Sir – I hope that included with the reconstruction of the Westgate Centre is the preservation of the plaque to the medieval scientist Roger Bacon,who died in 1292.

The plaque, in Old Greyfriars Street, is written in both Latin and English, saying that he died in a house near to this spot. From the style of writing,it looks like late 18th or early 19th century in origin. Bacon is said to have had an astronomical observatory in the Folly, a tower on the south side of Folly Bridge, hence its name.

The plaque is a small, but nonetheless historically valuable remnant of Oxford’s past, and should be preserved.

S.Wyatt
Oxford