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Penarth Town Heritage Trail Project

BLUE PLAQUES

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Penarth Town has a lot of famous people & landmarks/buildings associated with it, but not that many Blue Plaques in recognition of them. In fact it only has one blue plaque, as well as two non-blue plaques recognising certain well-known Penarthians (one of which is on the wrong house!)

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Part of Phase one of the project is to increase this number. A key criteria of this however is that while there are a number of notable and recognisable people who could be honoured by one, there are also a number of 'ordinary' people who could perhaps also be included.

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Examples include Dockers, Midwives, Coal Trimmers and more. With so many unrecognised people helping to make the town what it has become, we'd like to show them some appreciation too.

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Left: Our current draft design of what a blue plaque could look like

Right: The only blue plaque in Penarth

The criteria for being included in the

Blue Plaque list is:

They must:

  1. be Dead

  2. be Interesting

  3. have lived or worked in the town at a site that still exists (so we an mount the plaque)

LOCATIONS MAP

PROPOSED RECIPIENTS

The following is a list of potential candidates for Blue Plaques. Where a name is not given we are seeking someone of that profession that could be included. Other notable candidates from other professions may also be considered. The goal here is to not only highlight the most well known individuals, but also those who also hade a good influence over the town.

Ladies

  1. Annie Davies - Housemaid, killed on level crossing on Windsor Place

  2. Barbara Middlehurst - Astronomer

  3. Catherine Meazey - Benefactor

  4. Constance Maillard - Benefactor, first female leader of PUDC

  5. Edith Parnell - Swimmer

  6. Elizabeth Sheppard-Jones - Writer of children's books

  7. Emily Pickford - Musician

  8. Emily Rose Bleaby - First woman to be elected in Penarth, Poor Law Guardian

  9. Frances "Ma" Chaney - Colourful Character and "Bookmaker"

  10. Gladys Morel-Gibbs - Benefactor

  11. Hettie Millicent Mackenzie - Suffragette

  12. Johanna Scott - Colourful Character

  13. Kathleen Thomas - Swimmer, first to cross Channel

  14. Mary Glynne - Actor

  15. Mary Morgan - Benefactor, Financed Arcot Methodist church

  16. Rosemary (Ray) Howard-Jones - Artist

  17. A Seamstress

  18. A Shop Owner

  19. A Laundry Woman

  20. A Midwife

  21. A Boarding House Keeper

Gentlemen

  1. C.E. Bernard - Town Planner

  2. Dicky Garret - First Penarthian to play rugby for Wales

  3. Edward 'Ted' Vizard - Footballer and Wales International

  4. Frank Roper - Sculptor

  5. George Norris - Politician

  6. Henry Snell - Architect

  7. Jack Bassett - Wales rugby Captain and British Lion

  8. Jack Vincent - Penarth's last Hobbler

  9. John Coates - Carter-Architect

  10. John Cory - Shipowner

  11. Joseph Parry - Composer

  12. Marc Brunel - Engineer

  13. Patsy O'Brien - Coal Trimmer

  14. Peter Freeman - Maverick MP

  15. Ray Milland - Actor

  16. Cptn. Richard William Leslie Wain - Victoria Cross

  17. Samuel Arthur ‘SA’ Brain - Brewer

  18. Sgt. Samuel George Pearse - Victoria Cross

  19. Solomon Andrews - Entrepreneur

  20. Tommy "Dodd" Wallace - Stonemason and Salvationist

  21. William Sadler - Publican

  22. Another dock worker - and xx other people lived here in 18xx

  23. Other names? - (suggestions welcome)

The above displayed lists do not currently include where we would like to display each plaque as we will not disclose it at this time. This aspect requires us not only consider how they would be displayed where applicable but also negotiate consent with the current owners of each location.

 

Full information about each of these individuals will be made available as the project progresses. You can find some information about some of them already on our website here.

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Submitting Suggested Candidates

Names & Information about other suitable candidates can be submitted to us using the email address below. We will not only need their name & profession of the individual but also a brief history for why they are a suitable candidate as well as the name of an location they are prominently associated with (including both public & private, commercial and residential) upon which a plaque could be mounted. Dates associated with them such as date of birth & death and dates they used the said location also required.

(You do not need to seek permission from the proposed location at this time as this would be something we would do though a formal approach.)

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J Saunders Lewis & Guy Gibson

Penarth's only existing Blue Plaque (J Saunders) is not part of this project, though we will look to include where applicable.

Guy Gibson is not currently included in the above nominations due to the [non-blue] plaque on No. 2 Archer Road (though it is Incorrectly placed as it should be No. 21 - Whether we will look to amend this error is TBD)

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Site-less Nominees and Virtual Plaques

What about potential nominees who don't have an associated location?

It has not been decided yet as to whether to do 'online only' (virtual) plaques for people who could be nominated but do not have an associated building we can place a plaque on (either because the original building no-longer exists or where they worked was not a suitable site. This may be considered for phase 2 / 3, We are happy to still take nominations.

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Future Nominations

At present we are not looking at or considering 'modern' individuals who could be nominated (now or in the future) and additional plaques will not be included in our initial funding bid & budgeting. This will have to be something we can look at after phase 3.

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