Sign of the Times

 

In my internet travels I occasionally stumble across something truly fun and interesting. This month I found a particular treat. The item concerned is a very brief British Pathe newsreal clip. The item was clearly at the end of a much longer cinema newsreal. It was an uplifting, News At Ten style  'and finally . .'  if you will.

 

See the short British Pathe newsreal clip.

 

The 1930 clip shows an unofficial, but very professional looking, roadsign.  The sign is positioned at a crossroads and points to four local pubs.  To whoever made and erected the signpost, it points to the four corners of what was then probably their much smaller world:  Felthorpe Mariners, Drayton Cock, Ringland Swan and Lenwade Bridge.

 

The only location information given by the reporter in the national newsreal is, inevitably, “Norwich”.  So I did a little investigation myself.  I looked closely at the stills from the newsreal, speculated the likely location with Horsford residents, visited the site myself and spoke with nearby Taverham residents who confirmed my thoughts on the location.

 

I'm now confident that I've pinpointed the sign's long ago position as being the Taverham junction of Fir Covert Road and the A1067 Fakenham Road.  The sign itself is long gone, possibly taken down in 1940 when it was agreed to remove roadsigns to confuse the Germans. 

 

Sadly I have no firm information regarding the history of the sign, its precise location or indeed its fate.  But I found it surprisingly comforting, in this age of supermarket booze deals and multimedia entertainment, that the four pubs concerned continue to trade, particularly in such difficult and challenging times for them.

 

It's nice to think that perhaps the sign survives, in someone's shed or maybe having been rescued from a reclamation yard.  I'd love to hear from readers who have any recollection or stories about the sign and its history.

 

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