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.

Eagle eye view

The eagle that tops this warehouse at 88-90 French Street, Southampton, gets a great view of the old part of the city. Handy for the docks, the grade II listed building dates to 1903 and was a warehouse for May & Wade, export grocers and shipping contractors, as the sign proclaims. Since 1983 it has been used by the council as the archaeology department’s store, which may explain the good condition of the ghost sign.

I'm a fire watcher

I was thrilled to find this ghost sign from World War two on a building in China Lane (on the corner of Dale Street), central Manchester.

The fire watcher’s job was to look out for incendiary bombs, and put the fire out before it spread. The Fire Watchers Order of 1940 required factories and large businesses to provide their own fire watchers. Hundreds of incendiary bombs were dropped at a time, and a fire watcher’s equipment included a bucket of sand and a bucket of water.

There’s a good account of what it was like to be a fire watcher in Manchester on the BBC here.