Sometimes a series of photos sneaks up on you unexpectedly. While walking around the Museum Of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket - and there's a lot of walking to be done as it's a 75 acre (30 hectare) site - I found that I was taking pictures of lots of nameplates on old pieces of equipment. Some were battered and rusty like the one above, while others were almost pristine.
Whatever their condition they seemed to speak of entirely different age. Nowadays W. J. Woods would be known as malttech or something similar.
Just look at the ornate lettering on the humble cart above, very much in the style which is still popular with fairground showmen. And how about that phone number, simply 116. Ah, those were the days.
The shot above is of the front of one of Charles Burrell & Sons' mighty steam traction engines, made quite locally in Thetford.
A rather ornate wheel from the Orwell Works of Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries in Ipswich, another local firm, but nearly every small town would have a factory making agricultural equipment.
In one of the old shops I spotted this old advertisement for Reckitt's Blue which, if you don't know, was a little blue bag which was added to the final rinse, when you did your washing, to make slightly yellowing items appear white and bright. I thought it had disappeared years ago but apparently you can still buy it. You can still buy metal signs just like the one above too, so I've no idea whether the one in the museum was genuine or not. (The punting technique however is extremely suspect!)
A lovely old hot water bottle, just like Granny used to have.
Back to the agricultural equipment, though I thought the iron work above had a rather sculptural quality.
And as a contrast here, in all its glorious rustiness, is Innes, Sons & King Ltd's Silver Medal "Safety" Patent Self-Feeding Chaff Cutter. It seems to have a royal crest which presumably means that if the King or Queen of England ever had need of a Silver Medal "Safety" Patent Self-Feeding Chaff Cutter, then Innes, Sons & King Ltd. was where they obtained one.
Quite possibly the last thing you would see if you were run over by one of Charles Burrell's steam rollers. So for goodness sake......
......take care!
great photos. i, too, love those old metal signs. i bought some replicas in France last month and am always on the look out when at our local antique fair.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I enjoyed looking at all the different styles of lettering.
ReplyDeleteUnique and interesting set of photos. Loved them!
ReplyDeleteThose hot water bottle were great, until you stubbed your toe on them during the night :-(
ReplyDeleteGreat photos to remember those long ago items. Metal rusty signs are my favorites.
ReplyDeleteLove these old signs and manufacturers names - great photos.
ReplyDeleteYou've got a good eye for spotting the details! I just finished a book on tape titled On Looking. The author takes eleven walks with experts in different fields and just observes what they look at. One happened to be an expert in typeset, and it's really had me looking more closely at font choices on signs around town.
ReplyDeleteI love the old hot water bottle (and bed warmer!!). Great post.
ReplyDeleteSo true about the difference in language.Today the Silver Medal "Safety" Patent Self-feeding Chaff Cutter would be reduced to SIMS or some such name that wouldn't tell you anything about what it could do. And who knew that a hot water bottle could be "adaptable". That gets one thinking about other uses for it: cozy foot-rest in winter, shallow vase in the summer, etc.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos! Was beauty more important in the good old days, or is it just that I understand only the aesthetics of those times?
ReplyDeleteI just mentioned to my son that I remember the times when our telephone number was of three digits. He was genuinely flabbergasted.
Those were the days John. There used to be a Blue factory somewhere in the Lakes - can't remember where but it was near a little railway and when you went past it everything was blue - the grass, the building, the colour seemed to have escaped to colour everything. Haven't been that way for years so don't know if it is still there.
ReplyDeleteI love how you see the world. Wonderful photos.
ReplyDeleteI can remember the hot water bottles like that one. Yes, Granny used to have one and getting into bed was a very slow affair in case something got scalded!! Those were the days.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting collection and history attached.
ReplyDeleteI love these photos - so nostalgic. I remember dolly blue bags very well, my mum used them when I was little and so did my gran.
ReplyDeleteThese are terrific, John! I love seeing things like this, but around here, I seem to come up dry. Sometimes on my travels, I find myself photographing door knockers. Signs? I will have to look harder.
ReplyDeleteHaha! When I put my heat bag that I warmed up in the microwave in my bed tonight I'll think about that stone hot water bottle John :)
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