Kathesimbhu Stupa, Kathmandu

A lovely sign with a representation of the Kathesimbhu Stupa in Central Kathmandu. Said to have been built around 1650, this stupa is a small replica of the much larger, and older, Swayambhunath that rises on a hill two kilometres to the west of the city centre (the name itself is a contraction of Kathmandu and Swayambhu). Those who cannot climb the 365 steps to Swayambhunath can earn the same merit by performing rites at Kathsimbhu.

Location: Kathmandu

Bhumee Handicraft Center, Kathmandu

Bhumee

Handicraft

Center

Naghal ... (Thamel)

Wholesaler

& Retailer

(Gold & Silver

Plated Idol)

_____________

Gold &

Silver

Plated Idol

Location: Chandraman Sing Marg, Kathmandu

The Salvation Army, Windsor

Templar's Hall in Windsor was built in 1874 as a venue for public meetings, debates and lectures. One of the most famous speakers was the socialist and women's rights activist Annie Besant, who on 11th March 1890 gave a lecture on "Why we teach Socialism" to an enthusiastic audience. Apart from this there is relatively little information about Templar's Hall and certainly no document online linking it to the Salvation Army.

Yet this is where a ghost sign for the Church and charitable movement founded in 1865 by William and Catherine Booth can be found. Did the Salvation Army acquire or rent the hall on a long term basis at some point? This would explain the presence of this ghost sign.

For some information about the Salvation Army, please check the post about its ghost sign in St Luke's, London.

The
Salvation
Army

Location: St Leonard's Road, Windsor, Berkshire / Pictures take in March 2011

The West of England, Exeter

Initially called the West of England Institute for the Instruction and Employment of the Blind, the West of England School was founded on 28th April 1838 by a group of people led by Sarah Friend to improve the life of Exeter's blind population. The school moved to St David's Hill in 1843, after a Mrs Wilkinson donated a house outside the city walls, and stayed there until 1965. That year the school moved to new premises in Countess Wear, outside Exeter, where it still caters for blind and partially sighted pupils aged between 2 and 19+. The website of the school's association includes a page about its history.

The West of England

Founded 1839 Enlarged 1855

Only part of the ghost sign has survived. The image printed in 1881 shows "Institution for the Blind" appeared on the central part of the building. This has now completely disappeared.

Location: St David's Hill, Exeter, Devon / Pictures taken in April 2012

Tiverton museum

St Andrew Street is a rather narrow thoroughfare but this is where the only ghost sign I noticed in the Mid-Devon town of Tiverton can be seen. Actually it is not a proper ghost sign as the museum it invites people to visit is still open to the public, albeit not on Sundays (which was exactly when we were there).

Tiverton museum opened in 1960 and moved in its present premises in 1967. Using different colours and typefaces, the sign lists some of the collections on display. Surprisingly there is a spelling mistake, which was never corrected.

The
Tiverton
Museum
50 Yards on Left
Open Daily 10.30 to 4.30
Local History . Costumes
Transport . Clocks
Photographs
Village Smithy
Victorain [sic] Laundry
... ... ...emonts
Local Industries & Crafts
Grand Western Canal
Railway Gallery
With G.W.R. Loco.

Since the gallery for the Great Western Railway 0-4-2T No. 1422 was only built in 1979, one can assume this sign was painted either in time for the opening or at a later date, possibly in 1985 (see below).

A second sign on the façade of this derelict building shows the crest of Tiverton.

The crest, with the Latin sentence Sigilium oppidi de Tyverton (Seal of the Town of Tiverton), represents in its upper part the church of St Peter and the motte-and-bailey castle. Below the town is shown with the two bridges spanning the River Exe and the River Lowman that replaced the two fords which gave Tiverton its name (originally it was Twyfordton, meaning "The town of two fords"). Underneath the town houses a woolsack is a reminder of the importance of the woolen industry to the area.
This sign was painted in 1985, while Ron Turner was Mayor.

Why were these signs painted there? Their visibility is poor. The street is narrow and, as it is winding, the building cannot be seen from the main thoroughfare, Fore Street. The building certainly belongs to the municipality (it appears to be connected to other municipal offices) thus consent for painting these signs was certainly easy to obtain. I cannot find any other explanation.

