Disclaimer This blog is about the graphic design of burglar alarms and has no connection with the companies featured. Most photos show vintage sounders and are not the latest products of the firms under discussion. For up-to-date info on any company, please visit their official website.
Burglar Alarm Britain
Where vigilante culture meets vernacular design
Tag Archives: St Albans
“4KL Crowthorne”, St Albans: forking ‘ell
Posted by on March 12, 2013
“4KL Crowthorne” burglar alarm, St Albans • The Berkshire village of Crowthorne is home to Broadmoor mental hospital – notorious for the famous murderers within – so security may well loom large in locals’ minds. What 4KL stands for I have no idea however – it sounds like the title of a Prince song. Or maybe Ronnie Barker’s famed epithet, “forking ‘ell”. • Spotted: Town centre, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of St Albans
“A2Z Security”, St Albans: pronunciation?
Posted by on March 7, 2013
“A2Z Security” burglar alarm, St Albans • I wonder if that’s pronounced zed or zee? The latter would rhyme with security, but be rather unpatriotic. • Spotted: Town centre, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of St Albans
Grubby ghost alarm, St Albans: wiry tongue
Posted by on October 28, 2012
Ghost burglar alarm (dirty), St Albans • The pentagon is a really rare sounder shape, so even I can narrow this grubby example down to a handful of firms: Shorrock, Initial, Initial Shorrock, or Chubb. One of which is poking out a wiry tongue. • Spotted: Town centre, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of St Albans
“Rampart Security”, St Albans: un-illustrated
Posted by on July 27, 2012
“Rampart Security” burglar alarm, St Albans • Apart from Bastion, this is the only fortification alarm featured that doesn’t actually picture its defences. It’s pasted over a vintage Shorrock, unless I’m very much mistaken – although of a type I’ve not featured yet, I’m surprised to discover. (Update: as the comment below suggests, this is in fact a Securiplace alarm – similar box, colour and initials, hence my confusion.) • Spotted: Town centre, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of St Albans
“Viscount Alarms”, St Albans: non-egalitarian balls
Posted by on May 28, 2012
“Viscount Alarms” burglar alarm, St Albans • Of Norman origin, like all Britain’s aristocratic titles, a viscount is a middle-ranking sort of peer, below an earl but above a baron. Resplendent in a coronet bearing 16 balls (see below), such a personage should be addressed as “Lord”, if you’re feling deferential. The more egalitarian Anglo-Saxon equivalent was the “shire reeve” or sheriff, which would be a good title for a burglar alarm in my opinion. But I have never come across any Sheriff Alarms, perhaps because of the word’s unfortunate cowboy connotations. According to the comments below this Xtal alarm, Viscount were a well-run business who used to do the alarms for Shell petrol stations and Robert Dyas, but were brought to an untimely end by the failure of their parent company. • Spotted: Town centre, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of St Albans
A viscount’s coronet with its 16 non-egalitarian balls
“Ace Security”, St Albans: unlucky clover
Posted by on April 6, 2012
“Ace Security” burglar alarm, St Albans • There are loads of firms called Ace: this particular Ace Security is a family firm based in Bedford, whose three-leafed clover is certainly unlucky for the burglar. OK, so it’s meant to be an ace of clubs, not a plant: but historically the suit of clubs was also known as clovers or flowers, and is believed to originate from the German suit of acorns, so it’s botanical enough. As for luckiness, you’ll only find one four-leafed clover for every 10,000 three-lobed specimens plucked, so they’re definitely rare. But not as rare as the 56-leaved example allegedly discovered in Japan in 2009 – something to do with nuclear contamination, perhaps. • Spotted: Town centre, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of St Albans
“Stevens Security”, St Albans: wrath of Zeus
Posted by on November 24, 2011
“Stevens Security” burglar alarm, St Albans • Finally, the most emphatic and recent lightning strike of all, suggesting that if you tangle with Stevens Security, you’ll make not just Steven but the mighty Zeus very, very cross. You’d certainly feel it if this hefty black arrow of a thunderbolt pierced you – but not for long. Tomorrow: multiples. • Spotted: Town centre, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1, England, 2010 • Politics: In the Conservative constituency of St Albans
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