Every picture tells a
story. There once was a time, O Best Beloved, when every house and flat
in a town the size of Ipswich was within walking distance of something
called a "Post Office". This is where a wonderful invention by the
Victorians whereby a service was provided for the whole population,
whether you had a motorised jalopy or not, was situated. People bought
stamps, drew their pensions, used GiroBank and everything. One such
fine emporium stood on the corner of Foxhall Road and Ruskin Road until
about 2006 and its extinction as a place of business revealed a classic
piece of Lettering Vandalism.
In order to build the shop extension which used to front Foxhall Road, they cut the late Victorian brickwork right through the recessed panel bearing the name 'RUSKIN HOUSE' to accomodate the lead flashing. Now removed as part of its conversion into a dwelling, the butchered sign remains. (The lintel below doesn't look up to much, either.)
Residential roads in this area, part of the big eastern Ipswich housing development in the 1860s by the Ipswich & Suffolk Freehold Land Society, were given names around specific themes - a common practice. Hereabouts we find Faraday Road, Darwin Road, Wellesley Road, Gladstone Road and Henslow Road among others: all notable Victorians. John Ruskin was born in London on 8 February 1819. He was one of the greatest figures of the Victorian age, poet, artist, critic, social revolutionary and conservationist. Ruskin's range was vast. He wrote over 250 works which started from art history, but expanded to cover topics ranging over science, geology, ornithology, literary criticism, the environmental effects of pollution, and mythology. After his death in 1900 Ruskin's works were collected together in a massive "library edition", completed in 1912 by his friends Edward Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. Its index is famously elaborate, attempting to articulate the complex interconnectedness of his thought.
For houses named after eminent Victorians, see our Russell Villas page.
A short walk up Foxhall Road away from the town brings us to The Blooming Fuchsia at number 167, or rather the site of The Blooming Fuchsia on the corner of Foxhall Road and Fuchsia Lane.
A superb 'pub sign' in coloured ceramic tile and relief surround announces
Doctor Fuchs and the Fuchsia.
Father Charles Plumier, a Frenchman, was hunting for plants or trees which contained a chemical, later to be known as Quinine, to cure malaria; this probably happened during trips in the late 17th century, although dates are confused and Plumier's date of death is conjectural. He discovered a new genus of plant, calling it Fuchsia Triphylla Flora Coccinea. Fuchsia was named after a German man of medicine, Triphylla because it was three leafed (that, too, can be confusing: most fuchsia leaf nodes having two leaves), Flora for flower, and Coccinea for its scarlet colour (after the maroon cochineal dye extracted from a Mexican scale insect).
When it came to Plumier's naming of plants he liked to use a surname of respected personalities, for the Fuchsia, he thought of a German Doctor of Medicine who had died 80 years before Plumier was born. This Doctor was Leonhart Fuchs (1501-66), (Fox in English) who for most of his working life, worked at Tubingen University in charge of Medicine. He had written several books, including one called De Historia Stirpium, which contained 516 wood engravings and was (and still is) considered a masterpiece when it was published in Latin in 1542. However, the fact is Leonhart Fuchs, had nothing to do with the Fuchsia, other than have his name used by an admiring Frenchman, who remembered and respected him. Leonhart Fuchs is still well remembered for his work to the present day. Indeed 2001 saw celebrations of his 500th birthday throughout Europe.
Fuchsia cochineal, from Brazil is generally accepted as the first living plant to appear in Europe, probably in 1788 when a Captain Firth gave a plant to Kew Gardens. The 19th century saw British plant hunters lead the field with 25 out of 47 new species being found by the British. The countries where most of the fuchsia species were found, and can still be found, are Peru, Bolivia, Equador, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Chile, and other South American countries.
[UPDATE May, 2010: Oh dear. The Blooming Fuchsia was spotted being surrounded by shuttering. What will befall the famous sign? Demolition? UPDATE July, 2010: Having spotted a gentleman chipping away at the ceramic sign with hammer and chisel(!) in June, we enquired as to its fate and he replied that the sign would be going up again. We hope it wasn't damaged in the removal process. Now the Blooming Fuchsia building has disappeared.]