No ghost sign at the museum itself but a mural representing its largest exhibit, GWR locomotive 1442, nicknamed the "Tivvy Bumper." Locomotives of the 1400 class could be seen pulling trains between Tiverton and Tiverton Junction, where passengers would change for the mainline services to Bristol, London and other destinations.

On the mural, painted by D. G. Weatherley in 1995, the train is at a typical West Country halt consisting of a short platform and a wooden shelter. However it cannot be Halberton Halt, the only stop between Tiverton and Tiverton Junction, since the shelter there was located under a bridge.

Location: St Andrew Street, Tiverton, Devon / Pictures taken in April 2012

Royal Society for the Blind, Exeter

For a few days I was unable to connect but the problem seems to have been sorted and I am now ready to resume work and head towards the 1000th post. This benchmark may still be far away but I should have enough pictures to make it, starting with a whole series of ghost signs and mosaics spotted in southeast Devon during the Easter weekend.

This series, which will include some real gems, starts behind Exeter Cathedral with this ghost sign for the Royal Society for the Blind. In spite of its grand name, there is virtually nothing about this charity on the web. There are different regional organisations by this name but the name of the town or city they are based in is usually attached to them. However it seems Exeter did not have 'its own' charity for the blind and support and services in the area were provided by the Bristol Royal Society for the Blind. Founded in 1793, it became after more than 200 years part of the Royal National Institute for Blind People.

Royal Society
For the
Blind

Although it is quite small, the signature of the sign writer is clearly visible.

Bush Signs
Location: Palace Gate, Exeter, Devon / Pictures taken in April 2012

The Salvation Army, St Luke's

Near the western end of Old Street, a large ghost sign reminds people that the building in which the housing and homelessness charity Shelter is based was once a hostel run by the Salvation Army.


It appears the Salvation Army, the Church and charitable movement founded in 1865 by William and Catherine Booth, moved to Old Street in 1890. They took possession of a former brewery and within its walls set up an 'elevator', a factory where, in exchange for a day's work, men would be entitled to a full food ticket. Those who did not work hard enough would only get a fraction of the ration or could even be sent away. Around 500 men worked there. Many lived there too, although some slept and ate at the shelter in Quaker Street in Shoreditch, less than a mile away. The main meal of the day was breakfast, which in 1893 consisted of "four enormous pieces of bread with jam, marmalade or margarine, and a pint of tea or coffee." Those with a dainty apetite could swap two pieces of bread and the jam for a piece of pressed beef. Work carried out at the Old Street 'elevator' included cutting wood, making mattresses and brushes, sorting out and mending old clothes, and sorting out papers. However the old brewery was in a dilapidated state and the 'elevator' closed soon afterwards when the Salvation Army opened 'elevator III' in Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel. The Salvation Army then rented the building but on terms that left it free to re-occupy the site whenever the Army's Social Department could find the funds to refurbish it. This clause was certainly enforced as in 1900 the Salvation Army announced it was about to build a hostel with accomodation for 450 people in Old Street at a cost of £25,000. It seems the original plan was to provide shelter to women rather than men. Maybe that was the case when the hostel opened but, as the ghost sign indicates, women were later replaced by men.
The Missionary Tea Warehouse was also based in the new building and a warehouse was erected at the back, with an entrance on Garrett Street. Packs of tea sold under the label 'Triumph' were stocked and dispatched from there. Profits generated by the sale of 'Triumph' tea, as well as of the other brands of the Salvation Army's Missionary Tea League, went to extend missionary work in the UK and abroad.

The
Salvation
Army
-------
Hostel For
Working Men
-------
Cheap Beds
And Food
The hostel certainly closed in 1969 or shortly before. Indeed The Estate Gazette announced that year that the Salvation Army had sold its hostel for men on Old Street as well as the warehouse at the back.

Location: Old Street / Pictures taken in March 2008

Academy, Holloway

At the back of a building overlooking Digswell Street is a barely noticeable ghost sign. The main entrance to the academy it advertised was most certainly in Crane Grove. Unfortunately I haven't been able to discover what this academy was for.

