Following a trail of bloody footprints between N19 and N4

Early this morning I made the effort to get out for a walk and back home again before it got too hot out there. I was doing well, having been up to Hornsey Rise and over to the Archway station area, then into Aldi for some groceries and by 9.30 I was walking back hown headed down Holloway Road laden with two bags of shopping. Halfway down the hill the blazing sun was in my face so I turned left into Alexander Rd, N19, to make use of the shady south side of that street. 

Looking up, down and around me, like I do, because there are always new things to see, I noticed a curved brown mark on the pavement that was clearly the outline of the front part of a shoe or trainer. And then I saw another, and another, and many more. This clearly had been made by someone with a bloody wound in their right leg who had been heading in the direction I’d just come from, towards Holloway Rd. 

Hmm. How intriguing. 

Where was this person going? Where had they come from? And what had happened to cause this loss of blood?

I decided to follow the trail to find the source of the incident. 

This took me across Cornwallis Rd to the end of Alexander Rd where it meets Sussex Way, then right into Tollington Way Second pic shows view looking east), then over Hornsey Road (but sort of diagonally, not using the crossings) to Tollington Park where, by the pillar box, I noticed that these earlier prints are surrounded by lots of little blood splatters which I guess were caused by the impact each time the foot hit the pavement. Oh my god, this person was losing a lot of blood. I also think, judging my the gaps between the prints, that he was  running.

My shopping bags were starting to cut into my fingers but I was hooked, intrigued. 

The trail continues along the south side of Tollington Park and it occurred to me, seeing as we haven't experienced any rain for weeks now, that these bloody marks that appear relatively fresh, dare I say shiny, could have been made weeks ago. There was a road sweeper so I asked him how long he'd known about them but he told me he’d only just started working in this area today as he was covering for someone else. 

We had a jolly chat about sleuthing and how it made me feel like an excited 8yr old finding hidden treasure, mysterious marks and secret spaces that nobody else knew about (they did, but they never said so!). I also recalled back in the '70s when, in the middle of the night, our dog Toby barked ferociously at the back door. We flew downstairs to see what was wrong but saw nothing to concern us and assumed it was a cat out there. When we looked again the next morning we found someone had left bloody footprints down the full length of our garden and, on the paved area by the back door, a semi-circular spray of reddish brown which must've been when he span round as Toby hurled himself at the window. The fella's tracks then went half-way back up the garden where he'd climbed over fence into next door's garden and exited into the street by their sideway, ending with a large bloody mess outside the school where, we deduced, he must've got into a car. I remember enjoying the sleuthing process. And here I was this morning repeating the process. The road sweeper likened me to  Miss Marple and I wondered if I should have told him about my Agatha Christie walks and talks. 

I continued along Tollington Park and found that the marks crossed the road and then crossed back again to continue down the southern half of Stroud Green Rd. Well, what I mean is, this is where the guy had come from. At this point I decided it was getting way too hot to be  out sleuthing, especially whilst carrying heavy bags, and I and came home and wrote this. 

I am guessing that some kind of horrible altercation happened near Finsbury Park station, or in the park itself, and the wounded guy fled to the Upper Holloway area. He may have been heading home, or perhaps he was going to Whittington Hospital?

I can't help myself, I really do need to find out more. Later this evening or sometime over the weekend before the much-needed rain arrives, I will follow the trail in both directions to see where they start and end. 

Update 1: Saturday 13th August. 

I went back to Alexander Road this morning to follow the trail to its end and there I noticed that the splatter marks are far greater than I’d observed in earlier parts of the roue, such as in Tollington Park. Stands to reason really. I also paced it out and, even though I take fairly long strides myself, I am pretty sure by the length of the gaps that the wounded fella was running (I am still assuming a male).   

At Holloway Rd he turned right. On reaching The Crown PH he crossed over to the other side of the road. The tracks stop outside No.517/519. I couldn’t venture into those gardens because it is private property and some men were hindering my sleuthing as they went in and out to those properties installing protective metal panels on the windows and doors. I asked one of them why and he said it was due to squatters, druggies and anti-social behaviour. Ah.

Having looked further along the pavement there in both directions, between Wedmore Rd and Tavistock Terrace, I found no more bloody shoeprints. But outside No. 517, near the back door of the SPS van shown above, there are a couple of naked footprints that also might be bloodstains. Whether these were made by the same guy, I don’t know. 

Update 2: Sunday 14^th August

OK, I’ve worked out where it started… 

Every Sunday there’s a Farmer’s Market in the playground of Stroud Green School, N4, here at the junction where Perth Rd meets Ennis Rd opposite The Faltering Fallback public house. I wonder how many of the people there today sipping their Fairtrade coffee, buying their organic veg and Italian wines, enquiring about the vegan cheese, etc, have noticed the very clear bloody prints that run around the school, let alone are aware of any trouble in the area recently? 

