A doorway to the past

In the heart of Manchester’s Chinatown, near the Chinese Arch, number 55 Faulkner Street offers a concentration of ghost signs and a doorway that looks like it leads straight back to Victorian times. Reflecting Manchester’s leading role in the textiles industry, the signs on this building offer worsteds, woollens and handkerchiefs.

This handsome warehouse was built by architects Clegg & Knowles in 1870. Clegg & Knowles helped shape the face of modern Manchester, designing good looking warehouses in Peter Street, Portland Street, Spring Gardens, Fountain Street and Albert Square, as well as this gem in Faulkner Street.

With thanks to Mrs J Pogson

Signs bearing the names of Mrs J Pogson, Mrs S Shore, Mrs Joseph Warburton and others decorate the Bethesda Primitive Methodist Chapel in Heaton Norris, Stockport. A handsome building, the Chapel was founded in 1890 and is now dedicated to commercial use. I'm not sure whether Mrs J Pogson would have approved. Apparently the primitive Methodists were successful in evangelising industrial communities in the late 19th century - and Stockport was famous for its textile mills and hatmaking.