For years – actually at least two decades now – I have been revisiting a ghosted hand-painted sign that overlooks Vinegar Yard in Bermondsey, here, to see if I can decipher the wording
Well, it's finally showing through, and there are some lovely logos also visible these days.
At the top, above and behind the crane, it reads:
M. WALKER & SONS LTD
TANNERS, CURRIERS & EXTRACT MANUFACTURERS
ROSE HILL TANNERS
BOLTON, LANCS
Extract is a reference to vinegar, used in the leather tanning process.
Then, to the left, below the crane there is a logo of sorts that reads:
SOLE LEATHER
WALKER BOLTON
around an illustration of a rose
Underneath in block letters, we have:
"ROSE HILL"
"DAINTY ROSE"
AND
RAILWAY
SOLE BLENDS
AND [oil?] SOLES
[horizontal rule]
....INNED
[something... I can't see below that]
On the right side there is a correlating panel that starts with diamond-shaped motif containing the words:
LEATHER
REGD and LEATHER are set smaller than the product name.
It continues:
"DRI-PED"
SUPER LEATHER
CHROME SOLE
AND
MECHANICAL
LEATHERS
[????]
CURRIER [or CURRIED]
It appears the company was making heavy quality leather for shoes and work boots.
William Walker and Sons, 1895-1980, are listed here with lots more info about the company here in The Bolton News
There are quite a lot of ads for Dri-Ped available online. My favorite is this one.
