Roy Reed
LightNews LightNews
banner
royreed.bsky.social
Roy Reed
@royreed.bsky.social
630 followers 75 following 430 posts
Photographer, website designer (retired), #kite flyer and lover of medieval stuff, London and #Cornwall - and a #ghostsign or two.

Co-author of 'Ghost Signs: A London Story'.

reeddesign.co.uk
reeddesign.co.uk/ghostsignsmap
flickr.com/photos/royreed
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
royreed.bsky.social
Roy Reed @royreed.bsky.social · Nov 23
I'm the co-author of the book 'Ghost Signs - A London Story' and I maintain the map of London's #ghostsigns which currently stands at just over 1,000.

reeddesign.co.uk/ghostsignsmap/
London Ghost Signs Map (and Book) - ReedDesign
This page shows a map of just over 1,000 ghost signs in London.
reeddesign.co.uk
Reposted by Roy Reed
blag.typo.social.ap.brid.gy
New at bl.ag online, ‘What's Inside Issue 08 of BLAG (Better Letters Magazine?’:

https://bl.ag/whats-inside-issue-08-of-blag-better-letters-magazine/

Don’t forget that fediverse folk can get a discounted first year with BLAG using https://bl.ag/md20, the […]

[Original post on typo.social]
Magazine cover with a person painting flamboyant lettering under the masthead. It’s set on a poster of the same lettering.
January 23, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Roy Reed
n16breda.bsky.social
For more on the #IrishLondonHistory ☘️ of the Donovan Bros #GhostSign in Spitalfields, check out this writeup by @blag.typo.social.ap.brid.gy
ghostsigns.co.uk/2022/02/the-...
January 19, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Roy Reed
blag.typo.social.ap.brid.gy
Spotted this ghost sign in Colossal Media’s roundup of their work in 2025:
https://www.colossalmedia.com/field-notes/best-of-2025

The fact that they were able to solicit the site for contemporary advertising was decided by a Landmarks Commission hearing. This […]

[Original post on typo.social]
New York street scene with traffic below and buildings rising above. The most prominent wall is brick and it has a modern mural-style advertisement painted on it. On the portion of wall to the left of this there are fading traces of an earlier painted sign for Coca-Cola.
January 19, 2026 at 2:12 PM
royreed.bsky.social
Rainbows in a Rock Pool, Treyarnon Bay #Cornwall
An abstract photo - a detail of shadows in a rock pool surrounded by rainbows caused by diffraction on the surface of the water.
January 19, 2026 at 9:26 AM
royreed.bsky.social
I saw redshanks, black-tailed godwits and curlew on the River Camel at Wadebridge today.

@cbwps.org.uk #Cornwall
A redshank showing its bright red legs wading in the river looking for food. A godwit with a long pink bill tipped with black wading in the river. A curlew standing in the river backed with golden light. A curlew in flight with its wings outstretched.
January 10, 2026 at 6:02 PM
royreed.bsky.social
This morning's sunrise over Egloshayle church on the bank of the River Camel.

#Cornwall #dawn
A dramatic sunrise over a rural town with a river in the foreground. The sky glows with vivid orange and yellow hues, reflected in the calm water. On the left is a row of houses and a church tower. Rolling hills and fields stretch across the horizon under a cloud-filled sky.
January 10, 2026 at 10:21 AM
royreed.bsky.social
Met some people from Cornwall Birds (CBWPS) this morning while I was going for a stroll. They were doing their weekly wildlife walk along the Camel Trail and I tagged along for a bit. Got a couple of nice photos of a curlew in flight and a robin eating a berry.

@cbwps.org.uk
cbwps.org.uk/events/
A curlew in flight. A robin sitting on a branch eating a red berry.
January 7, 2026 at 1:53 PM
royreed.bsky.social
Happy Christmas to everyone I know on BlueSky.

All Saints, Margaret Street, London: tiled panel on the north wall depicting the Nativity. The tiles were designed by Butterfield, painted by Alexander Gibbs and manufactured by Henry Poole and Sons, 1873.
A large tiled panel depicting the nativity, surrounded by a stellated border. The shepherds are on the left, the holy family in the centre and the magi on the right. Above the baby are three advent angles.
December 24, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Roy Reed
wandering-wow.bsky.social
New mural, Shockoe Bottom, #Richmond, #Virginia

#tagtuesday #urbangaze #murals #streetart #RVA
Mural that fills a side of a 3-story red brick building, shows two barefoot men, one with white-hair, the other with a dark beard. They face each other, hands on each other's chest. Around them, in advertising fonts, phrases like "It's Going to Be OK", #Just Be There for Each Other" and "We are More Alike than Not".
December 23, 2025 at 12:16 PM
royreed.bsky.social
Portrait of a rook.
A close-up of the head and shoulders of a rook showing the glossy blue/black feathers and the cold stare of its eye.
December 1, 2025 at 10:14 AM
royreed.bsky.social
A cormorant drying its wings on the River Camel at Wadebridge #Cornwall
A cormorant standing on a river bank with its wings outstretched.
November 30, 2025 at 6:27 PM
royreed.bsky.social
I thought this signpost at the NE end of the old town bridge at Wadebridge had disappeared for good when it was taken down a few months ago, but it reappeared last week fully restored.

