Blue Plaque



A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term is used in the United Kingdom in two different senses. It may be used narrowly and specifically to refer to the "official" scheme administered by English Heritage, and currently restricted to sites within Greater London; or it may be used less formally to encompass a number of similar schemes administered by organisations throughout the UK. The "official" scheme traces its origins to that launched in 1866 in London, on the initiative of the politician William Ewart, to mark the homes and workplaces of famous people.

The "genuine" blue plaques are never made of metal, but are ceramic, two inches thick and handmade by master ceramicists in Cornwall. Funded solely by donations, they cost almost £4,000 each to make and install. For the "official plaques" a panel of historians meets three times a year to decide, from the hundreds of suggestions from the public, which should be shortlisted, and months are spent researching each person’s eminence and genuine association with the property in question, in order to whittle the shortlist down to about ten a year. There’s no law against any of putting up a blue plaque wherever you like, as long as the owner of the property agrees and it’s not against planning regulations.

Various other "blue plaque" schemes generally copy the English Heritage format with white lettering on a blue ground, although some of those in Chester have a white portion at the top.

There is some other "informative" signage in Chester, These sometime feature hilarious errors - the "best" example being that at Parker's Buildings which swaps around the images of Parker and Douglas.

"Blue Plaques" in Chester
This gallery is still incomplete

Sources and links

 * List on Wikipedia;
 * Generator for fake ones;