Blue Plaque installed to remember London’s Romany and Traveller heritage

A blue plaque has been unveiled in South London to remember the area’s gypsy and traveller community’s heritage. 

The plaque has been installed at Wardley Street in Wandsworth, South London. Wardley Street can be found alongside the River Wandle Valley, where nomadic people were known to settle in the 19^th century, with a great many of them eventually forming a community of travellers and Romany families. Wardley Street was largely demolished in the 1950s, with many of the travellers who called the area home moving to a more permanent site nearby.

According to Travellers Times, Wardley Street is the spiritual home for people of Traveller heritage. The Blue Plaque is part of an oral history project being hosted in the area by local historians called the People of Wardley Street which aims to keep the stories of the community alive. The campaign groups, London Gypsies and Travellers and the Surrey Gypsy and Traveller Forum, as well as the Traveller Times, attended the unveiling.