Simon's Tillston would appear to be quite a rare find. Although I have live d in the north of England all my life and not very far from Teeside where t he Tillston is said to have been made, I have never seen or heard of the ma rque The area around the NE, including Teeside and Tyneside has never boast ed very many builders, among which Jack Taylor is, of course the best known .. Evev in the Cycling Weekly magazines of the 50s I have not seen the Tills ton marque mentioned or advertised.
The frame looks to be quite nicely put together, with everything such as lu gs, bracket, fork crown nicely coordinated. The lugs look to be Nervex Seri e Legere, but the squared off shoulder on the head-lugs in not standard on this model. The bracket looks like a nervex and the crown appears to be the popular Ekla. As for dating the frame, the Stallard drop-outs would put it in a late 40s to mid-50s time slot
There were several builders who used the Hellenic style, principally Thanet and to a far less extent Hetchins, but as Kevin said, there is at leats on e Woodrup which he built for himself, several Bespokes that I built - all o f them low-profile time-trial frames plus a handful of touring machines. I think the style was used more commonly in France for randonneur frames, bui lders such as Routens, Mannheim and Pithioud being among those who favoured the style.
As for JT Rodgers, the Leeds-based marque mentioned by Kevin, I knew the br and well, but was surprised to read that this brand was still being ridden by members of the Featherstone Road Club in the late 1960s. Rodgers also ha d a large shop in Leeds city centre, on King Edward Street, I think. Rodger s were better known for a classier type of touring/club/sports machine...mu ch like the FC Parkes from Birmingham...but I have come across a handful of better, probably custom frames. I always assumed that JT Rodgers frames we re made by someone such as Sun or Parkes..as they looked very similar. As f or the Hellenic Rodgers, they might have been made in the company's own wor kshop or by someone such as Jackson, Pennine, Baines etc.
I did read somewhere that the name Hellenic came from the surname of the ch ap who designed the first one for Hetchins - Jim hellenic, I think it was. Can anyone confirm that?
Norris Lockley , Settle UK