[UPDATE Spring 2011: The new flats are up on this site - for better or worse - and we thought all was lost, but a feature in the Property section of the Evening Star ( 6.5.11) which tried to sell/let the flats featured a photo of the ceramic sign, presumably round the back at the entrance.]
From the invaluable Suffolk CAMRA website (see Links) we learn:-
"A large single bar with an adjoining conservatory overlooking an enclosed garden. Finally closed its doors for the last time in late November 2009 after sporadic opening and closing over several years. The building has been demolished and replaced with six houses. Following a campaign by local Camra members, it's a condition of the planning permission that the unique tiled sign should be preserved and displayed on a wall of the development for as long as it stands. This was put back in place in April 2011. Originally only a beerhouse, first recorded in 1862; it was granted a full license in 1896. This was the only pub of this name in the entire country." All credit to those CAMRA campaigners.
[UPDATE: Here it is, photographed in May 2011. The sign sits in a dedicated recess in the site's side wall in Fuchsia Lane with comemorative plaque beneath:
The Blooing Fuchsia sign was featured on the front cover (shown above) of the Suffolk and North Essex CAMRA magazine 'Last Orders' (Vol.34, Issue 3).
Other public house lettering can be found at The Emperor in Norwich Road and in Needham Market. See also the Links list for the Brewery History Society website and archive of signs.
For another Foxhall Road signs see the Foxhall Road Co-op (now rebuilt).
In order to build the shop extension which used to front Foxhall Road, they cut the late Victorian brickwork right through the recessed panel bearing the name 'RUSKIN HOUSE' to accomodate the lead flashing. Now removed as part of its conversion into a dwelling, the butchered sign remains. (The lintel below doesn't look up to much, either.)
Residential roads in this area, part of the big eastern Ipswich housing development in the 1860s by the Ipswich & Suffolk Freehold Land Society, were given names around specific themes - a common practice. Hereabouts we find Faraday Road, Darwin Road, Wellesley Road, Gladstone Road and Henslow Road among others: all notable Victorians. John Ruskin was born in London on 8 February 1819. He was one of the greatest figures of the Victorian age, poet, artist, critic, social revolutionary and conservationist. Ruskin's range was vast. He wrote over 250 works which started from art history, but expanded to cover topics ranging over science, geology, ornithology, literary criticism, the environmental effects of pollution, and mythology. After his death in 1900 Ruskin's works were collected together in a massive "library edition", completed in 1912 by his friends Edward Cook and Alexander Wedderburn. Its index is famously elaborate, attempting to articulate the complex interconnectedness of his thought.
For houses named after eminent Victorians, see our Russell Villas page.
A short walk up Foxhall Road away from the town brings us to The Blooming Fuchsia at number 167, or rather the site of The Blooming Fuchsia on the corner of Foxhall Road and Fuchsia Lane.
A superb 'pub sign' in coloured ceramic tile and relief surround announces
'THE
BLOOMING FUCHSIA'
The definite article is tightly curved in a centred arc
above a cream scroll; the lettering in large and small caps).
Quite
who commissioned this work of art for such a modest building
(presumably
the brewers who owned the premises) deserves recognition. The fired
glazes
have ensured that the vibrant colours are as fresh today as they were
when
created. Noteworthy are the low landscape and the cloud formation
against a graduated pale ble sky behind the whole plant. Another
ceramic brewery sign exists on The
Butchers Arms in Knodishall.BLOOMING FUCHSIA'
Doctor Fuchs and the Fuchsia.
Father Charles Plumier, a Frenchman, was hunting for plants or trees which contained a chemical, later to be known as Quinine, to cure malaria; this probably happened during trips in the late 17th century, although dates are confused and Plumier's date of death is conjectural. He discovered a new genus of plant, calling it Fuchsia Triphylla Flora Coccinea. Fuchsia was named after a German man of medicine, Triphylla because it was three leafed (that, too, can be confusing: most fuchsia leaf nodes having two leaves), Flora for flower, and Coccinea for its scarlet colour (after the maroon cochineal dye extracted from a Mexican scale insect).
