A plaque for Plaques

[Wendyf]

Here you go Plaques, have you met this one before?

img037.jpg

[Marilyn]

Must have blurred vision. What does it say?!

[Wendyf]

No idea Maz! I'm hoping Plaques can decipher it. I can make out 'this' at the beginning and possibly "year of our Lord" further down. Could be Howse with the H laid on its side....

[plaques]

Very interesting Wendy. I've never seen it before. I think I would have to play with it on a photo programme to get the words out. I thought I had most of them in the Pendle /Burnley area but not this one. I have heard of odd ones being on some of the outlying farms also to add to the confusion they get 'recycled from place to place. Any idea where this one came from?

[Wendyf]

No, the collection was given to us by someone in Barlick but there are references on some of the slides to Colne Camera Club.
I just saw a possible " was built " .
Other local examples of the letters being in relief, like the White Lion in Earby, are from the mid 17th Century.

[plaques]

Struggling with this. what I'm offering up is only a guess. I think its a church foundation stone.

The inscription could possibly read....

THIS STONE
WAS BLESSED IN
HOLY WEEK IN
THE YEAR OF
OUR LORD 17??

The White Lion inscription has been painted over several times. If you look closely at it there is an error in one of the painted divisions making the text read incorrectly. I'll dig it out when I've got this new laptop sorted.

Later... On the bottom line the I in the RBI prior to 1681 is in error, the 'I' should be a fixed division making it just RB.

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P3080013AC.jpg

[Marilyn]

Holy Week...would that refer to Easter?

[Wendyf]

Thanks P. I'm still seeing "was built by" rather than "blessed in" but it's almost impossible to tell!

[plaques]

Can't argue with you Wendy. Its the old psychological problem you get and idea in your head and then try to make the facts fit your idea. I could be miles off in my interpretation. I only have a petty rudimentary picture programme, someone like BigKev may be able to get more out of it.

[plaques]

I've had anther look at the plaque and come to the conclusion my first interpretation is a load of rubbish.

My next thoughts are... The top line is someones name. eg: TH ??ove
second line ............Who Built
third line ....some place eg.. winnook
Rest.
In the year of our lord 17???

In other words.. Don't know.

[Wendyf]

[Tripps]

These mysteries drive me mad.
I've had a good look - is this possible? though the R in tower is missing.

This Tower
Was erected

Ask Stanley about the pointing mortar - he knows everything on the subject - might give some date info?

[Whyperion]

Do we know what kind of structure it was on
Would mainly be administrative/ folly/ political/ religious including Sunday School / boasting industrialist/philantrhopist.

A crayon rubbing might make things easier to read than the 3D to 2D shadowing

The stone ( cast brick ?) appears to be contemporary to its surrounding brickwork.

[Stanley]

Mortar won't help a lot as it could have been reset at some time. All that can be said is that Ash lime mortar didn't come into use until early in the 19th Century when steam boilers became common so a date of the 18th C would be set in lime/sand mortar.

[plaques]

People like to leave behind some marker of their presence on earth. If you are rich enough or consider yourself famous enough a statue is the thing to have. As Whyperion points out we don't know what was the purpose of this particular stone. It was common for builders to add initials to the more elaborate stones, Similarly commemorate stones on churches/ chapels etc: had peoples names on them. A wall in Earby has all the old Chapel stones built into it. Then we come to the question, who in their right mind would take a photo of this particular stone. Don't answer that.

[Wendyf]

I'm pretty sure it says:
THIS TOWER WAS BVILT BY then 3 initials ? W W IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD ????
Chances are it's a church tower somewhere.

Plaques, hard to believe but there are people who enjoy taking photos of things like this!!
Shall I change the subject ?

[Wendyf]

I think I know where this was taken.

[plaques]

At a guess I would say the top of Spring Lane/ Albert Rd, Colne. Looking down Spring Lane. You always get a lot of bears round there.

[Wendyf]

Yes, just possible to read the road sign. Great photo isn't it?

[Stanley]

But oh so cruel......
You're right though, a great image!
One of the surprises I got when doing the interviews for the LTP was the number of people who reported seeing dancing bears on the streets in the 1920s and 30s.

[plaques]

This image is one that is frequently shown in the Burnley newspapers. It could be the same bear but I can't see its number plate.

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Burnley Dancing Bears.jpg

[Tripps]

Speaking of bears - and why not? The last time I recall this coming up involved the word Onkonkay, and resulted in me buying this book which turned out to entirely unconnected.

I can't find the photo which started it all, perhaps someone more organised than me can?

[Wendyf]

It was one I posted Tripps, and being incredibly organised here's a link....

viewtopic.php?f=59&t=13899&p=61376&hili ... kay#p61376

[Tripps]

Wendyf you're a diamond.

I'll resume my 'social isolation' now with an easier mind. Actually my life hasn't changed hardly at all. Except both my kids have telephoned.