This article is illustrated with examples of signs that were exhibited at past Fair, but also a wonderful locksmith’s trade sign offered at this coming Winter event by The Home Bothy, specialists in folk art.
C19th painted metal hat shop sign.
Trade signs and related ephemera are historic devices of identification and persuasion. Even in classical times there is evidence that the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians all used forms of signage. Emblems, symbols and pictorial designs were practical when the majority of the population was illiterate. “At the sign of the…” was the easiest way for people who couldn’t read to locate a business, inn or buildings close by.
Carved wooden croissant boulangerie sign, c1890.
In medieval Europe, the use of emblems to distinguish inns and trades became more complex as heraldic imagery was incorporated, and establishments gained vernacular names based on eye-catching elements of the coats of arms which marked them – The Talbot, The Red Lion, The Crossed Keys etc. Certain identifiable trade signs that survive into modern times include the three balls of the pawnbrokers (a symbol said to have originated with the Lombards who came to London as bankers in the Middle Ages), and the red and white pole of the barbers. Traditionally they were barber-surgeons, distinct from medical doctors, and the red drapes on the pole indicated they could perform operations such as blood lettings, tooth extraction or (rather grizzly) amputations and the like – the red symbolising the colour of blood.
Exterior promotional lantern for a hairdresser.
Whilst the use of signs, metal or board, was generally optional for traders, publicans however, were on a different footing. From the late 14th century, English law compelled innkeepers and landlords to exhibit signs outside their premises. The legislation stated “Whosoever shall brew ale in the town with intention of selling it must hang out a sign, otherwise he shall forfeit his ale”. This legislation made public houses easily identifiable to passing inspectors of the quality of the ale they provided (at a time when drinking water was usually unsafe and ‘small beer’ was drunk by all). The practice of using signs spread to other types of commercial establishments. Similar legislation was enacted in Europe.
The making of signs and signboards was, and still is, considered an art form, although it has received little attention as such, except perhaps by lovers of folk art. In the past it was often a collaborative craft involving carpenters, joiners, carvers, sign-painters, gilders and ironworkers.
Competition for attractive, costly signboards led to rich ornamentation and elaborate ironwork, which typically imbued them with personalities of their own – one of the reasons we find them so charming today. In large towns, where many premises practiced the same trade, and especially, where these congregated in the same street, a simple trade sign was insufficient to distinguish one house from another. Thus, traders began to employ a variety of devices to differentiate themselves. Sometimes the trader used a rebus on his own name (e.g. two cockerels for the name of Cox); sometimes they adopted a figure of an animal or other object, or portrait of a well-known person, considered likely to attract attention.
Early C20th locksmith trade sign, swan detail, with The Home Bothy at the Winter Fair.
Since the object of signboards was to attract the public, they were often of an elaborate character. Not only were the signs themselves large and sometimes of great artistic merit (especially in the 16th and 17th centuries, when they reached their greatest vogue) but the posts or metal supports protruding from the houses over the street, from which the signs were swung, were often elaborately worked, and many beautiful examples of wrought-iron supports survive both in England and continental Europe.
French metal poodle parlour sign.
Exterior signs were a prominent feature of the streets of London from the 16th century. Large overhanging signs became a danger and a nuisance in the narrow ways as the city streets became more congested with vehicles. When the French traveller Mission visited Britain around 1698, he observed that London signs were ‘commonly very large, and jut out so far that in some narrow streets they […] run across almost quite to the other side. They are generally adorned with carving and gilding, and there are several that with the branches of iron which support them, cost above a hundred guineas’. Outside of the larger cities, where there was more space, signboards could be hung from decorative arches of wood and iron.
Ornate C19th painted metal sign for a hostelry or inn, European.
Over time, authorities were forced to regulate the size and placement of exterior signage. In 1669, a French royal order prohibited the excessive size of sign boards and their projection too far over the streets. In London, around the years 1762–1773, laws were introduced which gradually compelled sign boards to be removed or fixed flat against the wall.
That said, it is possible today to see some wonderful examples of old signs; an exceptional one is that hanging outside The Bell Inn, Stilton on the Great North Road, said to be where the famous local blue cheese got its name. Look up as you walk. You never know what snapshots of history you might see.
