Ipswich Historic Lettering: Outside Ipswich: Appleby-in-Westmoreland

Appleby-in-Westmorland

Appleby-in-Westmorland lies in a loop of the river Eden and is overlooked by the Pennine range with the Lake District Fells showing on the western horizon, just a few miles away. Best accessed by rail on the Settle to Carlisle line, the walk down the steep hill from Appleby station gives a taste of the delightful town in the valley below.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Appleby 11

From Sation Road into Battlebarrow and at No. 1 we find, running over the edge of the porch:

'HORN & SON CORSET ... MANUFACTURERS c.1850
BUILT CIRCA. 1800'

The letters of the company name were problematic, until John got in touch...
[UPDATE 23.11.12: "1 battlebarrow appleb; above front door should read horn and son, not dorn. thankyou. -John"]

Crossing the first leg of the River Eden by- logically - Bridge Street, to the left of the bridge is the faint lettering behind the The Bay Tree:

'GARAGE
CARS
FOR
HIRE
OILS ETC STORED'

A few doors down is a restaurant wine bar with vernacular lettering painted on the stone recess to the front door:
'GREGSON
FAMILY
GROCER'
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Appleby 2

The road leads in to Boroughgate, the main thoroughfare and market place (with Tourist Information Office, shops and the church) which leads uphill to the privately owned Appleby Castle. The buildings in the vicinity run from medieval to Victorian to present day in a mixed street of delightful business and homes, many in the warm local stone. High up above the point of a bay window is the curly date monogram: '1813' in a decorative panel.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Appleby 3

Here too is 'CONSERVATIVE CLUB' in a recessed plaque and next door 'ERECTED A.D. 1912' where the roof curves over the stone plaque. These last three examples are all cameo lettering (raised from the surrounding stone).
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Appleby 5

Accessed down a passageway at 32 Boroughgate, the Courtyard Gallery is housed upstairs in a 17th Century stone granary. Ascending the outside staircase to the cafe and gallery from the courtyard within, one espies the dated tablet on the rear wall of the building: 'N.I.D, 1677'. The building once served as a school. At present, we haven't been able to find what 'N.I.D.' stands for.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Appleby 6

Strolling back down the hill one finds: 'Dealer in Coffee & Teas' painted on the lintel of a handsome front door. See a similar sign over a door in Settle, Yorks.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Appleby 7

'EWS 240'
This squared off lettering and arrow at the junction of High Wiend and Boroughgate has the look of a wartime sign. Emergency Water Supply? - the town centre is enclosed by a U-bend in the river Eden - but it's not 240 yards (or metres) away, as we were informed by a local! However, there is a fire station down there in Holme Street, but has it been there for a long time? Another option might be Electricity ... Station? [UPDATE July 2015: There is a similar, less clear, sign in Lower Orwell Street, Ipswich. 'Emergency Water Supply' signs can still be spotted around Britain. Given the vital importance of water as a defence against incendiary devices and other fires during wartime, spaces were identified by the authorities where thousands of gallons of water could be stored: often basements and cellars beneath buildings from whence the water could be pumped by the fire service. "The white EWS at Appleby-in-Westmorland was originally yellow, according to a resident who remembered it, and it referred to a point on the River Eden." Quotation from th web.]

Ipswich Historic Lettering: Appleby 8

On the wall of the restaurant Desi Spice in High Wiend, one can find the preserved date '1677' on the original stone facing which has been preserved in a little frame in the stucco surrounding it. The date is raised (probably carved rather than appled to the stone) and painted black. Incidentally, don't miss the road called Doomgate a little further down High Wiend on the left.
Ipswich Historic Lettering: Appleby 9

Finally, back in Boroughgate we espied the weathered lettering: 'GARAGE', one character standing in barely visible relief on each block of stone on the curving archway to a rear yard.

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