Answer March 2020
Q1: Where is it? The sign in the clue is on the corner of the Queens Hall next to the Trinity Church. The above image is a screen capture from Google Street View. If you want to see it in Google Street view click here (opens in a new tab in your browser).
10/10 if you recognised where the sign is. It is hardly prominent.
Q2. What does the sign depict? We don’t know (yet). If you know or have any thoughs, please use the reply/comment box below to let us know, or send us an email.
Are there more signs like this …?
Well, yes there are. A number are shown below (latest update: 16 March). Click on the tiny thumbnail on the right to see the location, some of which are shown in a screen capture from Google Street view.
Are they Fire Hydrant signs?
Despite the circumstantial evidence in some of the spottings below, apparently not. Helpfully, Northumberland Fire Service looked at them and said:
My colleagues and myself have studied the information. They were really interesting, and after doing some exploring here, we can can advise that they are not hydrant signs. Alas, we are unable to state what they are.
Want to know more about fire hydrants (at least those in Essex)? Click here to download a PDF.
Thanks to spotters Dave, Jennifer and Chris. Let us know if you spot any more.
Is this indicating a Stop Valve 29 feet and 6 inches from the sign?
Is this a hydrant that is 34 feet 4 inches in the direction of the hand, or does the 34 indicate something about the type of hydrant while the 4 is the number of feet away?
The fire hydrant in front of the car in the road could be about 6 feet from the sign
Couldn’t find a fire hydrant 8 feet away from this sign
There is a fire hydrant in the road in front of the house (behind the red car) that seem to be about 53 feet from the sign (or should that be 53 feet and 6 inches?)
Another Stop Valve? Click on the thumbnail to see in Google Street View.
Click on the thumbnail to see in Google Street View.
Northumberland Water were unable to help identify the signs as being associated with the water supply.
That’s an interesting suggestion. Might the ‘H’ letters stand for hydrant, but I can’t think what the other letter and the numbers might relate to. Standard fire hydrant signs with imperial measurements give the water main size in inches and the distance in feet to the hydrant but 18/24 and 34/4 don’t seem to make sense for those measurements?
Is “S.V.” a Stop Valve sign? Or is it “Sluice Valve”?
Possible reference to fire hydrant’s