J.M.W. Turner - Blue Plaque at The White Horse
I have sometimes wondered what happened to the blue plaque that used to be on the wall outside The White Horse in Market Place, Brentford. I contacted English Heritage about the Turner plaque and this is their reply:"I’ve looked out our file on Turner, he does have a blue plaque at 40 Sandycoombe Road (Sandycombe Lodge), Twickenham, installed under our scheme in 1977. The one you mention in Brentford was not an official one, the Weir put it up privately – and were asked to take it down as they should not have used our name and logo on the inscription. Nothing to stop them from replacing it with a new one, as long as it did not use the English Heritage name and logo and they were advised to contact the Turner Society for advice, and possible support. The file note in 2006 confirms that it had indeed been taken down – however presumably the Weir decided not to replace."English Heritage's rules dictate that any individual can only have one official blue plaque.This pub, for some reason, is now called The Weir. Why do so many owners find it necessary to change the historical names of pubs? The White Horse is probably the oldest surviving pub in Brentford and it is mentioned in a burial register of 1603. I agree with this statement from a spokesman for The Brewers' and Licensed Retailers' Association:"You don't change a pub name lightly unless you're an idiot - and there are some idiots who have done silly things,"
Jim Storrar ● 2995d3 Comments