Academy
Limited

Location: Digswell Street / Pictures taken in January 2012

Baptist Church messages, Bath

I haven't seen many signs painted on roofs but the Widcombe Baptist Church makes up for it. So as it is Sunday, here goes the sermon...

Christ Died
For
Our Sins 1 Cor 16-3
This is a quote from the third verse of 1 Corinthians 15, the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians by Paul the Apostle.

You
Must Be
Born Again

Prepare
To Meet
Your God

We Have
Redemption
Through
His Blood
Location: Pulteney Road, Bath, Somerset / Pictures taken on: 17/07/2010

YWCA, Sevenoaks

Yesterday was International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women so a painted sign put up by an organisation that has been offering women support, including providing safe havens to those who suffer from domestic abuse, and has been campaigning on key issues that affect them seems appropriate enough for the occasion.
The Young Women's Christian Association was founded in 1855 when two groups, led respectively by Lady Mary Jane Kinnaird and Emma Robarts, joined forces. The former had set up hostels for young women from rural areas who had come to the cities for employment but who also needed protection, while the latter had formed a prayer fellowship to protect young women. The movement then rapidly spread throughout Britain and part of its empire, as well as to European countries and the US. Over time the objectives of the YWCA movement evolved and from the late 19th century social concerns started to take precedence over spiritual ones.
Unfortunately I couldn't find anything online about the history of the Sevenoaks branch of the YWCA, but at least the ghost sign is still there.

Young Women's
Chritian Association
Home of Rest, &
Institute.
Actually the date of November, 25 to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was chosen to commemorate the murder in 1960 in the Dominican Republic of three of the four Mirabal sisters on orders of dictator Rafael Trujillo: Patria Mercedes, María Argentina Minerva and Antonia María Teresa, together with Bélgica Adela who survived to tell their story, were involved in the underground opposition to the country's strongman. Known as Las Mariposas (The Butterflies) they were detained on several occasions, tortured, and finally murdered. Their story through the lens of fiction was told by Julia Álvarez in In The Time of the Butterflies. As for Rafael Trujillo, he was the central character of Mario Vargas Llosa's brilliant novel La fiesta del chivo / The Feast of the Goat ('The Goat' was one of his nicknames).

Location: London Road, Sevenoaks, Kent / Picture taken on: 13/07/2008

St Andrew's church, Lambeth

For Catholics two important celebrations take place at the beginning of November: All Saints on the first, and All Souls, also sometimes called Day of the Dead, on the second. Even if you are not a Catholic but live in a country with a strong Catholic tradition, there would be something to celebrate as today is a bank holiday. So if Henry VIII hadn't broken from Rome, who knows, we may have enjoyed a day off tomorrow...
Even though St Andrew's wasn't a Catholic Church, this sign seemed appropriate enough for today's post.

St Andrew's
Church
St Andrew's stood in Coin Street, a continuation of Windmill Walk. The church was badly damaged during the Second World War and remained empty for a few years before it was demolished.
Below is a short description of St Andrew's from Survey of London: Volume 23: Lambeth: South Bank and Vauxhall, edited by Sir Howard Roberts and Walter H. Godfrey, and published in 1951.

During the 1840s population swarmed into the network of mean streets and houses north and south of Upper Stamford Street and in 1846, in accordance with Peel's Act “to make better Provision for the Spiritual Care of populous Parishes,” Prince's Town or Meadows was formed into a new church district by Order in Council. It had no permanent church for 10 years, but in 1854 the Commissioners for Building New Churches, having failed in their attempts to purchase ground from the Duchy of Cornwall, bought a plot between Prince's Street (now Coin Street) and Cornwall Road from Richard Palmer Roupell. This ground had formerly been part of Curtis's Botanical Garden. The Church of St. Andrew's was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon in a style described at the time as “Geometric Decorated.” It seated nearly 800 people and cost just over £ 10,000. One item in the bill was for extra digging and driving piles “consequent upon the tides.” The church was consecrated in June, 1856. In 1874 the vicar, the Rev. Frederick Tugwell, bought additional land and rebuilt one of the aisles, inserting five windows in what had previously been a blank wall.

Location: Windmill Walk / Picture taken on: 06/05/2009