Spotted in Holt, Norfolk. If I hadn't been so keen to start making a damn nuisance of myself over a pair of high rise herringbone trousers at Old Town, I'd have taken time to rootle out an old bloke to tell me all about this legend scratched into a brick. It's next to the front door of a shop in a tiny courtyard near the main car park. What can it mean? And why was the information so crucial that it was incised so deeply and permanently for all to see? It may always have been, as it is now, next to a shop door, but perhaps it was originally next to a cottage or workshop. What I like about it is the care with which the serifs have been drawn on the letters. Was it something to do with marking a boundary? Was it in fact done the day before I arrived in town- 'ere, this'll get 'im going'. It certainly has. Answers on a brick postcard please, but not through the window.
A turner worked with a lathe or milling machine so could the two lengths be an instruction for a large piece of work 3 yards long with a depth of 1 yard as depicted by the letters dp at the end.
If this is correct I've no idea as what the piece of work would be!
Intrigueing suggestions indeed, thankyou. It's the permanence of scoring the letter into brick that gets me going. Why not just a quick note drawn in chalk?
My farmer friend David, photographer of Message from the Skies on the 2nd January, thinks this may be an instruction for the whereabouts of a stopcock, in the manner of yellow hydrant plates. This solution would also explain 'turner', as in turning a tap or valve.
I am a designer, writer and photographer who spends all his time looking at England, particularly buildings and the countryside. But I have a leaning towards the slightly odd and neglected, the unsung elements that make England such an interesting place to live in. I am the author and photographer of over 25 books, in particular Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2006), More from Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2007), Cross Country (Wiley 2011), The Cigarette Papers (Frances Lincoln 2012), Preposterous Erections (Frances Lincoln 2012) and English Allsorts (Adelphi 2015)
"Open this book with reverence. It is a hymn to England". Clive Aslet
Preposterous Erections
"Enchanting...delightful". The Bookseller "Cheekily named" We Love This Book
The Cigarette Papers
"Unexpectedly pleasing and engrossing...beautifully illustrated". The Bookseller
Cross Country
"Until the happy advent of Peter Ashley's Cross Country it has, ironically, been foreigners who have been best at celebrating Englishness". Christina Hardyment / The Independent
More from Unmitigated England
"Give this book to someone you know- if not everyone you know." Simon Heffer, Country Life. "When it comes to spotting the small but telling details of Englishness, Peter Ashley has no equal." Michael Prodger, Sunday Telegraph
6 comments:
I've no idea what it means, but am definitely intrigued now!
Well, I don't know. Is it pointing the way to people who'll put turn-ups on your high-rise trousers?
A complete guess here Peter.
A turner worked with a lathe or milling machine so could the two lengths be an instruction for a large piece of work 3 yards long with a depth of 1 yard as depicted by the letters dp at the end.
If this is correct I've no idea as what the piece of work would be!
Intrigueing suggestions indeed, thankyou. It's the permanence of scoring the letter into brick that gets me going. Why not just a quick note drawn in chalk?
My farmer friend David, photographer of Message from the Skies on the 2nd January, thinks this may be an instruction for the whereabouts of a stopcock, in the manner of yellow hydrant plates. This solution would also explain 'turner', as in turning a tap or valve.
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