Venturing away from London for a few days this week, I found myself in Bath yesterday. I'd seen some various posts of all the fabulous ghost signs in Bath, so decided to see how many I could bag during the couple of hours I had there.
First up is the Circulating Library:
CIRCULATING LIBRARY
AND READING ROOM
which now seems to be the home of Hobbs on the ground floor, and a Jamie Oliver restaurant on the first floor.
Circulating Library ghost sign, Bath
The next one is a bit of a mystery. I can just about make out
& Co
Ghost sign in Bath
The lettering on this next ghost sign is quite clear until the final word, but a bit of googling helped me out, and it is in fact 'polonies' ... whatever a polony is (I suspect not a sausage from Bologna as my first search results suggested).
DILL'S FAMOUS BATH POLONIES
Ghost sign in Bath
As we were looking at the view into the river and across to the Pulteney Bridge, I spotted this one in the distance. Unfortunately this is a case where the poor quality zoom on the phone let me down and the ghost sign was much clearer to the naked eye.
A.WILLS & SONS LTD
Ghost sign in Bath
Another mystery ghost sign, possibly NUMERAL or NUMBER ?
Ghost sign in Bath
This next ghost sign was probably my favourite of the short visit, especially with the false window beneath, and so from a circulating library we move to a lending library.
BOOK STORE
LENDING LIBRARY
WELL STOCKED WITH ALL THE
LATEST FICTION
Ghost sign in Bath
I wasn't quite sure what the sign CORRIDOR referred to when I took this photo, but it would seem to be the name of the original shopping arcade which opened here in 1825. Just a bit nicer than today's soul-less, out of town, retail parks.
Corridor shopping arcade, Bath
Just as well we didn't need any diary products today, as this shop beneath this ghost sign is now occupied by a photographers.
HAND'S DAIRY
SPECIALISTS IN
CREAM
DAIRY PRODUCT
SINCE ????
Ghost sign, Bath
Hmmm, this doesn't happen very often, and in fact it's usually the opposite in that if I take a picture of a very faded sign, then the process of transferring it from phone to computer enhances the lettering. However, on this occasion the lettering in the photo is completely missing. I am sure there was definite an 'S' at the end.
Ghost sign, Bath
Fortunately this next ghost sign was much easier to read:
SHEPHERDS HALL
Ghost sign, Bath
This is by no means anywhere near a complete collection, as a few quick internet searches will show you, but I don't think my haul was too bad. And just to prove that I did look at some of the other wonderful features that Bath has to offer, here are a few pictures taken of and around the Pulteney Bridge, with the waters full from the recent flooding and featuring a part of a tree that I would imagine is not usually there.
Pulteney Bridge, Bath
Near the Pulteney Bridge, Bath
Pulteney Bridge, Bath
And finally, if you're wondering why there are no photos of Royal Crescent or The Circus, then the reason is that both contained scaffolding and plastic clad houses pretty much bang in the middle.
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