This ghost sign is found on Upper Tham,es Street in the shadow of the london Bridge, overhead. It is located at an entrance i to the Fishmonger's hall, built 1831. The fragmentary sign reads as follows:
"[FISHM]ONGERS
WHARF
WC2"
From the London Gardens Online website, a brief history of the Fishmonger's hall: (
visit link)
"The Fishmongers' Company has its origins in at least the C14th with the Stockfishmongers (traders in wet fish) and the Saltfishmongers (traders in dried fish) and trading on the Thames riverside dates from at least the C13th. The Hall is on the site of previous premises of three important fish-merchants John Lovekyn, Sir William Walworth and William Askham, all one-time Mayors of London, who came here in the late C14th and provided business facilities for the trade including a great hall. The Hall was secured for the Fishmongers' Company in 1433-44 with assistance from, among others, Henry IV's brother-in-law, John Cornwall, Baron Fanhope. The Company built new wharfside premises here and until 1666 had sole use of the wharf, but from 1669 and 1827 there was public pedestrian access. It later again became a private wharf between 1835 and 1975. In the C2nd the area west of the Hall was a Roman quay, and later a medieval house, remnants of which were found in 1974 when the area was excavated. The medieval hall was destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666, although the proximity to the river enabled much of the important documents and other items to be saved. Following the fire the Company was able to acquire more land and the new premises were built around three sides of a courtyard.
The current Hall was designed by Henry Roberts in 1831-35 who won the competition to replace the earlier hall when part of its site was needed for the new London Bridge Approach. Additional offices were built it 1976/7 facing Upper Thames Street and Swan Lane, at which time the courtyard between the wings was enlarged and is laid out as a small garden open to the river, from which it is partially visible through railings. It is largely laid to paving and is on two levels, with a flower border and two or three trees. In 1978 a stone statue of the benefactor of the Fishmongers' Company, James Hulbert by Robert Easton, dated 1728, was brought here from the Fishmongers' Almshouses at Bray in Berkshire. The stone arms from the C17th Hall's entrance are on the wall."
A more detailed history was written in 1881 in a book "Old and New Londin, Vol. 2", which though long out-of-print, has been digitized and made available through the British History Online website: (
visit link)
"The First Fishmongers' Hall—William Walworth—The Wealth and Power of the Old Fishmongers—Their Quarrels—Their Records—The present Hall—Walworth's Dagger—Walworth's Pall—Fish Street Hill—The Churchyard of St Leonard Goldsmith and Monument Yard.
"HERE Fishmongers' Hall, that handsome Anglo-Greek building at the west side of the foot of London Bridge, still stands this rich semi-marine Company have had a stronghold ever since the reign of Edward III. It was in this convenient spot, also, that that most warlike and eminent of Fishmongers, Sir William Walworth, himself resided during the reign of Richard II., the monarch whose crown he saved by a single blow of his prompt sword. . . ."
It's great history, floridly written in the Victorian style, and well worth a read :)