Lost English Heritage plaques

We were surprised today to hear that one of the 50 commemorative plaques in London which English Heritage believes to have been lost through demolition is that for William Hogarth. They say that most date from the time when the London County Council ran the scheme and that the plaques are likely to carry their name or the initials LCC.

Where did they look for the missing plaques? They did not look at Middlesex County Council plaques (also in today’s London) – this local authority certainly placed one on Hogarth’s House on the north wall facing the A4 (and there is even an unused spare one in store in the House!) Probably installed after bomb damage was repaired and the re-opening of the House in 1951.

It later appeared that English Heritage was only looking for London County Council plaques so and a little research by the editor of  ChiswickW4.com revealed that the missing item was thought to have originally been situated in a corner of Leicester Square. It reads, “William Hogarth. Artist. 1697 – 1764. Sergeant Painter to King George III lived on the east side of this square.”

A plaque to William Hogarth was reported by The Londonist in 2013 to be stored in the Vanguard storage warehouse off the A40 in Greenford. It is believed to have been removed during construction work in the eighties. Mac McCullagh, the founding director of Vanguard collected discarded objects over the 50 years of the company.

We wait the next installment of the story with interest!

Hounslow Licensing Panel: Food Market decision

We are greaty relieved to know that the decision on the Food Market Licence has protected the Hogarth statue!

Our chairman, Val Bott, attended the panel meeting. She not only made our case for respecting the dignity of the statue and avoiding damage from air-borne cooking fat, but also emphasised that the Chiswick street market which died out in the 1920s actually occupied the area between Linden Gardens and Devonshire Road. This is the stretch of car parking which in recent years has been officially renamed Old Market Place, with its own name boards.

The panel has given a further temporary licence lasting 6 months to the operator and defined the area in which it can operate as that between Lindedn Gardens and Devonshire Road.

Now we need to ensure that other market stall are kept out of the railed area round the statue; the vintage market is a particular culprit, cramming cheap gazebos into the tiny space.