A return Urban Wander around Bath

I have blogged about Bath before, particularly the abundance of ghost signs in Bath, but only really explored the city centre and immediate area on that visit. So, with time on our hands we wandered a little way out of the centre, not too far mind, and were rewarded with not only ghost signs, but other attractions too.

First up we have the turnstile entrances to Bath Rugby Club. All very ornate, and much more appealing than the more modern ones you get at most football grounds.

Entrance to Bath Rugby Club

Entrance to Bath Rugby Club

And now on to the ghost signs. There are two on this building. The one of the right is for 

NESTLES

MILK

RICHEST IN CREAM

SOLD H.J.ARCHARD

I'm afraid I had no luck working out what the one on the left hand side said though.

Nestles Milk Ghost sign in Bath, Somerset

Nestles Milk Ghost sign in Bath, Somerset

This next ghost sign is slightly curious.

FUNERALS FURNISHED

by which I assume it means funerals arranged.

Ghost sign in Bath, Somerset

Ghost sign in Bath, Somerset

When I took the picture, I only thought that this building had a single ghost sign just above the windows which sit above the pizza and fried chicken sign, but on closer inspection it seems to have three signs, one running around the top of each of the three upper floors.

Ghost sign in Bath, Somerset

With our visit coming to and end, the sun showed a brief appearance. The final picture of the day was taken of the Kennet and Avon canal.

Kennet and Avon Canal, Bath, Somerset

    

A short Urban Wander around Bath (ghost signs a plenty)

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.