People bring us photographs of verandah rails and ask whether they are Vale Royal. Usually they are, and here is how to tell without taking anything down.
The mark is cast, not stamped, so it sits proud of the surface rather than sunk into it. It is on the end post, about a hand's width from the bottom, on the side facing the house. Paint fills it, so a torch held flat across the surface shows it better than a torch held straight on.
There are three versions. The earliest is the full name in a curve. The second, from about 1870, is VRF in a lozenge. The third, after the foundry changed hands, is VRF with a number under it, and the number is the pattern rather than the year, which has confused more than one auction catalogue.