Oxford Inscriptions: Roger Bacon, Westgate Centre
ROGERUS BACON |
The Great Philosopher |
This tablet to Roger Bacon (c.1219/20–c.1292), with an inscription in Latin followed by an English translation, was installed in 1917 on the city wall at King's Terrace in St Ebbe's. It was unveiled by the Mayor Sir Robert Buckell, as shown in this photograph by Henry Taunt (Historic England HT12337):
There are three other Historic England photographs dating from 1917 of the plaque and the ceremony: HT12555, CC57/00642, and CC72/00722.
In about 1976 when most of St Ebbe's was demolished the plaque was moved to the outside wall of the old Westgate Centre, on the north side of Old Greyfriars Street.
It was then moved again to the new Westgate Centre which opened on 24 October 2017. It is near the newly formed Old Greyfriars Place, which faces Turn Again Lane, and can be seen on the right in the photograph below.
A nearby lane is also named after Bacon (see sign, right)
Left: statue of Roger Bacon carrying an armillary sphere in the Oxford University Museum of Natural Science
Below: David Batchelor's sculpture of this sphere, entitled “Homage to Doctor Mirabilis”, can be seen in the Westgate Centre
Wikipedia: Roger Bacon