When it came to Plumier's naming of plants he liked to use a surname of respected personalities, for the Fuchsia, he thought of a German Doctor of Medicine who had died 80 years before Plumier was born. This Doctor was Leonhart Fuchs (1501-66), (Fox in English) who for most of his working life, worked at Tubingen University in charge of Medicine. He had written several books, including one called De Historia Stirpium, which contained 516 wood engravings and was (and still is) considered a masterpiece when it was published in Latin in 1542. However, the fact is Leonhart Fuchs, had nothing to do with the Fuchsia, other than have his name used by an admiring Frenchman, who remembered and respected him. Leonhart Fuchs is still well remembered for his work to the present day. Indeed 2001 saw celebrations of his 500th birthday throughout Europe.
Fuchsia cochineal, from Brazil is generally accepted as the first living plant to appear in Europe, probably in 1788 when a Captain Firth gave a plant to Kew Gardens. The 19th century saw British plant hunters lead the field with 25 out of 47 new species being found by the British. The countries where most of the fuchsia species were found, and can still be found, are Peru, Bolivia, Equador, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Chile, and other South American countries.
[UPDATE May, 2010: Oh dear. The Blooming Fuchsia was spotted being surrounded by shuttering. What will befall the famous sign? Demolition? UPDATE July, 2010: Having spotted a gentleman chipping away at the ceramic sign with hammer and chisel(!) in June, we enquired as to its fate and he replied that the sign would be going up again. We hope it wasn't damaged in the removal process. Now the Blooming Fuchsia building has disappeared.]
[UPDATE Spring 2011: The new flats are up on this site - for better or worse - and we thought all was lost, but a feature in the Property section of the Evening Star ( 6.5.11) which tried to sell/let the flats featured a photo of the ceramic sign, presumably round the back at the entrance.]
From the invaluable Suffolk CAMRA website (see Links) we learn:-
"A large single bar with an adjoining conservatory overlooking an enclosed garden. Finally closed its doors for the last time in late November 2009 after sporadic opening and closing over several years. The building has been demolished and replaced with six houses. Following a campaign by local Camra members, it's a condition of the planning permission that the unique tiled sign should be preserved and displayed on a wall of the development for as long as it stands. This was put back in place in April 2011. Originally only a beerhouse, first recorded in 1862; it was granted a full license in 1896. This was the only pub of this name in the entire country." All credit to those CAMRA campaigners.
[UPDATE: Here it is, photographed in May 2011. The sign sits in a dedicated recess in the site's side wall in Fuchsia Lane with comemorative plaque beneath:
'THIS TILED SIGN WAS
SALVAGED
FROM THE FORMER
BLOOMING FUCHSIA
PUBLIC HOUSE
WHICH STOOD ON THIS SITE.'
FROM THE FORMER
BLOOMING FUCHSIA
PUBLIC HOUSE
WHICH STOOD ON THIS SITE.'
The access way to the
parking area behind the dwellings is just to the left of the sign. The
first thing that strikes the viewer, now that the sign is down at our
level, is how large it is. The colours and definition are both
excellent with a fine crazing visible in some of the enamels. Careful
study reveals that the two 'shoulder' tiles (shown below) on the second
row down have swapped places. The one on the right has a small piece of
greenery: this should be turned through 180 degrees and place on the
left side. The pure blue tile belongs on the right.]
The Blooing Fuchsia sign was featured on the front cover (shown above) of the Suffolk and North Essex CAMRA magazine 'Last Orders' (Vol.34, Issue 3).
Other public house lettering can be found at The Emperor in Norwich Road and in Needham Market. See also the Links list for the Brewery History Society website and archive of signs.
For another Foxhall Road signs see the Foxhall Road Co-op (now rebuilt).