general use for these things. It's a feature of old buildings that I enjoy spotting as it can give quite a few hints about a place. Hadn't thought about why they needed 2 ladders in the Edward St/Parade photo. Maybe as there are 2 men, they might have jointly lifted something up to the first floor (or removed something) or maybe they were being petulant and insisted on a ladder each!!! Perhaps someone could put us right on why 2 ladders and whether the Household Supply was a predecessor of the Co-op. Viv.
 
Viv
P Vaughton & Sons are listed as manufacturing jewellers, so i don't think it is likely to be glass.
 
Thanks Mike. We need someone to go up to Livery St and chip off a bit more of that plaster! Lyn - can you hear me?! Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Thanks Mike. We need someone to go up to Livery St and chip off a bit more of that plaster! Lyn - can you hear me?! Viv.
Click to expand...

A bit more - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/6009012661/
and here https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2124007 it says the
Grade II listed building dating from 1902. The missing terracotta can be made out as Goldsmiths and Silversmiths. The firm specialised in mayoral chains and civic jewellery.Now converted as a budget hostel.​
 
Thanks Maris. A nice find. Good to hear the building is in use again too. I expect Vaughton the architect was related to Messrs Vaughton the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths. Viv
 
Thanks Froth. Amazed this is still visible and still quite sharp. Must be at last 50 or 60 years old do you think? Viv.
 
Stephen0002002 said:
Excellent. And great detective work to boot. Is "Ghost signs" coining a new word or is it in general use ?

I wonder why the bloke on the ladder had 2 ladders up the same bit of wall ?
( I'm sure the answer is simple - but I haven't spotted it )



I wonder if the Birmingham Household Supply Association was the forerunner to the Co-operative
Click to expand...

I think the reason for the two ladders is just in case the one broke underneath the workman and he could transfer to the other to get down safely.......
 
Thanks Richie. Hadn't thought of that. The ladders in the photo would have been wooden. Modern aluminium ladders must have been a great improvement. Viv.
 
Tufnol Ltd, on the corner of Wellhead Lane and Aston Lane, was formerly George Ellison Ltd. They made electrical switchgear. At the entrance to Tufnol's on Wellhead Lane stand two art deco gates attached to a set of pillars topped with period lamps. The ghost sign is opposite this entrance. Directly across the road is/was (as per the 2009 Google Streetview) a similarly lovely pair of gates, also topped with period lamps. But look closely at the centre of the left-hand gate and you'll see a white "E" within a black shield - the logo of Geo. Ellison Ltd. I do so hope those gates haven't been demolished in the last photo, as it looks to me like the Geo. Ellison land beyond those gates was being cleared for re-development in 2009. Viv.

gejyzyme.jpg


ta8ybyma.jpg


guje9ypa.jpg
 
That went way over my head Richie and Stephen... Doh! Thanks John for the link, it's a very interesting site.

Found quite a bold ghost sign in Summer Lane (Constitution Hill/Old Snow Hill end). Only the wall remains, the factory seems to have gone. The wall on which the sign is painted has been lowered, slicing off a litlle of the words. The factory was H.B. Sale Ltd, manufacturers of engraving devices, die sinkers etc, established in 1862. I have a question about this one. Has the background brickwork been painted too? It's more a London brick colour and not the usual red brickViv

ybutypu5.jpg



ImageUploadedByTapatalk1348848532.071412.jpg
 
Hi Viv,

first, your links to your attachments don't work (at least not for me). Second, Tufnol Ltd was never known as George Ellison Ltd. Tufnol manufacture resin-bonded laminated materials in Birmingham and East Kilbride, and are still very much in business. George Ellison Ltd is actually on the other side of Wellhead Lane. The old George Ellison factory had been demolished, as has part of the Tufnol works (the part on Aston Lane).

H B Sale Ltd were a well-known Birmingham company which closed down, at a guess, in about 1990.

G
 
Vivienne14 said:
That went way over my head Richie and Stephen... Doh! Thanks John for the link, it's a very interesting site.

Found quite a bold ghost sign in Summer Lane (Constitution Hill/Old Snow Hill end). Only the wall remains, the factory seems to have gone. The wall on which the sign is painted has been lowered, slicing off a litlle of the words. The factory was H.B. Sale Ltd, manufacturers of engraving devices, die sinkers etc, established in 1862. I have a question about this one. Has the background brickwork been painted too? It's more a London brick colour and not the usual red brickViv
Click to expand...
Yes the background of the signage is painted Viv as the mortar is the same colour as the bricks.
 
I cannot get the links to work either but thought I had seen them earlier today?
 
John might it be that the blue has bleached away through sunlight?
 
Big Gee said:
Hi Viv,

first, your links to your attachments don't work (at least not for me). Second, Tufnol Ltd was never known as George Ellison Ltd. Tufnol manufacture resin-bonded laminated materials in Birmingham and East Kilbride, and are still very much in business. George Ellison Ltd is actually on the other side of Wellhead Lane. The old George Ellison factory had been demolished, as has part of the Tufnol works (the part on Aston Lane).

H B Sale Ltd were a well-known Birmingham company which closed down, at a guess, in about 1990.

G
Click to expand...

Thanks Big Gee. Think I might have got my bearings mixed up. Yes, looking closely at the early photo, GE was on the other side to Tufnol's as per this photo. But it's odd that both entrances have the very same gates/pillars etc. In fact they're replicas.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1348865567.350389.jpg Geo. Ellisons Wellhead Lane

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1348865650.893786.jpg Tufnol entrance and gates from Google Streetview
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1348865686.406930.jpg Geo Ellison entrance and gates from Google Streetview

I still think Tufnol's and George Ellison were part of the same company as my dad worked for Geo. Ellison (and only GE) but got a pension from Tufnol's never having worked for Tufnol's. Maybe they made a mistake!

Hope the links work this time. It's maybe a problem because I upload via Tapatalk on iPad. I've replaced the photos in post #16 just to make sure. Viv.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top