Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Ghost signs for Parkinsons Pills in Leicester and Telford


When I photographed this ghost sign in Clarendon Park on Saturday it rang a bell.

Sure enough, I found that I had already photographed another one for Parkinsons Pills at Madeley in Shropshire. You can see it at the bottom of this post.

The Lancashire Telegraph once told the firm's history:
Parkinsons’ pills, manufactured in Burnley, were once known throughout the land – and even overseas. 
The company claimed that it sold more pills than any other business in the world, with millions being produced annually. 
It was also the first anywhere to coat tablets with sugar to make them more palatable.
Parkinsons’ range of products included ‘female pills’, ‘blood and stomach’ pills, soda mint tablets, and Red Indian ointment. 
The firm was founded by Richard Parkinson in 1848 as a chemist and dry salter, in Brierfield, before it moved to Nelson, and then into Curzon Street, Burnley.
And it seems that it did leave a notable legacy of ghost signs. A blog devoted to the company has a post about them with lots of photographs. They include the two here.

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