Signatures from the past

[STUART27]

Just been removing the wallpaper from the hallway of my 1880's townhouse. There were about 4 layers of varying types. On the 1st floor, there was a collection of signatures on the plaster, with the date inscribed 1881. I assume these were either the names of the plasterers at the time, or maybe the owners.

Almost seems a shame to cover them up! Has anyone else found similar things during redocoration....and what did they do with them?

Maybe I'm an anorak, but I find it really interesting!


Stuart

 

[Nemesis]

Yes, we have had posts in the past about this, and we found signatures (name of daughter of a previous owner and her dog!) nothing as old as yours.

As you say, shame to cover, but hard to know what to do. It could look a bit odd with a bare patch on the wall.

I'd take some good photographs as a record and have one framed if you are to cover again.

 

[Anita]

We found signatures of the paper hangers in the hall of our previous property dated 1863, and upstairs on the landing a drawing on the plaster of an englishman and a scotsmand duelling - with a sword going through the scotsmand and dripping blood. A bit grizzly - I know but we do live very near to the England / Scotland border!!! The drawing was fantastic and we wondered whether to leave that part of the wall unpapered - but in the end decided against it, and left the "surprise" for the next people who decorate to find!

Photo's are probably a good idea t record what's thre.

In our current property there are about 4 signatures in panes of glass in different rooms. Most are difficult to make out, but one is very clear and dates back to a vet who lived here and who extended the house at the end of last century.

 

[Ian Bond]

Great find - it's that kind of discovery that keeps my enthusiasm going for old building, especially when doing the boring, messy tasks like stripping walls.

I'd want to preserve those signatures by either wallpapering over them again, or at least covering the walls with lining paper before painting. It would be a shame if they got painted over with something hard to remove, leading to them being accidentally scrubbed off in the future.

If I didn't leave the signatures exposed in the final decoration, I'd get a photo printed and framed and hang it at the appropriate spot.

Perhaps a census search will confirm your theory, now you have found a useful clue to your home's past?

 

[charlie-ia]

we found writing on a wooden plank of the ceiling.
it said
"Dear Pat, please don't marry that woman. you will find better girls. Mggaie (sic) Foulens"
we don't know if Maggie was the girl he shouldent marry, or if it was who wrote it. or whether they lived happily ever after.
under the wall paper it said "hold till" but gave no clues as to hold what till when. also some adding up, and the dimensions of the window (which was really useful as some of the wall has crumbled and its difficult to measure to the nearest inch.

 

[AMc]

Bloody vandals - it's shocking

This was uncovered by the previous occupants in the 'modern' part of our house - they decided to plaster around it as it's in the utility room up near the ceiling there's no need to do anything else.

If you do decide to cover your writing then take some decent photographs with a film camera and try and make what you do reversable/recoverable. I say film as digital formats have only been around a short time (architectually speaking) and there is no guaranty that they'll be easy to read in another 100 years. Film has a bit more of a track record, better resolution and it's easy to do film-to-digital but much harder to go the other way successfully (ramble ramble).

If space allows then you could fit little doors over them so you can show them off to visitors but not have them standing out. Failing that get some nice enlargements of your photos for the walls nearby.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

I too have found signatures -on the chimney breasts- in 3 houses that I have restored. The houses were in the same town and the name was the same in each house, in fact the builder was well into his '90's when we did the first house. Great continuity.!

 

[Lady_Mari]

Did anyone see the House Doctor Ann Maurice present the owner with a framed piece of signed wall that had deep emotional memories for the lady of the house whose husband had died. She needed to move but was tearful over having to paint out her memories.
I wonder how Ann managed to save that?

 

[Penners]

Bloody vandals - it's shocking

Ah - but it's only vandalism for about 50 years. After that it's fascinating history.

Whenever I've installed new materials in any of my houses, I've usually tucked some sort of note inside/behind/underneath/etc. It normally says:

Oi! That took me bloody ages, and now you've come along and torn it down.

DP (date)