Through the Magpie Eye: Murals from the ’70s

25.06.2015

Mural of a brooding face among puzzle pieces and stars on the gable end of a terraced house, signed Walter Kershaw

In the early ’70s a Rochdale-based artist named Walter Kershaw rode his motorbike to the small town of Heywood on the peripheries of Greater Manchester to paint a large portrait of Elvis Presley on the gable end of a terraced house. The owner of the house had no problem having their wall transformed into a shrine to The King, but unfortunately, no one in the area had a photograph of Elvis to hand.

The closest thing anyone had was a small picture of leather-clad chart-crooner Alvin Stardust. And so, only a day later, a brooding, slightly bizarre image of the man formerly known as Bernard William Jewry stared out onto Manchester Road.

A fascinating story I'm sure you'll agree.

Back in the ’70s massive, multi-coloured murals popped up all over the place, brightening up the large, red-brick walls of Northern mill towns and gloomy motorway flyovers. Some, like Walters, were just done for the hell of it, whilst others were done as part of community schemes to inspire the people in the local area.

Most of these were painted over or razed to the ground years ago, but luckily two men by the names of Doug Sargent and Graham Cooper managed to document a good chunk of them. Here’s a small selection of their photographs…

Jungle mural with a giraffe's neck, palms, flowers and birds above Douglas Gauld printers on Court Street, Dundee

Court Street, Dundee.

House end on Moor Court, Sunderland, painted with a pretend shopfront and windows, as someone runs past

Moor Court, Sunderland.

Black and white mural of palm trees and a zebra along a wall on Oxford Road, Manchester

Oxford Road, Manchester.

Gable end on Crickland Road, Swindon, painted with a village scene of a stone bridge, church tower and cottages

Crickland Road, Swindon.

Shop in Bangor, North Wales, painted with giant groceries including a tin of Heinz Baked Beans, with two people outside

Bangor, North Wales.

Gable end on Fleming Way, Swindon, painted with a canal, a green iron footbridge and people in period dress with a dog

Fleming Way, Swindon.

End of a house on Derby Street, Rochdale, painted as a cross-section showing furnished rooms on every floor

Derby Street, Rochdale.

Gable end above the Sew and Sews shop in Ashton-under-Lyne, painted with storybook figures including a dragon and a lion

Ashton-under-Lyne.

Gable end in Swindon painted with a knight on a rearing white horse fighting a green dragon

Swindon.

Colourful mural of steam engines and machinery on the North Western Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester

The Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester.

Fighter plane with red, white and blue roundels painted diving across a bricked-up arch on Peel Way, Bury

Peel Way, Bury.

Shelter in Walshaw, Bury, painted with yellow foliage, a chair and a portrait of a figure in a blue cap with a bandaged ear

Walshaw, Bury.

End wall of a house in Higher Ince, Wigan, painted with a palm tree, pink clouds and hills beside water

Higher Ince, Wigan.

Rider on a galloping black horse painted on a wall by a concrete arch bridge in Little Lever, Bolton

Little Lever, Bolton.

Mural under a concrete flyover in Ladbroke Grove, London: an outlined nude figure pointing at a white sun over green hills

Ladbroke Grove, London.

Skateboarders in helmets and knee pads painted mid-trick across the walls of houses in Shepherd's Bush, London

Shepherd's Bush, London.

Giant Motörhead skull logo painted in black and white on a gable end by Shepherd's Bush roundabout, London

Shepherd's Bush roundabout, London.

Ashton-Under-Lyne.

Pictures taken from the 1979 book, Painting the Town by Graham Cooper and Doug Sargent.

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