I have deduced that whatever happened to cause the loss of blood occurred on the pavement near the school’s main gates at the other side of the building on Woodstock Rd because there I found prints of varying strength in pointing this way and that. The wounded guy looks to have at first headed south towards Finsbury Park Station and then changed his mind at the end of the school fence and decided to turn round and head in the opposite direction because, bwteen there and the scholl gate there are two clear trails heading in each direction. Then clear, now very bloody, marks continue along the pavement around the school, over Ennis Rd, past the pub where he ran along the double yellow lines and then into the middle of the road before crossing over to the pavement on the east side of Stroud Green Rd.

And then it's as I have written above... he turned westward nto Tollington Park, crossing to the north side diagonally at Charteris/ReginaRd before crossing back again at the next junction, Evershot/FonthillRd. Then he went all the way to the end of Tollington Park, diagonally over Hornsey Road into Tollington Way, north/right into Sussex Way, left into Alexander Road, then over Holloway Roadd, to what I’m guessing was home. 

I've tried googling to see if this has been reported online but, even though I’ve found a couple of other incidents in the area these past few years, there’s nothing on this. I will send a tweet to Stroud Green Police and report back here if anything comes back from them.

 

Reveal of old Wills's tobacconist sign in Hornsey Road, N19

Earlier this year, as I was exiting the Post Office at Hornsey Road, I spotted a lovely old shop fascia across the road at No.526, advertising Wills's Gold Flake.

I crossed the street to take a closer look. It's in fantastic condition, so I wondered if it was an old sign that has simply been protected by subsequent layers or a modern pastiche. I took some snaps with the idea to do a bit of sleuthing.

Passing again a few weeks later, the door was open and I saw a fella working inside. He came out to chat to me and told me that he/they had found the sign under the modern one here whilst pulling apart the layers of adaptions during renovations and they fully intend to keep the sign. How lovely. We talked about the tobacco brand and how lovely the sign was but I completely forgot to ask his mname or enquire what kind of shop this will be. I will update this when I do know.

So who/what was A&R?  This could be the name of the people at this location, or a chain/franchise. The old street directories show that this was a greengrocer's shop in the early part of the C20th, run by Daniel Arthur Colby until 1914. The shop was ten empty for some time during WWI because nothing is listed for the period 1915-19 and I have no refernece beyond that. But I suspect the shop became a tobacconist in the mid-1920s. I can confirm, however, that by 1939 it is the business Mr. Herbert John Ranson who could quite possibly be the 'R' of A&R.

It's great to see this area of N19 finally evolving. As someone who has lived near here for over 30 years I have seen the shops become neglected in this island twixt Archway, Crouch End, Finsbury Park and Holloway. Hence there are quite a few interesting old bits of signage to be found herea and it's great to see so many new finds being preserved. For instance, across the road from this Wills's sign there is the old Hancock/Plumb butcher's shop that I have written about here. Further down the hill, south of Hanley Road, there is this old grocer's sign advertising tea at the rear as well as many more hints of the past here.

A bit of Holloway ghostsign sleuthing – Henry Dell, grocer

Last week I was contacted via Twitter about a ghostsign at the rear of a property in Hornsey Road. Archway Ramblings @UpArchway asked if I knew any more about an old painted sign visible from Bracey Street. Well, this was the first I knew about it, which is not surprising seeing as Bracey Street is a little back street that I have rarely ever used, and the sign fairly inaccessible.

H....ELL, TEA MERCHANT....... 408 Holloway Road. Photo: @UpArchway

A quick bit of sleuthing and it turns out this was Henry Dell who had a grocery shop here at 450 Hornsey Rd, a few doors up from Thorpedale Road, today a launderette.

647-665 Holloway Rd, 1882 

Henry Dell appears to have been established in the area for decades. In 1882 he is shown at No.408 Holloway Rd (today, Santander) with another shop further up the road at 5 Northampton Place which later became No.657 (today, the fish and chip shop). Prior to the later 1880s, the upper section of Holloway Road northwards of Tufnell Park Rd on the west side and Tollington Way (then Grove Rd) on the east side was still evolving and there were no Holloway Rd door numbers – the houses or business premises were simply part of a named terrace* and, very often, the pub at the corner of that stretch was echoed in the name, as in Marlborough Terrace, Crown Terrace etc., though not in this instance. Northampton is probably a reference to the Marquis who owns Canonbury Tower (I will park that tangent for another day!).

647-665 Holloway Rd, 1939

Therefore, regarding what's visible of the ghostsign, I think it's fair to assume, judging by the space available/covered, that the pipes might be hiding the door number of the store at the northern section of Holloway Road which was closer to this Hornsey Rd shop, as in "657 & 408".

Moving fast forward to 1939, I see Henry Dell [and/or his family] is still going strong. The Hornsey Rd shop is listed as "Dell's Store's" and the shop at 657 Holloway Rd is battling for custom with two similar grocery shops next door, namely Liptons, a well-known country-wide chain, and David Greig** the provisions company founded in Hornsey. As for the shop at 408 Holloway Rd, by 1939 it's listed as a restaurant with Mullholland's shoe shop also shown at the same address so I think we can assume that Dell's restaurant was on one of the upper floors. 

