Tracing history
The High Street renews itself all the time. Old shops get makeovers, new businesses come along, and with each change a fresh signboard goes up. Sometimes, though, it’s just the sign that’s changed, or a coat of paint that’s added. And if that’s the case, part of the old shop front stays to tell us something about the history of the building. I like the way fragments of old decoration, bits of moulding, a pane of glass high up in a window, can drop quiet hints about a shop’s previous occupants. Tiles, among the most durable of decorations, sometimes linger in this way, and here are a couple of neighbouring examples in Melbourne, Derbyshire.
I don’t know exactly when these shop fronts were tiled, but I’d guess in the Edwardian period – the designs seem to bear that influence of Art Nouveau that I often saw in the tiled surrounds of Edwardian fireplaces when I lived in London. Back in the early-20th century, firms such as Minton and Doulton were producing millions of tiles that brought a bit of colour – and a sense of hygiene – to the High Street. Butchers, dairies, grocers, and fishmongers were among their most enthusiastic customers. They liked the bright, easy-care surfaces, which were often continued inside the shop.
On many early shops there was often a blurring of the boundary between inside and outside. Butchers, for example, would hang meat on rails in front of the window, and both butchers and fishmongers had opening shop windows, enabling customers to see the goods or talk to the proprietor without even stepping inside. The right-hand shop in the picture has an opening sash window, and probably once sold meat or fish.
Few High Streets have complete surviving Edwardian shops like the ones lovingly reconstructed in the BBC’s Turn Back Time series. But in many towns there are fragments like these strips of tiling, which afford colourful glimpses of the history of the High Street.
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For readers interested in Melbourne, there's a post about its wonderful Norman church, here.
For more on tiled shop fronts, see a post about a street in Cheltenham, here.
17 comments:
The tall plant-like shape in between the two shops reminds me of art nouveau tiles used on both sides of a loungeroom fireplace. I am perfectly used to a vertical series of tiles like that, but not on the _outside_ of shops or residences.
But why not? Especially if shopkeepers liked to open their windows to greet or serve customers outside.
Hels
The real Melbourne :)
Hels: There was a persistent English habit to use tiles on the outsides of shops in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. I've added to my post link to a post I did ages ago on a former fishmonger's shop in Cheltenham, which has lovely fishy tiles.
'The real Melbourne' made me smile. So I've added another link, to a post on Melbourne's 12th-century church, just to show you that the British Melbourne been around rather a long time! :)
That shop on the right, including union jack flags, looks lovely - the ultimate mythological perfect english shop
I love to see the history of a shop front, whether its tiles, glazed panes and remains of sign writing.
By the way, if you're ever in Abergavenny, take a look at the Burton's shopfront which is a delight - I've previously blogged about it here
http://thevintageknitter.blogspot.com/2010/05/montague-burton-tailor-of-taste.html)
Worm: Yes, we in Unmitigated England here, aren't we?
VK: That Burton's is brilliant and I too hope it is preserved. Burton's usually went for a shop-front style with a bit of flamboyance, and were also famous for having snooker halls above the shop, to draw in the chaps.
I seem to remember that Home and Colonial shopfronts were pretty good too.....and were a bit idiosyncratic in that the fascia was below window level.At least I think it was in Leighton Buzzard where I first saw it from my pram.
Bucks: The Home and Colonial fronts were impressive - big tall gold capitals for the shop name, tiles on the entrance floor. There may still be one or two of the fronts around, housing other businesses.
Bucks: Just remembered that the excellent blog Caroline's Miscellany has a good picture of a Home and Colonial shop front in SE London, revealed during recent building work. I don't know if it;s still there. It's here.
.....And another thing! The barbers where I was forced to parade for my fortnightly short back and sides,meted out by a former Royal Marine,had a lovely tiled mural covering one complete wall inside depicting an almost life size pastoral scene complete with cows,meadows, and buxom milkmaid whose best bits were partly obscured by said barber's mirror.The shop was next door to a butchers,from which it was separated by an arch,and was formerly a dairy.It all had a lasting effect on an ten year old schoolboy,I can tell you !
...Fortnightly haircut? No wonder the place made an impression! Funnily enough, the Cheltenham tiling to which I link at the end of the post is from a shop that is now a barber's. Funny old world.
In and around the east end (should that be capitals?) there are lots of old Pie & Mash shops (should that be capitals?) which have beautiful old tiles on the floors and walls. It's like stepping back in time just to walk past them, which is what I do!
Picked up some fine Doulton Gothic chimney pots a couple of weeks back...god bless Doulton.
Fantastic! I LOVED Melbourne...i was there just a couple of weeks back, visiting my cousin who lives in Kings Newton... if i had no ties in New Zealand you could pick me up and plonk me there and i'd be happy as! LOVED this place [along with Berkhamsted ... which i visited last week].
Thud: Doulton was a terrific company, making everything from drains to art pottery – very Victorian in their ability to embrace the beautiful and the useful.
Sandy: Glad you are enjoying your meanderings around Britain.
Im trying to trace what company owned number 8 south street, its an old converted shop on the corner where alma street meets south street? Id love to see some photo's if theres any available?
Anon: Sorry, I don't have any more photographs of this place.
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