Last month I wrote about the delightful tiled doorways to shop fronts in Newport. Tiles have a longer life than paint.

Historic England are asking people to submit photos of “ghost signs”.

Typically these are painted signs on walls, such as the Coal Wharf sign in Newport, or the Exide Batteries sign above the old Bruce’s shop in Clarence Road, East Cowes.

Scroll through the photos above

Many are now faded, since the reason for them being there has ceased to exist.

They are part of our heritage and should be recorded for posterity.

Go to Historic England Ghost Signs to see more Island ghost signs. Can you add more local photographs of ghost signs to the map?

We have had a surplus of water recently. But imagine a time when you had no piped running water and your only supply was from a well, or catching the water from your roof.

Only wealthy people had their own well in Victorian times. Ordinary people would have to rely on the town well.

In low lying areas, this could become contaminated with sewage or seawater, or both if you were by the coast. In East Cowes in 1856 this happened frequently.

People start queuing at 3am to haul up their water from the public well in East Cowes.

There was no winding mechanism. You just dropped the bucket down on a rope and hauled it up. We still have the name, Well Road.

The stone lined well was revealed, briefly, about 30 years ago during building work.

Other places were luckier.

At Calbourne and Newtown, winding pumps were provided in around 1894. That at Calbourne now has a roof over it.

In Brading there is a small hand pump dated 1764. In Whitwell, 16 cast iron water pumps were provided throughout the village by a local benefactor.

If you wanted to be remembered, inscribed drinking fountains for people, or animals, were seen as a good idea.

On Newport Quay, the Sir Barrington Simeon drinking fountain, made of polished red granite, was restored a few years ago.

On the road out of Newport to Carisbrooke there is a horse trough, made of grey granite. It matches another, by the Sun Inn at Calbourne.

Both remember Sir Barrington Simeon who died in 1909.

In East Cowes, a steel drinking fountain was provided by Miss Shedden in memory of her parents. First placed at a road junction, it was moved to the recreation ground. Now it is on the Esplanade.

The well house at Carisbrooke Castle dates from 1587. Once prisoners or miscreants would have the job of working the treadmill, winding up water from far below.

Gould, Hibberd and Randall, the soft drinks manufacturers, used the donkey well as their business logo.

Now this terracotta sign is on Marks and Spencer – another old business sign that has survived.

How many more “ghost signs” have we on the Island?