Village Signs

Almost all Norfolk villages and many in Suffolk, Essex, Sussex, Kent and Cambridgeshire have signs which depict aspects of the history of the village. The tradition was reputedly started by King Edward VII, who suggested them to encourage village residents to appreciate and take an interest in their villages.  The first signs were erected in the villages on the Sandringham Estate in West Norfolk.  The tradition was continued by Kings George V and VI.  Since then the Queen's Coronation, Silver, Gold and Diamond Jubilees and the millennium have been reasons for many more villages to commission their own signs. Older signs were often carved from wood or made of iron.  Some more modern signs are made from polyurethane, glass reinforced plastic or aluminium.  Most are painted in bright colours.

There are now about 4,000 village signs across the country. However in Somerset interesting village signs are extremely thin on the ground.  These are the only ones I have found so far:

Rode

Rode's village sign is closest in style to those in East Anglia

 Chew Stoke

Chew Stoke is in Bath & North East Somerset

 Long Ashton

Long Ashton is in North Somerset

 Shipham

 Shipham

North Newton's lock gate village sign

The Bridgwater and Taunton Canal runs to the east of the village

West Camel

Norton-sub-Hamdon

 Sign made from local Ham Stone and depicting the village's dovecote

Milborne Port

Othery's millennium village sign

Some recently replaced council town and village signs now include images of notable local landmarks e.g. the market cross on Cheddar's sign

Brent Knoll - it was also previously known as the Mount of Frogs, hence the frogs on the sign

Stoke St Mary's village sign has a small stained glass window incorporated into it

It was erected to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Porlock

Cannington

West Monkton 

This has a picture of a heron or an egret and a swingbridge on the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal on it

These are some examples of some typical Norfolk village signs:

Bodham



Little Snoring 

Great Snoring