Budleigh Salterton Poplar Cottage getting a blue plaque

Planning permission to install the plaque was submitted to East Devon District Council (EDDC) earlier this month. Plans have now been approved and work will start soon. It will be installed to the right of the front door.

Mr Warington was born at Poplar Cottage and grew up there. The plaque came about after research carried out by local historians for the Otter Valley Associaton that Robert Warington (1807 – 1867), a renowned early Chemist lived and died in Budleigh.

 Warington was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1864. He was the founder of the Chemical Society, which later became the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was the discoverer of the ‘Aquarium Principle’. This is the principle that plants added to water in a container would give off enough oxygen to support animals.

There are already a number of plaques on buildings in Budleigh Salterton: Octagon, 29 Fore Street. This details that John Evere Millais stayed at the Octagon in 1870, whilst painting the famous picture: ‘Boyhood of Raleigh’.

There is also a blue plaque on the gate post of the Lion House, Fore Street Hill, which was once the residence of the painter Joyce Dennys (1893 – 1991) in her later years. The installation of the blue plaque will be to the right of the front door, so that it is visible from the road.

Poplar Cottage was listed at grade II in 1983. The application states: "The installation of a blue plaque will provide increased historical interest in the property and should not detract from or cause harm to the front facade. There is already precedent for installing plaques on listed buildings within the conserva1on area in Budleigh Salterton. It is hoped that the work will enhance and add to the heritage of the town."

The sign will read 'Budleigh Past and Present, Robert Warington FRS 1807-1867. Founder of the Chemical Society of London, later to become the Royal Society of Chemistry and discoverer of the 'aquarium principle' lived here.