Blue Plaques - spotting London’s history
If you’ve spotted one of these blue plaques on a building, chances are you might have stopped to read it. And it may have been quite interesting. (Then again, it may not. I am not particularly interested in the guy who invented anaesthesia; I’m just very, very glad that he existed.)
So, what are all these blue plaques anyway?
The blue plaques commemorate individuals, groups and in some cases events that are considered worthy of remembrance. Many of them are set up where particular individuals lived or worked.
The blue plaque scheme goes back all the way to 1867. It’s now run by English Heritage. In all, there are over 800 plaques, and while some of them commemorate the great names of English history, others open a window on to stories you’d never otherwise encounter. Like Ira Aldridge, a black New Yorker who became a renowned actor in Victorian England.
I never knew the painter Mondrian lived in Camden; or that Van Gogh lived in Lambeth - they’ve both got blue plaques. So there are a couple of surprises - people I knew about, but seen in a new light.
And there are lots of other emigres too; Daniel Mazzini, Italian patriot and politican, is commemorated, as is Charles de Gaulle, who lived in Carlton Gardens while exiled from Vichy France.
Are all the blue plaques English Heritage ones?
No. Besides the English Heritage scheme, there are plaques set up by other organisations - for instance Southwark council, Westminster council (oh, those are green plaques), and the Finchley Society. And there are some truly ancient ones in the City which commemorate now destroyed buildings.
And not all blue plaques are blue - the very earliest ones were brown, as brown glaze for tiles was cheaper!
They’re everywhere!
One you’ve got your eye in, you keep spotting blue plaques all over the place. Sometimes I get back from an expedition and the first thing I do is log on to Wikipedia - who on earth was Sir Harry Vane, executed 1662? Although I have studied seventeenth century history, that’s not a name I remembered. (It’s quite a sad story - he was executed as a regicide despite the fact that he refused to take the oath approving the execution of Charles II and wasn’t involved in the trial.)
So keep an eye open for the blue plaques. You never know what you’re going to find.
You might even like to try a little amusement. Use the list on the English Heritage site to find a few names you’re interested in. For instance you might want to try to link up Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, Oscar Wilde, and PG Wodehouse. Then get a map, work out where the plaques are and see if you can use that to plan an interesting day out.
I might try it with the Z’s;Zangwill, Zoffany and Zola. But looking at the map…. maybe not; it would be a very long day out!
More to come…
I’m going to be taking a closer look at some of those blue plaques over the next few months and featuring famous and intriguing Londoners (and a few non-Londoners) who are commemorated by them. Watch this space!
Photo credit: Mike Fleming on flickr
