Commemorative plaque in Purbeck stone with colour, 2009
This simple plaque was made for the bicentenary of Thomas Paine’s death and hangs on my family house in Beehive Yard, Diss, close to the site where he worked as a stay-maker in the 1760s.
Paine became a writer and political pamphleteer whose ‘Common Sense’ pamphlet and ‘Crisis’ papers were important influences on the American Revolution. Other works that contributed to his reputation as one of the greatest political propagandists in history were Rights of Man (mistakenly carved as The Rights of Man), a defense of the French Revolution and republican principles, and The Age of Reason, an exposition of the place of religion in society.
Not as well known in England as he should be, Tom Paine is celebrated in the USA for his positive influence on American independence.
