LMS Route: The Shakespeare Route

Ettington Limestone Company: smjel220

An East & West Junction Boundary Marker used by the company at Ettington Limestone Quarry. Because the quarry was immediately adjacent to the E&WJR's line between Stratford upon Avon and Ettington - there was no physical barrier between the two as can be seen in image 'smjel189' - the railway needed to provide an alternative method of marking its boundary between the two concerns. This was obviously deemed to be the easiest solution.

John Jennings, the SMJ Archivist wrote on the SMJ Website, boundary markers were produced by the foundry of John Smith who started business in 1874 at a site off College Street in Old Town, Stratford producing aluminium based castings from a sand moulding process. The main business was producing small round or oval labels for identification of plants in ornamental gardens. The labels were used by Her Majesty Queen Victoria in her rose garden where they were mounted on stakes so that she could use them as a form of "Braille" as her sight was failing. This led to the business being awarded Royal recognition in 1876 and the foundry then traded as "The Royal Label Factory". It was only a few hundred yards from the East & West Junction station and offices. It is reasonable to suppose that consignments of signs would have been sent via the East & West route rather than trudge heavy packages through the streets of Stratford to the GWR station. The use of alloy was very novel and when the E&WJR had cause to order their plates it is possibly the first recorded instance of a railway warning plate being cast in any material other than iron! Another piece of history for the line. I have a rubbing kindly supplied by the owner of one of the rare complete plates showing the reverse with a clear stamping of J Smith, Stratford. When I was at school in Stratford in the early fifties it was a regular "treat" for parties of school children to visit the factory where of course they were by then totally engaged in road sign manufacture. The site is now housing. A few good images of the factory are around on the internet.

Photograph courtesy of John Jennings, SMJ Archivist.

back