Olly Walker and Alex Best, owners of Viaduct House, live at numbers 98 and 99 on the Struet in Brecon and have recently replaced the letters on the outside of the building. 

Their building recognises the viaduct that used to be a little further down the road from Viaduct House, at the crossroads where Heol Gouesnou descends to join the Struet. Here, the Neath and Brecon Railway went over the Struet on the viaduct, made of stone arches.

Four of the original letters on the ‘Viaduct House’ sign were missing, and the others in need of some attention.

Olly said: “When I got the place six years ago now, four letters were missing, and the others were more or less falling down.”

Olly then approached Brecon Beacons National Park to see if he could benefit from any external funding for the project. The national park agreed to help fund and source a potter to restore the letters.

Barbara Anglezarke, Sustainable Development Fund Officer for Brecon Beacons National Park Authority told the Brecon & Radnor Express: “We had this funding available, our heritage officer was interested and it was an unusual situation as we don’t usually aid householders but everyone was so enthusiastic about the project, we went ahead with it.

“There’s nothing else like it in Brecon, a house with letters on like that, it was really sad to see the letters that had been there before broken and missing. The fact there was a viaduct just down the road from there is amazing, it is impossible to imagine now that, that great structure just went.

"It’s something that marks a really important heritage feature in Brecon, that was in a poor state. It was fantastic to find a specialist person who could make the letters as they were. 

"It’s nice for the national park to do something positive that makes a tangible difference in the area that you can see as you go through the town.

“We’ve taken a lot of photos and we’re really pleased with the letters. It would be nice to have a proper celebration as it has taken a lot of effort from a lot of people.”

Martin Griffiths, based on the Herefordshire/Gloucestershire border, restored and made the new letters.

He mended the original letters that were still standing with layers of fibre glass, filler and spray paints before making four brand new letters.

The new letters were handmade out of clay because the moulds for the original letters were made by a company that no longer exists - having closed in the 1940s.

Martin went through museums to see if any of the work on the previous letters could be traced but unfortunately for him, they couldn’t be, and he resorted to experimentation.

Being a key player in the project, Martin said: “It was a great project to be involved in, it took a lot of time and a lot of work, a lot of technical work because you’ve got to find the clay, find glaze, and find the right coloured slip and it’s impossible to go back seventy years and find the clay they used and everything else they used, so I just had to try and do a lot of experiments to try and get as close as possible.”

The four new letters have a subtle marbling effect on, although you cannot see it from the road. They are also signed and dated if they need to be replaced in the future.

“It was lovely to be involved in restoring some architectural heritage,” added Martin.

After what is believed to be the letters’ first restoration since they were put up around 150 years ago, Olly said: “A few people have stopped me and said ‘it’s great to have the letters back up’ and I think it makes a big difference to Brecon.”