Mystery Photo of the Week

Sometimes when I capture an intriguing photograph for my daily blipfoto it sends me on a search to find out more. Today's was a great example as what I photographed in Burneside Rd, Kendal was this:

My initial thoughts (and what I put on the description when I uploaded it) were that F.P. stood for Fire Point and that the measurement indicated the distance like on the modern metal yellow FH plates we all see on UK streets. There was a good discussion in the comments on the site which persuaded me to check out the Ordnance Survey for their abbreviations list. This gave me 3 options:

1. Foot Path
2. Face of Paling
3. Fire Plug

Now Foot Path was ruled out as there isn't one anywhere near! So time to investigate the other options. Nothing on Face of Paling but I found Fire Plug on The Free Dictionary:

a plug or hydrant for drawing water from the main pipes in a street, building, etc., for extinguishing fires.

a street hydrant to which hose may be attached.
So looks like I was almost right with my original idea but I just didn't get the name right. Wonder what mystery I can solve next week..