Commemorative Plaques
Subjects
Below is a list of Bedford's commemorative plaques; including over 80 blue and other plaques, viewed from the street, all within easy walking distance of the town centre.
Plaque erection dates are given in square brackets, where known.
The list is correct as of June 2023.
Thank you to local historian Stuart Antrobus who compiled the list.
- Abrahams, Harold (Athlete) - 30 Rutland Road [2012]
- Adkin, Henry (Businessman) - 57 High Street. Joint plaque with John Usher [2019]
- Allen, William Henry (Engineer) - Hurst Grove, adjacent to Henley Road (site of the former W H Allen's Queen's Engineering Factory) [1927]
- Barker, Ronnie (Entertainer) - 70 Garfield Street [1995]
- Barltrop, Mabel (Panacea Society Leader) - 12 Albany Road [2017]
- BBC Radio WW2 broadcast control room & studios – Bunyan Meeting, Castle Lane [2023]. See also Corn Exchange
- BBC (WW2) Staff Club - 52 De Parys Avenue [2017]
- Bedford Park (West Gate) - Park Avenue (Opposite north end of De Parys Avenue [1888] (2 plaques)
- Bedford Training College for Teachers (Site of) - Tavistock Street (corner of The Crescent) [1982]
- BRIDGES - See separate entries for Butterfly Bridge, County Bridge, Longholme Bridge, Royal Engineers Bridge, Suspension Bridge and Town Bridge
- Britannia Iron Works (Agricultural machinery engineering factory) - Kempston Road (opposite Britannia Road). Joint plaque with Howard brothers, James & Frederick [2023]
- Buckingham VC, William (Soldier)- St John's Street [2016]
- Bunyan, John (Preacher and religious writer) - Outdoor baptism site, Duckmill Weir, Chethams off Cardington Road [Replaced 2016]
- Bunyan, John - 17 St Cuthbert's Street
- Bunyan, John - Town Bridge, corner with Embankment (Discredited text) [1937?]
- Bunyan John - 34 St John's Street (St John Ambulance HQ). Joint plaque with John Gifford [?]
- Burnaby, Frederick Gustavus [Colonel] (Soldier, Balloonist, Adventurer & Author) - Bedford School (Junior School), St Peter's Green [2018]
- Butterfly Bridge - Between the Embankment and meadow by Longholme Boating Lake [1998]
- Carrington, Dora (Artist) - 40 De Parys Avenue [2017]
- Carter, (Wilfred) George (Aeronautical Engineer) - 101 Tavistock Street [2019]
- Cherry-Garrard, Apsley (Polar Explorer) - 15 Lansdowne Road [2010]
- Church Arcade (West Arcade) - Harpur Street Entrance transparent canopy bearing the names of Bedford sportswomen and men: Harold Abrahams, Martin Bayfield, Stephanie Cook, Gail Emms, Tim Foster, Geoffrey Millman, Derek 'Budge' Rogers, Matt Skelton [2009 refurbished]
- Corn Exchange - Front facade St Paul's Square, opposite St Paul's Church [1872 Foundation stone] [1874 Opening]
- Corn Exchange - Front facade, (north side of St Paul's Square): BBC Music Day plaque noting the BBC wartime radio broadcasts from Bedford 1941 - 1945 [2017]
- County Bridge - Prebend Street [1884/1992] (2 plaques)
- County Gaol (pre 1801 gaol where Bunyan was imprisoned) - Pavement slab on Silver Street at High Street end, to the right of the 2 Faces sculpture
- Dann, Thomas (Cemetery Superintendent/Registrar) - Gatehouse, Foster Hill Road Cemetery. Joint plaque with Albert Prosser [2022]
- Eagles, Sister Fanny Elizabeth (Church of England Deaconess) - 9 Bromham Road. Gable end of the former chapel, viewed from the Crescent. [2019]
- Fire Station - Mill Street, opposite Bunyan Meeting Hall [1888]
- Flood High Water Mark - Former Phoenix Pub, St John's Street [1824?]
