Research shows which UK city has the most blue plaques

You may have noticed that around cities in the UK, there are blue plaques that commemorate certain figures and buildings that are related to the city. According to English Heritage, blue plaques are a form of historical marker that commemorate notable individuals and events associated with specific buildings or locations in the city. 

With almost one thousand of these memorial plaques erected throughout the city according to English Heritage, Brunel Engraving were curious as to how many plaques are based nationally around the UK.

London comes out with the most blue plaques nationally!

The table put together by Brunel Engraving shows the top 20 cities where plaques are located. London comes out on top, with 3376 plaques, and Edinburgh comes in second place, with 379 blue plaques. The number of plaques reduces gradually from here, with Sheffield taking 20th place with only 87 blue plaques.

As you can see in the research, there is quite a significant difference from the capital of the UK, to another large UK city. This research does show the need for blue plaques to be evenly distributed across the UK, because notable individuals and events associated with specific buildings/locations in the city are being missed out.

3 out of 5 of the top cities’ blue plaques are in the South

The data all shows that 3 of the 5 top cities’ blue plaques are in the South. Brunel Engraving in their research put together a visual table that shows where they visually are in the UK, and the distribution of blue plaques distributed in the north thins out as time goes on. With Edinburgh making second place for the number of blue plaques, it could be sensible to introduce blue plaques to other Scottish cities like Glasgow. 

There are also many other applications for plaques, including memorial plaques.