Cullingham
Road 'Corn hay chaff...'
This one's
a peach. A large ghost of a sign, it is on
the side wall of
the
HSS Hire Shop on the corner of Cullingham Road where it meets Handford
Road.
You can see part of the metal street sign to the lower right and near
it,
partially covering our sign, the modern shop sign screwed to the wall.
So
what does it say, we hear you cry? Well, it took a bit of deciphering,
even
on site, but the long pale cartouche reads:
'CORN
HAY CHAFF AND STRAW
STORES'
(there may
be other lettering beneath). The wall of
this building is a
patchwork
of rebuilding and blocking-up (particularly noticeable above the
decorative
frieze) and in fact it stands on one of the ancient roads into the
town,
running in a south westerly direction from Colchester towards the site
of
the long-lost Ipswich Castle near Civic Drive; this area was once very
marshy
and largely uninhabited. It's nice to think that the sign reached that
far
back, but unlikely. It does, however, link us to an age when the horse
ruled
the highways and chandlers advertised the products of the corn harvest
for
the steeds' upkeep and well-being.
Image courtesy Dave
Riseborough
[Update 3.1.2010.
Dave Riseborough's more recent photograph shows a new street sign (with
Borough crest) and a change to the temporary, screwed-on sign: it's now
an estate agent's board. Even on this 'full frontal' image (close-up
below) it is difficult to make out any words, within the pale
cartouche outline. However, straining the eyes and walking up and down
in front of the site did eventually reveal the sign, as laid out above.]
Cross over Handford Road and go down to the nearby
junction with London Road for Mile End.
Home
Please email any comments
and contributions by clicking here.
©2004
Copyright
throughout the Ipswich
Historic Lettering site: Borin Van Loon
No reproduction of text or images without express written permission