Mark Lloyd will be putting Chipping Sodbury’s heritage on the map when he talks at a national two-day conference hosted by English Heritage on commemorative plaques, the first of its kind, being held at the Royal Institute of British Architects, London on February 18-19 2010.
The outcomes of the conference – and the suggestions of conference attendees such as Mr Lloyd – will feed directly into a comprehensive guidance document, produced by English Heritage, covering all aspects of plaques work from funding and research to manufacture and unveilings.
Mr Lloyd, who runs the Rounceval House Hotel, has recently secured Heritage Lottery Funding in conjunction with the Chipping Sodbury Rotary Club to the tune of £10,000 towards a plaque scheme, which will highlight important buildings in the town and bring their history and past residents to life.
Now he will share the knowledge he has acquired over the past two years in setting up and obtaining funding for the Chipping Sodbury scheme with others embarking on a similar quest. Over 100 delegates will hear him give a beginners’ guide to setting up a commemorative plaques scheme at the conference organised by English Heritage, which runs London’s Blue Plaques scheme, founded in 1866. The conference, Celebrating People and Place, highlights the role of plaques throughout the country in connecting past and present and in marking buildings with historical associations, helping to preserve them for the future.
Mr Lloyd’s interest in setting up a scheme was fired by the unusual name of his hotel, built in 1670 and the street it stands in – it was thought the word Rounceval described the prostitutes who once plied their trade in the area, however, careful research has revealed that the street is actually named after the town of Roncesvalles in the Spanish Pyrenees.
“There is a lot involved in setting up a plaques scheme and it has been a frustrating process – a guidance document along the lines proposed by English Heritage would have saved me a lot of time and effort.” said Mr Lloyd.
Having secured funding, a committee is now deciding which properties in Chipping Sodbury will get the town’s first commemorative plaques.
As well as hearing from Mr Lloyd, the conference also includes talks from representatives of local authorities, civic societies and other organisations involved in running schemes in Manchester, Bath, Coventry, Newcastle, Brighton, London, Liverpool, Leeds and Norwich. Experiences will be shared in discussion sessions and workshops which will cover practical topics ranging from plaque design and inscription, selection criteria and historical research, to the gaining of consents and the promotion of plaques and plaque schemes.
For more information or to book, call 01273 882112 or click below.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/plaqu...
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