- Gifford, John (Protestant Minister) - 34 St John's Street (St John Ambulance HQ). Joint plaque with John Bunyan
- Granada Cinema - St Peter's Street [1996]
- Hale White, William (Author) - 3 High Street (inscribed circular slate plaque). Pen name 'Mark Rutherford' [1931]
- Hale White, William (Author) - 3 High Street (brown rectangular plaque). Pen name 'Mark Rutherford' [2009]
- Harpur, William, Sir (Benefactor) - 1st Floor niche above entrance to former Grammar School, St Paul's Square. West [1767]
- Harpur Centre Entrance (Royal Visit and WW1 Victory Tower) - Harpur Square entrance to Harpur Shopping Centre (former Bedford Modern School) [1919]
- Harpur Square (Re-opening) - Facade of 1830 Harpur Trust School becoming Harpur Shopping Centre in 1975, opposite the library [1976]
- Hawkins, Hester Piriam (Astronomer and Hymn Writer) - 18 Linden Road. Joint plaque with husband Joshua Hawkins. [2019]
- Hawkins, Joshua (Businessman and 5 times Mayor of Bedford) - 18 Linden Road. Joint plaque with wife Hester Piriam Hawkins. [2019]
- Howard, James & Frederick (engineers) - Britannia Iron Works Gatehouse, Kempston Road, Bedford (opposite Britannia Road). Joint plaque recording the site of the agricultural engineering works [2022]
- Howard, John (Prison reformer) - 55 Mill Street, adjacent to Bunyan Meeting churchyard and museum [?]
- Howard, John (Industrialist & Mayor)) - 35 High Street (former ironmonger's shop and manufactory), now Wilko's store [2009]
- Howard Chapel Sunday School - Castle Lane, to rear of former Howard Independent Chapel, Mill Street [1878]
- Huddleston, Trevor (Archbishop and anti-Apartheid campaigner) - 44 Chaucer Road (Originally no. 36) [2015]
- Inter-Service Special Intelligence School (WW2) – 1 Albany Road [2023]
- Jackson, Thomas Jobson (Architect, Artist & Athlete) - Gatehouse, Foster Hill Road Cemetery [2022]
- Jenkins, Roy [Lord] (1920-2003) (Politician, Statesman) - 8 Cornwall Road [2020]
- Japanese Language School. (First WW2 venue for code-breakers courses) - Ardor House, 2 The Broadway, above current jewellers shop [2023]
- Japanese Language School (Secret WW2 code training for Bletchley Park) - 52 De Parys Avenue. Joint plaque with BBC Staff Club. [2017] (See also Inter-Service Special Intelligence School)
- Le Mesurier, John (Actor) - 34 Chaucer Road (originally no. 26) [2015]
- Lester, Thomas (Lace Merchant) - Holly Lodge, 43 The Grove. Joint plaque with John Usher [2017]
- Longholme Bridge - Longholme Way. Two commemorative plaques erected 28 March 1974 and 15 July 1996
- Mackintosh, Aeneas (Polar explorer) - 43 Beverley Crescent [2014]
- Marconi, Gugliemo - 42 Harpur Street [2014]
- Marconi, Gugliemo - 79 Bromham Road [2014]
- Mason, Dora [Dr] (pioneering doctor, medical officer of health, suffragist & soroptimist) - 'West House', 5 Linden Road [2022]
- Officers Key Club (WW2 social club) - 84a High Street (above door next to Poppins cafe) [2020]
- Owen's Boys School, London (Evacuee school site 1939 - 1945) - To right of the entrance to the Harpur Shopping Centre, Harpur Square [2009]
- Palgrave, Charles (Mayor) - 19-21 High Street (former chemist's shop and home) on the Castle Lane corner of the current Blue Monk restaurant premises. [2009]
- Palgrave, Robert (architect) [See above entry Charles Palgrave. Joint plaque] - 19-21 High Street [2009]
- Philpotts, Bertha, Dame - Horne Lane entrance to Riverside Square [2017]
- Priory Terrace (Restoration) - Corner of Hassett Road and Bromham Road, re numbers 22-48 Bromham Road [1975]
