This is Bagnigge House Neare the Pinder A Wakefeilde 1680
Bagnigge Wells, House and Gardens were pleasure gardens that once stood near to this site, having opened to the public in 1757. The plaque which formerly adorned the much older Bagnigge House - Nell Gwynne was a former resident - was retained when the current building was erected c1860. The enthusiastic reception to an article in The Builder magazine in which editor George Godwin praised its preservation, and to his subsequent article proposing that such tablets should be used to mark the homes of celebrated residents, would lead indirectly to William Ewart's private members bill of 1863 proposing a scheme to do just that, which would ultimately lead to the founding, by the Society of Arts (of which Godwin was a fellow), of a London plaque scheme in 1866 - a scheme which exists to this day as the London-wide plaque scheme administered by English Heritage. See the A London Inheritance blog for an in-depth history of Bagnigge Wells, House and Gardens. Another excellent article can be found at Vic Keegan's onlondon.co.uk. The latter records that The Pindar of Wakefield pub was almost next door to Bagnigge, and reveals that the late London historian Peter Jackson claimed the the plaque was London’s oldest advert.
61-63 King’s Cross Road, London
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in 1860
Colour: stone
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