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“Safeguard Alarms”, Oxford: two-tone
“Safeguard Alarms” burglar alarm, Oxford • I was wading grumpily through Oxford’s irritating throngs of meandering coach parties and pillocks on pushbikes, when this unusual alarm, on the side of a...
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“Sentry Alarms”, Newquay: wasp-waisted
“Sentry Alarms” burglar alarm, Newquay • Simpler than but similar to yesterday’s Safeguard Alarms design, and equally nice: a wasp-waisted fortress-plus-portcullis combo, with combat-ready stencil...
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“Allied Security”, Southwark: faded fortress
“Allied Security” burglar alarm, Southwark • Like Safeguard Alarms, another shield / fortress / portcullis combo, with a name that earns it honorary inclusion in the WWII category too. I guess this is...
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“National Security”, Tower Hamlets: lock ‘em all up
“National Security” burglar alarm, Tower Hamlets • Oooer, this is a bit foreboding: a tall, harshly-lit tower casting the menacing shadow of a portcullis. Punningly, it’s in Tower Hamlets – and it’s...
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“Baymont Alarms”, York: city wall
“Baymont Alarms York” burglar alarm, York • At last, a portcullis attached to an actual, realistic building: a bit of York’s ancient city walls, no doubt, or some local fortress. I thought Baymont...
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“Krypto Security”, Westminster: turret-shaped
“Krypto Security” burglar alarm, City of Westminster • And so we segue seamlessly from portcullises to fortifications in general – castles, fortresses, ramparts and so on. This looks like an old-style...
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“Krypto Security”, Newham: swept away
“Krypto Security” burglar alarm, Newham • Mr Krypto, your fortified portcullis is of no use here – it didn’t keep out the Olympics, which have now swamped Marshgate Lane where I found you, sweeping...
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“Krypto Security”, Lambeth: Dracula’s castle
“Krypto Security” burglar alarm, Lambeth • Yet another Krypto – I love Krypto sounders. Especially this nicely-drawn design, which sports a proper turreted castle (unlike yesterday’s prisony thing)...
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“Castle Security” burglar alarm: Caledonian Camelot
“Castle Security Group Ltd” burglar alarm • A proud flag-flying Caledonian Camelot with 1970s disco lettering, though the mound it’s on looks more suited to a sandcastle. This must be a big firm north...
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“Castle Security”, Bristol: chess-style
“Castle Security” burglar alarm, Bristol • Oh dear, a pair of very sad and stained old chess-style castles, with even the contact number snipped off (at least, that’s what I assume the gap between...
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“Bastion Protec Systems”, Dorking: defensible space
“Bastion Protec Systems” burglar alarm, Dorking • One of the very few “defensible space” sounders without an image on it, the name Bastion helpfully sums up all the alarms in this section. A bastion...
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“Citadel”, York: Pooterish connection
“Citadel” burglar alarm, York • In the curiously timeless 1892 comic novel Diary of a Nobody, “my own citadel” was how Mr Pooter grandiosely described his home, a modest Victorian villa constantly...
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“Fortress Alarms”, Aylesbury: missing portcullis
“Fortress Alarms” burglar alarm, Aylesbury • Even though the portcullis appears to have fallen off, and the fortress seems to be actively inviting burglars in, I liked this one so much I used it in my...
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“CSS”, Shoreham-by-Sea: cryptic castle
“CSS” burglar alarm, Shoreham-by-Sea • I wonder if the mysterious unexplained acronym behind this chess-style castle is the same CSS as Crown Security Services? Probably not, or the sounder would...
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“Soundandsafe.com”, Westminster: Martello tower
“Soundandsafe.com” burglar alarm, City of Westminster • This 2002-founded firm is most unusual in having a URL for a name – and that definitely is their name, as it’s the same on their website....
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“Rampart Security”, St Albans: un-illustrated
“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...
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“Rampart”, Oxford: battlement, surely?
“Rampart” burglar alarm, Oxford • This is more like it, a Rampart showing actual ramparts. Although to be pedantic about it, these look more like battlements or crenellations (aka the blocky bits on...
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“Absolute Security”, East Grinstead: bricky battlements
“Absolute Security (Surrey)” burglar alarm, East Grinstead • Is it just my imagination, or are there a disproportionately high number of militia-related alarms in the deep Surrey “stockbroker belt”...
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“Securi-Guard”, Fowey: slimy shield
“Securi-Guard” burglar alarm, Fowey • So, now we move on to fortifications on shields, combining the popular tropes of militia and aristocracy. It’s amazing the label in question is still attached,...
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“Independent Security Contracts”, Islington: encrusted
“Independent Security Contracts Ltd” burglar alarm, Islington • Another embattled shield, encrusted with names: “Security ISC 24 Independent Contractors Ltd” if read in an attempt at logical order....
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“Countryside Security”, Camden: chivalric turrets
“Countryside Security” burglar alarm, Camden • The final fortified sounder for now, again a turreted shield. I have tried in vain to find a heraldic meaning for this, but even the superb (to graphic...
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Ghost under “Krypto Security”, Westminster: enormo
Ghost under “Krypto Security” burglar alarm, City of Westminster • This boxy enormo-ghost suggests it may have been a vintage sounder preceding the Krypto. Maybe even another Krypto, they were a...
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Wimpey Security, Southwark: reflected
“Wimpey Security Systems Monitored Alarm” burglar alarm, Southwark • Another arrow-house, this time reflected into an angular crenellated shield. • Spotted: Glasshill Street, Southwark, London, SE1,...
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Crime Cure, Bristol: old fave
“Crime Cure” burglar alarm, Bristol • Update of an old favourite, as featured here. Where’s the house? It’s surrounding the massively complex heraldic device. • Spotted: The Arcade, Horsefair,...
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Tollgate, Bath: quaint
“Tollgate Security Ltd” burglar alarm, Bath • OK, so a tollgate is a gate for taking money, and not a house. But, in this drawing, it does look like a quaint little house. • Spotted: Manvers Street,...
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