Monday 2 February 2009

Unexpected Alphabets No 7

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.

6 comments:

CarolineLD said...

I've no idea what it means, but am definitely intrigued now!

Philip Wilkinson said...

Well, I don't know. Is it pointing the way to people who'll put turn-ups on your high-rise trousers?

bikerted said...

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!

Peter Ashley said...

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?

Peter Ashley said...

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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