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 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. Even where there are errors the signage is a useful and often very effective way of communicating aspects of the history of a locale as opposed to other methods such as leaflets or websites. In many ways they are a natural successor to the "coats of arms" which adorn many buildings in Chester. Compared with other cities Chester probably has significantly more "signage" than many. The city also has a "Wayfinding and Signage Strategy" based on two main themes: "Chester and the River Dee" and "Same space, different place".

"Blue Plaques" in Chester
A series of cast metal blue plaques are located around the city. Many of these concentrate of building rather than on people and events.

Miscellaneous Signs (some of which are wrong)
As noted above there is some "history" signage in Chester other than blue plaques. Unfortunately, such signage needs to be quite robust as it is sometime vandalised. Such signage of of considerable benefit to both residents and visitors although little may be added in the near future given the possible use of GPS-related software on mobile devices. However, signage itself may become a "historic" artifact, sometimes preserving a view of the past which has changed. Sometimes, mistakes made in the signage may become curiousities in themseleves. One extensive series of markers ate those used by the Millennium festival trail along which each site is celebrated with its own unique "way-marker", created by artist Michael Johnson..

Related Pages

 * Historiography: why some signs are wrong;
 * Millennium festival trail: 40 markers around Chester;

Online

 * List on Wikipedia;
 * Generator for fake ones;
 * Chester wayfinding and signage strategy;