Some photographic ref would be nice, but I can't find any right now. The Dells might have been trading in the area earlier than 1882 and I don't know if they continued after WWII. So I'll have to leave it there – Henry Dell, a successful family business, established in Holloway for at least 60 years. Nice. 

Thanks again to Archway Ramblings for bringing this to my attention.

*I refer to this kind of thing on my Mr Pooter's Holloway guided walk about the book 'A Diary of a Nobody' where the characters of 1888 are living at a made-up place called Brickfield Terrace – I have some very good ideas where this could have been along this busy thoroughfare.

**DG shops are a bit of a 'thing' with me. Note to self; collate and post about the company here – any additional info you might have will be gratefully received, and credited.

Flipped Pedim ghostsign in Upper Holloway

This has intrigued me for years:

In Tollington Way, Upper Holloway, N19, on the corner of Cornwallis Road, there was up until about ten years ago a fish and chip shop and restaurant. The building has subsequently been converted into residential use and all signs of battered cod and sausages have been removed.
However, above one window we can see the reversed print of a company name S. M. PEDIM which, judging by the letterform, looks Edwardian in style.
I would assume a sign with this name on it had been painted onto a piece of wood that was later reused; flipped and attached to a wet wall, therefore transferring the name onto the plasterwork.
I can find no evidence of anyone called Pedim in the reference I have to hand.
Any ideas? 

Bygone Brands and Businesses – a compact Jane's London in 90 minutes

As you know by the strapline under the header on this site shows that I am all about little historical details still visible on today's streets.
One of my guided walks, shown right, brings together all of these things and, as such, is a kind of potted version of this site. The walk covers old signage, ironmongery, hand-painted advertising on walls, carved reliefs, pubs, shops, name changes, logos and branding in the Upper Holloway, N19, area.
I also have a couple of other walks that are about ghostly signs of the past in Lower Holloway and around the southern half of Upper Street and these are mostly about the hand-painted ads on walls type known as ghostsigns.  

Some Holloway ghostsigns – faded painted advertisements on walls of N7 and N19

Lots more ghostsigns here.
If you'd like to join me on a walk sometime, all info is here on Jane's London Walks or for the detailed descriptions of the individual walks and how to book go directly to Eventbrite.

Update on the old Whittington Park mural

A couple of years ago I took my friend Jen, to Whittington Park to show her an old mural that had become obscured by plants. Read about that here.

This was all we could discern in July 2015

Well, twixt Christmas and New Year's Day I went to check on it again. As you'd expect, the spray can graffiti-ers have been busy. I couldn't make out the images above but I found some others.

Lucky Kelsey!

Two schoolchildren with backpacks and a figure [possibly] climbing over a wall

Toffee tin lid

Whittington Park, just south of Upper Holloway Station, is named after Richard/Dick of the turnaround-Lord-Mayor story. Jen's an expert on Dick Whittington and leads a fascinating guided tour about the great man within the City of London. I gave her this old toffee tin a few years back as a present and she uses it as a prop on the walk. Check here for updates or contact her for more details.
See also Dick Whittington's Cat – a previous blog post

A lost letterbox in Upper Holloway, and some other post box conunundrums

Last month I posted about the reveal of the Brymay ad opposite Upper Holloway Station which happened after the new bridge was finished on Holloway Road and followed a year of upheaval including diversions and tail backs such that the Archway roundabout at the northern end of the road, which was also undergoing reconstruction at the same time, was spookily quiet. And, as it turned out, a perfect time to resurface Holloway Road revealing the old cobbles for about 30mins (I must dig out those pics).
Oops, I digress... back to Upper Holloway station...
The new bridge is now finished. But something is missing...
The cute little Victorian letterbox that used to be by the entrance to the station hasn't been reinstated.

Top row shows 2008 and 2014. Bottom row shows how the wall letter box was recorded at that site in 1909, and bottom right is how the bridge wall looks now.

So where is this wonderful old piece of Victorian metalwork?
Who has it? News please.

Whilst I am on the subject of Victorian letterboxes, I noticed last month that the Penfold acanthus pillar box in St Pancras Way, NW1, has moved to the other side of the road since the last time I took a snap of it which must have been approx 10 years ago. Why is that? But hey, at least it's still there.
This and more oddities in the pics below.

Top right – the Penfold box in St Pancras Way and below it a close up of its VA motif showing that the box used to be painted green.
Middle top – the box in the gate at Chelsea's Royal Hospital – accessible from both sides!
Top right – a wall letterbox, also in Chelsea – the same design as the lost Upper Holloway.
On the bottom row – a VR in London N6 is really thick with paint – compare it to the ones either side it and note also how the one bottom right, (EC4) has a different monogram design.