Marples Hotel: Call for blue plaque at site of World War Two Sheffield Blitz tragedy

But a local historian is concerned that there is now nothing at the site of the former Marples Hotel to explain the tragedy that happened there during the Sheffield Blitz on December 12, 1940.

At that time the site on the corner of Fitzalan Square and High Street, was occupied by an ornate seven story pub, in which some took shelter in the basement during the air raid. But the building took a direct hit, leading the highest death toll seen in Sheffield in a single incident.

Today site is occupied by a Cash Shop pawn brokers, with the site having been re-developed after the war with what was a more modern building that the previous hotel

But local historian Martin Naylor is concerned that there is no blue plaque or information board outside the building to tell people of the tragic history of the site.

He said: “In 1959, when the Marples was rebuilt, a plaque was put up inside the doorway. Whilst doing research for a talk on the history of Central Sheffield, I was surprised to see that there is nothing on the outside of the current building to inform Sheffielders of the history of the site. The plaque inside is no longer there. There is now nothing to prevent this history drifting into obscurity.

“I would like to try and get some sort of blue plaque placed here. But it’s not that easy There appears to be no official blue plaque system in Sheffield, as plans for a scheme for historic buildings was branded as ‘unnecessary’ back in 2011.

“This seems all the more galling considering the scheme in Leeds, where they have some 180 blue plaques throughout the city, commemorating people, events and buildings. All are nominated by the public and are so popular there have been two books published about them. There are city centre blue plaque trails, self guided walking tours and school events to show the children the history and heritage of the city. The whole thing seems to bring the community together.

“In Sheffield, we have one or two plaques dotted around but only commemorating people. Ask anyone in the city where they are and I think few would be able to say. We have a huge amount of history but much of it will be consigned to books or museums.

“All I want to do is try to get some recognition for the Marples building, but the bigger question is, why has Leeds got so much history on display and Sheffield has well – next to nothing?”

Sheffield Council says the official blue plaque scheme is run by English Heritage but only applies to London Other towns and cities do have their own schemes but while some are run by local authorities, the larger cities are run by other organisations – Leeds is run by their Civic Trust, Manchester by their Art Gallery, with the nominator paying for the plaque.