The Hitcham and Taplow Society objects to this application.
This car park sign is completely unnecessary – access to the car park is perfectly clear without it. The sign adds to roadside clutter – in contrast to the view shown in the accompanying English Heritage document.
The signage is out of keeping with its historical setting opposite Cliveden.
We also point out that the applicants do not have permission for the current main sign board for the Feathers. The English Heritage picture clearly shows the correct Prince of Wales Feathers and consent for a sign of this style was explicitly granted under 11/01246/LBC, whereas the applicants have replaced this with some modernist concoction again quite out of character. They should be required to revert to the approved sign or submit another application for change. The historical context for “Prince of Wales Feathers” is particularly strong for this particular inn.
By 1780, the inn had been renamed The Three Feathers as a nod to the heraldic badge of King George III’s eldest son Frederick, Prince of Wales (who lived at Cliveden 1739/51).
Throughout its evolution, the inn continued to celebrate this royal connection in its name and its sign as it was partially rebuilt and extended to be noted in 1847 as The Prince of Wales Feathers and since before 1851 as simply The Feathers.
Thus the image of the Prince of Wales' feathers has been embedded for perhaps 240 years in the history of not only the inn but also of Cliveden and of Taplow.
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RogerWorthington - 08 Mar 2016
