Tuesday 21 July 2009

Ghost signs (21): Taunton

Taunton's rather pompously-titled English and Foreign Corn Warehouse is shabby and faded today; its ground floor has been converted into two shops. However, the grandiose name suggests a rather more prosperous past!

More faded glory is evident through the train window on the way out of town. Here is another grand name consigned to history: the British Railway Taunton Freight Concentration Depot is now abandoned and neglected. British Rail itself, of course, has become a thing of the past.


5 comments:

Adam said...

The ghost sign in my street has been washed away. :-(

I'm waiting for the scaffolding to come down then I'll write about it on my blog.

Peter Ashley said...

I love the British Railways building. Although the words 'concentration depot' have a slight chill about them.

CarolineLD said...

Adam, what a shame! I look forward to the blog post, though.

Yes, Peter, there is something rather sinister about the term. Not helped by my having no idea of what freight concentration is!

finney said...

I can tell you about the BR building
Its on my flickr (vesteyman).
The building houses old pumping gear
as the railway bought out the canals to get the freight traffic.
The top level is a iron tank & the water pas pumped up & gravity fed to the station for non drinking use.
Filling engines,washing down etc.
It,s listed & theres talk of it being converted to a riverside resturaunt.

CarolineLD said...

Thank you for that information; I'll keep an eye out for the new restaurant. I wonder if they'll leave any of the pumping gear in place.