Number 2 in our series of caches celebrating an aspect of local history, and we are including the kind of things (as children growing up) we were encouraged to spot in our I-Spy books
We have always been interested in 'ghost' signs – painted advertising on the side of buildings which hints at a long-forgotten local business or industry or place. There are very few ghost signs in our local area, but this one, which can be seen on a building wall in a small cul-de-sac off what is now called Old Station Road, recalls a late 19th/early 20th century family business. In bold red letters on a cream background and in a red rectangular border, the sign reads 'COLE & CO. CABINET FACTORY. DEPOSITORY. DECORATORS.' and a painted red hand pointing down the alleyway acts as an arrow, presumably pointing customers round the back of the building.
At the posted coordinates, on the ground next to the ghost sign, there is a rectangular metal utility cover with clipped corners in the ground with words on it. If M is the number of letters in the word beginning with 'M', S is the number of letters in the word beginning with 'S' and D is the number of letters in the word beginning with 'D', then the cache can be found at:
N52 14.(M+1)(S+2)(D-2) E000 24.(D-1)(M+3)(S+1)
This mid 20th century map shows the position of the building (on which the sign is painted) marked in yellow:
In trying to determine the age of the painted sign, this map of Newmarket in 1885 shows the buildings on the plot as two conjoined houses with frontages on Upper Station Road, and these are not the building which extends all down the passageway to the end of the plot on which the sign was painted, so 1885 gives us a 'terminus post quem' (a date after which the sign must have been painted):
This second map of Newmarket in 1901 does show the building on the plot as a complete structure whose side goes all the way down the alleyway. So sometime between 1885 and 1901 the two houses were replaced by either a complete new building, or an extended building:
In early 20th century directory listings, a company called Seymour Cole & Co occupied buildings 5–8 in Upper Station Road and are listed as cabinet makers, house furnishers and decorators. Their depository (or furniture warehouse) must have been on this site and the ghost sign is advertising it. Reported in an issue of the London Gazette, Seymour Cole & Co were wound up on 25 November 1932, providing us with a 'terminus ante quem' (a date before which the sign must have been painted). So we can be certain that this wonderful ghost sign (and miraculous survivor) dates somewhere between 1885 and 1932, probably from around about 1900!
This series of caches is inspired by the I-Spy book series (very popular in the 1950's and 1960's) which numbered about forty small booklets. The first three books were I-Spy At the Seaside, I-Spy on the Farm and I-Spy History. Another popular one was I-Spy In the Street, and it was this volume which one of us had in the 1960's, but although as children we were encouraged to try and find things which were pictured and described, we never did find everything in the book!. We are now finding a lot more when we are out geocaching!
