'Egertons (Ipswich) Ltd...
100 Yds'
The Botwood & Egerton Motor Garage,
Carr Street in 1908
The early morning suns floods onto the back wall
of Yates' public
house, illuminating one of the most familiar (and redundant) signs to
Ipswichians. [2009- Remarkably, this is now called The Robert Ransome
in
memory of one of the town's most famous industrialists, the building,
once housing Barnes Furnishing has been refurbished and is owned by
Wetherspoons as is the nearby Cricketers.]
The view is from the top of Northgate Street, opposite the former
Halberd pub (see below).
Egertons, the motor engineers and vehicle dealers have a long history
in
the town and have occupied several locations that we know of.
EGERTONS
(IPSWICH) LTD
BP
100 YDS
This
somewhat
enigmatic sign promises something 100 yards away, without saying quite
where.
Presumably Egertons (Ipswich) Ltd, their sign sposored by British
Petroleum,
knew that passers-by would find them if they'd got that far. The
premises
referred to once stood on the site further down Crown Street on the
right,
past the Cricketers pub (with its green spire in the photograph) on the
site of the current Crown Pools. Other premises owned by the company
over
the years include a notable presence as Mann Egertons on Major's
Corner, partially demolished to make way for the redundant Odeon
Cinema; the
remainder
facing Woodbridge Road had been used as a furniture shop and car
dealership
but is now demolished to make more parking space between the cinema and
the Regent. They also traded in
agricultural machinery from Princes
Street, near the Greyfriars roundabout and had a lawnmower dealership
on
one of the newer industrial estates. However, until the lettering
(bottom
of this page) was noticed, we never knew that they were in Northgate
Street.
It is noticeable
from the close-up (and presumably
before the rooftop fire
escape was installed) that a much earlier and larger lettered name
'Egertons.'
- the initial 'E' and final 'S' complete with full stop -
was painted onto a dark ground. A tribute
to
the signwriter' ability to work with large letterforms and
character-spacing
in
a lofty location.
To find the source of the Egertons company name, we need to start with
William Botwood's carriage making works in Woodbridge Road (between
Kirby Street and Milton Street) established in 1870. In 1882 showrooms
were opened in St Matthews Street. Botwood died in 1896 and the
business was caried on by two sons, Samuel Ernest and William Thomas,
who a few years later were joined by a pioneering motorist, Reginald
Egerton. Until 1910 the motor car manufacturers Botwood & Egerton
ran alongside the carriage-making firm until Egerton left to set up his
own business in Northgate (Street) next to the Great White Horse Hotel
(see photographs at the foot of this page). The Botwood company became
Botwoods Ltd and in the 1920s the Botwood shares were acquired by
Mann, Egerton & Co. of Norwich who had by then expanded to the town
end of Woodbridge Road/Majors Corner. [Malster in the Reading List]
Below: part of a 1930s monochrome view of that Egertons wall - the roof
of
which
appears to have been extended
upwards since that time -
'EGERTONS.
THE GARAGE (pointing hand)'
One interesting feature is that the present cream
rectangle containing the 'BP' sign wholly covers the earlier black
rectangle which drops down from the company name and bears the tiny
'THE', the word 'GARAGE' and the pointing hand.
The early drop-shadow
lettering on the Halberd
to the left
is also of interest ('The Smoke Room' is signed, stables behind are
visible, as well as The Oddfellows
Hall with its wordy sign):
P.J. McGinty & Sons - an Irish theme pub now
occupies this old coaching
inn, so it is both surprising and refreshing that the original lettering:
'HALBERD
INN'
(much better name, being the weapon hybridising the
battle axe and the pikestaff) which stands in sans serif caps
projecting in relief against the whitewashed wall between first
and
second storeys facing the mouth of Old Foundry Road has been left. Not
only
that, but the (apparently misleading) pub name has been nicely picked
out
in racing car green. See also Manning's
for
similar lettering.
The building is thought to date from the 17th century,
though it was re-fronted around the turn of the 19th century and again
in 1923 by which date the stabling was still in demand by local traders
who wanted to keep their horses and wagons close to the town centre. It
is said that the cellar contains a bricked-up entrance to a maze of
tunnels. It was common to site inns near town gates and the Halberd was
just outside the North Gate - which gave
the street its name - on the
far side of Tower Ditches (the rampart running along Tower Ramparts and
the line of Old Foundry Road). The Suffolk CAMRA site provides a list
of many of the landlords of the inn (see Links,
also on that page see our Reading List - James, T.: 'Ipswich inns,
taverns and pubs').
The photograph below is taken from St Mary le Tower
churchyard - a very
important site for gatherings and meetings of Portmen and townspeople
for
centuries - of the rear of the building now occupied by the Chicago
Rock
Cafe (fronting Northgate Street). The church butresses and porch with
lamp are
visible to the right. The building has an attractive frontage and was
for
a time home to a girls school among other things and for many years the
stationers' shop Mortem. The vestiges of the lettering:
'EGERTON'S'
(this
time with a posessive apostrophe, we think) are visible in the
close-up,
below, in faint outline only in the centre. This is the site of
Reginald Egerton's first motor car works. A period photograph of the
front
of the building appears on our Introduction
page...
... but here's a close-up from 1890. Looking rather
more Classical than the building known to so many residents 100 years
later as Mortem Stationers (which business later moved to Buttermarket
occupying the shop now known as 'Past Times'), this is the original
Assembly Rooms, later
a School of Art, Girls' High School, Egerton's motor works, a dry
cleaner's, Mortem's shop and the Chicago Rock Cafe etc.... This view is
from the jaws of Great Colman Street which was built in the 1820s on
the gardens of the Tudor residence, Harbottle House.
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Historic Lettering site: Borin Van Loon
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