The first board - in the Walter Bagehot Town Garden
The first interpretation board commemorating the life of Walter Bagehot was unveiled on 25 March 2013 in the newly-renamed Walter Bagehot Town Garden.
The Fund’s proposal in 2012 for the renaming of the Town Garden was accepted by the Langport Town Trust, and the Fund commissioned the Interpretation Board from a local professional designer, Belinda Magee. A range of national and international bodies, including University College London, The Royal Mint, The House of Lords and the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Virginia, generously supported the production of the Board by allowing the use of their images.
The impressive board is 2.4 metres long and pays tribute to Bagehot as a Langport man and as an international figure. It was unveiled by representatives of The Economist, which has a distinguished record of supporting Bagehot’s memory in Langport. Bill Emmott, a former editor of The Economist, and John Aram, former Economist writer, held the ends of the ribbon, which was cut by Helen Mann, The Economist’s archivist.
The second board - in All Saints' churchyard
The second interpretation board was officially unveiled in All Saints’ Churchyard by Cllr Sean Dromgoole, Chair of Langport Town Council, on 3 February 2024, which is Walter Bagehot’s birthday.
Holding the ribbon are Sheila and Colin Edwards, History Society Trustees. Cllr Dromgoole is about to cut the ribbon to declare the Board officially unveiled.
The board focuses on the two prominent Langport families of Bagehot and Stuckey linked by marriage and by commerce, as well as the various connections between the families and Langport’s Church.
Janet Seaton, Chair of the Society, welcomed History Society members and invited guests to the unveiling and handed over to Barry Winetrobe, who outlined why Walter Bagehot deserves to be remembered and the steps that have been taken to commemorate his life and work.
Before cutting the ribbon to officially unveil the board, Cllr Dromgoole spoke about the little-known side of Bagehot as an ardent lover. He quoted from one of Bagehot’s love letters to his then fiancée, Eliza Wilson, who was in Edinburgh having some rather unorthodox treatment for her headaches involving head-rubbing. “Why not be rubbed in Somersetshire?”, he asked. Why indeed.
The third board - on the Great Bow Wharf warehouse
The Langport and District History Society unveiled the third and final in its series of interpretation boards commemorating Langport’s most famous citizen, Walter Bagehot (1826-1877) on Saturday 18 October 2025. It was installed at the iconic Great Bow Wharf warehouse by the River Parrett and Great Bow Bridge, the site that symbolises Langport’s mercantile history, and the vital river trade which was dominated for many decades by the Bagehot and Stuckey families. The fine illustrated interpretation board was unveiled by Philip Snowden, Chair of the Warehouse Trust, which runs Great Bow Wharf.
The Board is entitled Great Bow Wharf – Langport’s Commercial Hub, and it explains the historic significance of the warehouse and Wharf site in general; the Stuckey & Bagehot trading company; the Parrett Navigation Company; the river trade in general and how the important and influential Stuckey’s Bank grew out of it. It also charts the decline and recent rebirth of the site, with the ambitious redevelopment in the early 2000s, which encompassed the adjoining award-winning eco-homes.
Janet Seaton, Chair of the Society, welcomed History Society members and the invited guests and thanked the Warehouse Trust for their support for the project. She announced that the first board in the series, in the Walter Bagehot Town Garden, would be replaced by a new board to the same design, but including an updated map showing the location of all three Bagehot Boards. This would be complemented by a new trail leaflet showing the boards and other sites around Langport of significance to Walter Bagehot. The Society intends to have these in place in time to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Bagehot’s birth on 3 February 2026.
Before cutting the ribbon to unveil the board, Philip Snowden congratulated the History Society on achieving the installation of the board, and praised it as a fitting addition to the building.
After the short ceremony, everyone repaired to the Stuckey Room inside Great Bow Wharf to enjoy some refreshment, generously provided by the Warehouse Trust.
