THE LEGENDS WHO LIVED HERE
Quietly enriching the lives of passers-by for 150 years, we take a look at some of the plaques along the Great West Way linking the people of the past with the buildings of the present Words: Gareth Herincx
Pictured Freddie Mercury blue plaque with Brian May ©English Heritage
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HE IDEA OF ERECTING “memorial tablets” was first proposed by William Ewart MP in the House of Commons in 1863 to mark the homes and workplaces of famous people. The first person honoured was poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) in 1867 with a blue plaque commemorating his birthplace at 24 Holles Street, Cavendish Square, London. There are now more than 900 plaques across London, plus hundreds of others across the UK, though they are not always round and blue or sanctioned by English Heritage. Follow the Great West Way from London to Bristol and you’ll find a fascinating cross section of society reflected in the plaques. A tour of them all would provide enough material for a book, so here we’ve chosen a combination of significant and quirky examples - from a Hollywood legend
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GreatWestWay.co.uk
to the world’s most famous dog. Our journey into the past takes us out of the central London hotspot for plaques (where some properties have two each) to 40 Sandycombe Road, Twickenham - a house designed by artist J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). He’s thought to have lived there with his father between 1812 and 1826. Back then it was surrounded by countryside, now it’s hemmed in on all sides by London suburbia. West of Twickenham in the London Borough of Hounslow you’ll find the town of Feltham. It’s here at 22 Gladstone Avenue, TW14, that 17-year-old Freddie Mercury (19461991) settled with his parents after emigrating from Zanzibar in 1964. The Queen frontman was living in the modest semidetached home when he met two other members of the
