Symbol found on old Irish road signs

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Foamcutter
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Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by Foamcutter »

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and found it via your Wiki on T and L roads in Ireland
I've been replicating old Irish fingerpost signs for friends... you have to do something during a Covid lockdown :shock:
I was curious to find out what the symbol is at the bottom point of the triangle (beneath the T in the Dublin sign)?

Any info or links/suggestions would be appreciated. TIA
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Dublin Blackrock fingerpost signs small1.jpg
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A42_Sparks
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by A42_Sparks »

It was the old logo of Bord Failte, the Irish tourism development authority. They were responsible for signage at one point.
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Steven
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by Steven »

Foamcutter wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 23:24 Hi all, I'm new to this forum and found it via your Wiki on T and L roads in Ireland
If you're interested in the old T and L road system, in addition to the information on the SABRE Wiki, we also have a number of Irish maps showing the T and L roads on SABRE Maps - a good starting point would be the full OSI Half Inch map layer from circa 1969 showing the whole of the Republic (and most of the North too).
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Foamcutter
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by Foamcutter »

Thanks for the prompt info.

It's quite amazing that Bord Failte had control over road signage considering their current roll... how times have changed. I interpreted the symbol be some kind of datum mark. Thanks A42 :thumbsup:

Steven, I can see me going into a maps rabbit hole with a link like that... having a quick glance at the N1 and remembering "Bog of the ring" and "Man of War" signposts on trips to Dublin.
Creating local/county maps was another possible project for the future, I need to get a grasp of QGIS first. I don't suppose this old maps are in a vector format?
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by Steven »

Foamcutter wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:52
Creating local/county maps was another possible project for the future, I need to get a grasp of QGIS first. I don't suppose this old maps are in a vector format?
They're not, no, and we have to be careful on copyright as well as map scans have copyright.

We do have historic county maps on SABRE Maps as well, and you can also overlay modern local authorities on old maps too.
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Foamcutter
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by Foamcutter »

Thanks Steven,
I thought that they might not be vectorised yet. I've traced (manually) a simple map of Louth in the past, hence the reason while I was looking at QGIS. :bang:
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A42_Sparks
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by A42_Sparks »

Foamcutter wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:52 It's quite amazing that Bord Failte had control over road signage considering their current roll... how times have changed. I interpreted the symbol be some kind of datum mark. Thanks A42 :thumbsup:
You're welcome. I too wondered what it meant for several years. It's a weird logo, I think it's meant to be two F's, one reversed.
IrlRon
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by IrlRon »

Or “BFE” (Bord Failte Eireann).

It’s a very old logo - not sure when it was swapped for the now more familiar shamrock logo.
Foamcutter
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by Foamcutter »

I suspect that it was kind of unusual to 'brand' signposts back in those days, it would be more understandable if it happened more recently. It certainly makes a unique feature.
Thanks again for all the info.
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by AndyB »

I believe that the AA and RAC also provided signs with their then logos, something I wasn’t aware of until a few years ago as most I’d seen had the old Bord Failte logo or none at all. Local authorities took on directional signage many years later.

The style is clearly related to British signs from the same period.
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Re: Symbol found on old Irish road signs

Post by Foamcutter »

Thanks AndyB, now that you mention it I did see yellow and black 'AA' branded signs on google whilst researching the idea. I thought they might have been one off signs for a large event.
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