Heritage plaques erected in Bath

Frankie Roberto made this Freedom of Information request to Bath and North East Somerset Council

The request was successful.

From: Frankie Roberto

16 March 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am doing a project looking at heritage 'plaques' affixed to
buildings in towns and cities across the UK.

English Heritage (who run the blue plaque scheme in London) have
suggested to me that there has been a successful heritage plaque
scheme run in Bath.

Could you tell me whether such a scheme is still in operation, and
if so, what the process and criteria for public nominations are?

Could you also send me a list of existing plaques which have
installed? Preferably this list would include the location of the
plaque, the inscription, the date it was installed, and any other
relevant information.

One of the things I would like to do with the data is to build a
map of all the plaques in the UK, which people can access via their
mobile phones. I'd very much appreciate any help you can give me
with this project!

Yours faithfully,

Frankie Roberto

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From: Information Governance
Bath and North East Somerset Council

17 March 2009

Thank you for your information request, which is now being processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

You can expect to receive our full response in due course.

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From: Information Governance
Bath and North East Somerset Council

25 March 2009

Attachment Heritage Plaques.pdf
875K Download View as HTML

Dear Frankie,

Thank you for your information request.

Please find attached a list of all known plaques to famous residents, plus
plaques to notable architects. I am afraid we do not hold information as
to the exact text of each plaque, and the date that each plaque was
installed.

There are also two very good books on this subject, containing brief
biographies of each person: 'They came to Bath' by William Lowndes (pub.
Redcliffe Press, 1987); 'Known at this address' by LesleyFlash (pub.Bath
City Council, 1982).

Lowndes' book indicates whether or not a plaque exists to the person
described. His book also describes in its introduction how the bronze
plaque scheme was set up by Bath City Council in 1898.

In the [1]Council's archive collections we hold correspondence files
relating to the numerous unveiling ceremonies which took place between
1898 and the 1930s, when the majority of the existing plaques were
installed. If you would like to view this information you will need to
attend the Council's offices. The Council's archivist also holds a map
published in the 1930s showing the location of the addresses of all famous
historical residents of Bath, although not all locations will bear a
plaque. If you would like to receive a copy of this map (hard copy only)
please let me know.

We would also refer you to the [2]Bath Preservation Trust and the Bath
Society who may hold further information on this matter.

Bath Society
Green Pk Station
Bath
Avon
BA1 1JB
United Kingdom
Telephone: 01225 318253

The Council's Historic Environment Team Leader has advised that new
plaques fixed to listed buildings may well require approval from the
Council but the majority that he has noted appear to be long established
and could well pre-date the need for listed building consent. He states
that he is not aware of any current scheme administered by the Council and
does not recall any relevant applications submitted over the past 18
months.

If you have any further queries, please let us know.

If you are unhappy with the response to your request, you may ask for an
internal review. Please contact the Council's Head of Audit, Risk and
Information, Mr Jeff Wring at the Guildhall, High St, Bath BA1 5AW
[3]mailto:[email address].

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to appeal directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
[4]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.

Amanda Osborne, Information Compliance Manager

Risk and Assurance Services

Bath & North East Somerset Council

Telephone: 01225 396872

Facsimile: 01225 477387

[5]www.bathnes.gov.uk

Making Bath & North East Somerset an even better place to live, work and
visit.

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

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Alan Thwaite left an annotation (25 August 2009)

There is also a publication (out of print but in Bath Library) called 'Historic Map of Bath' by T Sturge Cotterell, which shows all the 241 locations he lists. There is an index of names (more complete than Lowndes, I think) in an accompanying booklet of about 35 pages.

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