Plaque

Foundling pavement plaque

Inscription

The pavement within this line is the property of the Governors of the Foundling Hospital.

We had spotted this unusual plaque in 2015 but put it on the long finger. Then Timothy Evers noticed it in 2021 and prompted us to publish.

The "line" to which it refers may be an imaginary extension of the length of the plaque, marking the boundary of the Foundling Estate.  We've found a number of boundary markers (e.g. Highbury) but they are normally stones laid into walls, not metal plaques laid into pavements.

The UCL Bloomsbury Project has a splendid page on the Foundling Estate: "The Governors of the Hospital had been forced to buy much more land (56 acres in total) than was actually needed for the orphanage itself, and by the late eighteenth century, when the Hospital faced a shortage of funds, residential development of the surplus land became its best financial option." The Project goes on to describe the opposition and the difficulties faced by this development. There is a list of all the streets in the Estate and a graphic showing the approximate location of the estate. We just wish they had a map showing the exact extent of the Estate.

With that map it would be easy to walk the boundary looking for more of these pavement plaques. If any one feels moved to process the list of streets to identify the boundary and then to do the inspection walk, please do report your findings here.

The British Library hold a map showing the land belonging to the Foundling Hospital in 1763.  Heathcote Street is not marked but the land it would occupy is shown fully within the boundary.  This suggests that that parcel of land was sold off before the plaque was laid. Call the map up in Old Maps Online and you can see it overlaid on the current street layout.

Site: Drinking trough and Foundling estate (2 memorials)

WC1, Gray's Inn Road

The Foundling plaque is in Heathcote Street, in our photo it is in the pavement just to the right of the pedestrian (on his left).

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Foundling pavement plaque

Subjects commemorated i

Foundling Hospital

England's first home for abandoned children. Established in 1739 by Captain T...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Foundling pavement plaque

Also at this site i

H. T. W. and M. W. W. drinking trough

H. T. W. and M. W. W. drinking trough

{On the pavement side:} In loving memory of H. T. W. and M. W. W. 1885. {On ...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Mitcham Court

Mitcham Court

CR4, Cricket Green, Mitcham Court

{Next to the crest of Merton Council:} Mitcham Court The centre portion, first known as Elm Court, was built in 1840, the wings later. Ca...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Bethnal Green Housing Association - Queen Margaret Flats

Bethnal Green Housing Association - Queen Margaret Flats

E2, St Jude's Road, Queen Margaret Flats

These were the first flats built by the Bethnal Green and East London Housing Association. Designed by Ian Hamilton, the key architect fo...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
John Lewis and John Spedan Lewis

John Lewis and John Spedan Lewis

NW3, Templewood Avenue, Grange Gardens

John Lewis silk mercer of Oxford Street resided at Spedan Tower, Hampstead from 1888 to 1928 as did his elder son John Spedan Lewis, late...

4 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
King Haakon VII

King Haakon VII

W8, Palace Green, 10

The vertical line down the plaque is not a fault with our camera, but a rope hanging from a flagpole.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Hogarth plaque - gone

Hogarth plaque - gone

W1, Leicester Square

Londonist posted this picture in 2013 and there we learn that Vanguard's founding Director, Mac McCullagh, has collected odd, and sometim...

1 subject commemorated