- Prosser, Albert (Architect) - Gatehouse, Foster Hill Road Cemetery. Joint plaque with Thomas Dann [2022]
- River Great Ouse navigation lock - Mill Meadows. [1978]
- Rose Inn (former coaching inn, tavern & hostelry) - 45 High Street (eastern side) on the corner of the present Rose public house. [Plaque erection date unknown]
- Royal Engineers Bridge - Footbridge between Mill Meadows and lane leading to Cardington Road [1934]
- Royal & Victory Clock – large marble wall plaque, just inside to the right of the Clock Tower of former Bedford Modern School (now entrance to Harpur Shopping Centre), occupied by a flower shop. See 'Harpur Centre Entrance' [1919]
- Smyth, William (Admiral and Astronomer) - 6 The Crescent [2017]
- St Mary's Gardens (Enlarged) - Between Town Bridge and footbridge to Riverside North Development [2017]
- St Paul's Methodist Church (Site of chapel and Sunday school) - By exit from Bedford Central Library, Harpur Square [1972]
- St Paul's Square (Various sites) - four rectangular brown wall plaques (see below) along the south side of the Square are complemented by ground floor pavement 'location' slabs around the square (not listed here).
- No. 1 St Paul's Square - an historic domestic building, on the corner of the south side of St Paul's Square with the adjacent empty space next to the town bridge and opposite the former Turnley drinking fountain. [2009]
- No. 4 St Paul's Square - an historic domestic building, to the right of No. 1, on the south side of St Paul's Square (across the road from the graveyard).
- Shire Hall - right-hand corner of the front facade of the French Gothic red brick building on the south side of St Paul's Square (across the road from St Paul's Church). [2009]
- Shire Hall Extension - on the front facade of the Arts & Craft-inspired building to the left of the red brick Shire Hall. [2009]
- Stannard, Henry John Sylvester (artist) - 68 Spenser Road [2018]
- Stannard, Theresa (artist) - 64 Spenser Road [2018]
- Stansfeld, Margaret (Educationalist) - 37 Lansdowne Road & Plantation Garden memorial stone [2011 & 2018]
- Stott, Etienne (Olympic champion canoeist) - Golden post box plaque in South-West corner of St Paul's Square [2012]
- Stott, Etienne MBE (slalom canoeist) - display board plaque at The Etienne Stott White Water Arena, Duckmill Weir, Mill Meadows [Joint Gold Medal Champion in 2012 London Olympics in Men's Canoe Double C2 event (with Tim Baillie)]. Erected September 2012
- Suspension Bridge - Footbridge between Embankment and Mill Meadows recorded by 2 small circular plaques at each end [1888/1984]
- Swan Hotel - on the right-hand corner of the Georgian facade of the hotel on the corner of the High Street (town bridge end) and the Embankment. [2009]
- Town Bridge (West Side) - On the left walking from St Mary's Street to the High Street in a Northerly direction. [1813]
- Town Bridge (East Side) - On the right walking from St Mary's Street to the High Street in a Northerly direction. [1835]
- Town Bridge - High Street end opposite The Swan Hotel [1940]
- The Turnley Drinking Fountain - St Paul's Square, outside the South-East corner of the churchyard [1883]
- Usher, John (Architect) - Holly Lodge, 43 The Grove. Joint plaque with Thomas Lester [2017]
- Usher, John (Architect) - 57 High Street. Joint plaque with Henry Adkins [2019]
- Walmsley, Amy (Educationalist) - 14 The Crescent. (See also Bedford Training College for Teachers) [2019]
- Western, Kenneth Alfred (Music Hall and Radio Star) - 57 De Parys Avenue [2019]
Page last updated: 23rd August 2023