Express & Star

Mysterious markings draw on a piece of history during venue revamp

Mysterious markings dating back 80 years have been uncovered from beneath stripped plasterboard.

Published
The 'graffiti' was uncovered at the Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre

Volunteers at the Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre discovered the collection of sketches as they prepared their shop for a revamp.

The 'graffiti', believed to be etched on to the walls in 1937, features a number of portraits, including a lewd dialogue between a man and woman.

Curator Alec Brew said: "It's a little piece of history that's been preserved. We put in some of our own, so in 50 or 60 years time when the walls are re-plastered, they will find us.

"Being the Transport Heritage Centre, this is part of the heritage of the station."

The Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre stands on the former site of the Great Western Railway depot at the old Tettenhall station.

Volunteers at the centre believe someone connected to agriculture fair the Royal Show is responsible for engraving the art into the walls.

It comes after they spotted the initials 'J.A.P' and the words 'Royal Show 1937' near to the drawings.

The Royal Show was held at Staffordshire's Wrottesley Park in 1937, with hundreds of animals and clusters of equipment passing through the then Tettenhall Station.

Mr Brew added: "Everything came via Tettenhall Station, hundreds of animals and all the equipment, so the goods depot in which the Heritage Centre is located would have been very busy.

"We would like to know who J.A.P was, they might have been someone with the show. It would be nice to know."

Volunteers at the centre, in Henwood Road, stripped the walls and finished re-plastering the area last month.

One sketch uncovered was of a man smoking a 'Woodbine' cigarette, while lighting the cigarette of a woman smoking a 'Craven A'.