What is it about Ministry of Works signage that motivates so many people to share images via social media? Partly it is just the fact of their survival, as reminders of a simpler age of heritage tourism before the era of virtual reality and QR codes.
Many of the signs were made by the Royal Label Factory. Founded in 1874, and then based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire (now in Buxton, Derbyshire), the company boomed in the 1930s, supplying road signs and fingerposts for the UK’s growing road network, and again in the 1950s as road signs melted down in the war were replaced with new versions.
Each sign is a unique production involving the carving by hand of a ‘pattern’ in clay or wood, which is then pressed into a two-part mould (one for the front and one for the back of the sign) filled with a moist mixture of sand and clay. This holds the impression made by the pattern as the sand dries and hardens. Next, the two parts of the mould are brought together and molten metal is poured into the cavity.
Roman Chester: Excavating the CA archive