Occupation-era road sign uncovered by decorators
BBCA road sign dating back more than 80 years to the German Occupation of Guernsey has been uncovered on the boundary wall of a property.
Decorators made the discovery while working on the building in Elm Grove, St Peter Port, and notified World War Two fortification restoration group Festung Guernsey.
Chairman Paul Bourgaize said the sign, which formed part of a road map created by German forces around the island,marked a "very important part of Guernsey's history" and served as "a reminder of the five years of occupation that the locals went through".
He said the owners of the property were keen to preserve the sign, with the group set to stabilise what was left.
The remains of the sign show a black arrow on the side of a wall, pointing to the left with a circle to its right.
Bourgaize said at either end of the circle would have been arrows and either side of these "would have been some numbers".
"On the right-hand side was pointing to yellow four," he said.
"On the left-hand side would have been pointing to yellow five and these were the first roads you would have come to on the German road map."
When German forces arrived in Guernsey at the beginning of their occupation "all the street signs had been removed just to try and make life as difficult for them as possible", Bourgaize explained.
The Germans then "created their own map," numbering the roads and "putting these signs up all over the place".
He added: "Apparently, even according to the locals, it was a very easy system once you got used to it and it worked very well."
A number of German signs have been uncovered on the island over the years, with Bourgaize noting those on the halfway tram shelter and the corner of the Cock and Bull pub.
He said of the latest discovery: "It is exciting and everything that we discover is another something for the public to enjoy."
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