#FingerpostFriday #Cornwall
A white painted signpost probably dating from the 1930s with three direction flags pointing to Padstow, Bodmin and Polzeath.
November 28, 2025 at 1:54 PM
royreed.bsky.social
A very handsome jackdaw on the Camel Trail today.

#Cornwall
A jackdaw perching on a blue and white signpost.
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM
royreed.bsky.social
Fluffy seed heads of wild clematis - Old Man's Beard, also known as Traveller's Joy (clematis vitalba).
fluffy seed heads fluffy seed heads
November 22, 2025 at 10:05 AM
royreed.bsky.social
Beautiful colours on the lapwing.
A lapwing standing on the muddy edge of a riverbank. It's crest is raised and it's back is iridescent green.
November 21, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Roy Reed
blag.typo.social.ap.brid.gy
As a purveyor of books about signs (see https://bl.ag/shop) I think this is the first time I've seen such a substantial volume (150 pages) about a single sign. But I'm ready to learn of others!

'A Sign of the Times: The Best of the Penthouse Marquee' by Benjamin […]

[Original post on typo.social]
Landscape book cover with title and authors in a vertical panel on the left and a night time photo of a theatre marquee on the right with green neon letters on top that read "The Penthouse" and the reader board letters below that saying "Forever Neighbours, Never Neighbors".
November 18, 2025 at 11:06 AM
royreed.bsky.social
Meadow Waxcap (hygrocybe pratensis) on the dunes at the Camel Estuary near Brae Hill #Cornwall
A close-up of a waxy orange mushroom about 4cm across Grassy dunes with a calm sea to the left and a sunny blue sky with a few clouds
November 18, 2025 at 11:17 AM
royreed.bsky.social
A curlew and black-tailed godwit at Wadebridge #Cornwall

#birdwatching
A curlew in long grass with its head tilted to the side looking upwards. A bar-tailed godwit up to its chest in water
November 16, 2025 at 12:47 PM
royreed.bsky.social
A black-tailed godwit on the River Camel at Wadebridge #Cornwall
A wading bird with a very long bill standing ankle-deep in water stretching its wings.
November 15, 2025 at 10:59 AM
royreed.bsky.social
A future #ghostsign ?

Granite & Marble
November 11, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Roy Reed
blag.typo.social.ap.brid.gy
When ghost signs make the financial press, presumably because investing in advertising makes share prices rise?

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/COCA-COLA-CONSOLIDATED-IN-8857/news/Coca-Cola-Bottling-Consolidated-Iconic-Coca-Cola-Ghost-Signs-Come-Back-to-Life-In-Virginia-a-18698932/ […]
Original post on typo.social
typo.social
November 10, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Reposted by Roy Reed
reblambert.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Sunday Worship - Sheela Na Gigs - Reclaiming Female Spirituality - BBC Sounds
Rev Kate Bottley explores 'Sheela Na Gigs' and female spirituality in the Church.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Roy Reed
blag.typo.social.ap.brid.gy
'Toulouse La Crêpe' — top punning on this ghost sign in Richmond, Virginia, albeit long since lost.

Oh, and shout out to Richmond Magazine for having a website that doesn't batter you with cookie warnings, popups, subscribe promos, and the rest when you land […]

[Original post on typo.social]
Large brick wall of a corner building adorned with layers of fading painted advertising. In addition to a portion of the Coca-Cola logotype, the wall is dominated by the most recent sign for 'Toulouse La Crêpe' at street level.
November 3, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Reposted by Roy Reed
guildhalllibrary.bsky.social
🎃Happy Halloween….🎃

‘The impossibility of witchcraft : plainly proving from scripture and reason that there never was a witch…’ from 1712 (PAM 1515) is about the case of Jane Wenham from Hertfordshire convicted of witchcraft. It argues against her conviction with theological & rational reasoning.
Title page of pamphlet 'The impossibility of witchcraft : plainly proving from scripture and reason that there never was a witch; and that it is both irrational and impious to believe that there ever was in which the depositions against Jane Wenham, lately try’d and condemn’d for a witch at Hertford are confuted and exposed.' 1712
October 31, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Roy Reed
privateeyenews.bsky.social
Minority representation on TV causes outrage

From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
October 29, 2025 at 12:01 PM