East Bergholt & Stradbroke
The small cottage opposite the village shop in East
Bergholt, Suffolk
commemorates
the business which once occupied it. Carefully preserved and worked
around
with masonry paint by the current owner, this 17th (?) century
lettering
resembles that on the Woodbridge milestone.
This and the two examples on this page are amongst the oldest
extant
lettering on this website. The idiosyncratic spelling presumably comes
from
the trade of 'hatter':
'DEALER
in HATTS'
Mercury, which we now know to be highly toxic, was used
in the manufacture of hats in days of yore when everyone wore headgear
of some sort. Hatters and milliners were much more comon trades. It is
believed that hatters commonly suffered from 'hatter's shakes', a form
of nerve damage which gave symptoms similar to Parkinson's Disease and
which is still known today as 'Mad Hatter's Syndrome'. We should also
mention the black and white feature film of A.J. Cronin's novel Hatter's Castle starring Robert
Newton in a, frankly, terrifying portrayal of the title role. Gothic
and seriously scary, but we digress...
A photograph below of the ancient equine advertisement
preserved on a
wall
opposite the church in Stradbroke, Suffolk:
'GOOD STABLING
LOOSE BOXE'S
HORSES AND TRAPS TO LET'
(curious use of the apostrophe ... )
(Photo courtesy Don Mathew)
Compare with the 'Good Stabling' sign on Whitby's White Horse & Griffin.
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throughout the Ipswich
Historic Lettering
website: Borin Van Loon
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