Veterinarian and author James Alfred Wight, better known by his pen name James Herriot, has been commemorated with a blue plaque at his former residence in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. The plaque was installed on the exterior wall of the house, named Rowardennan, which served as Wight’s family home for 25 years beginning in 1953.

Wight gained widespread recognition for his semi-autobiographical series of memoirs, All Creatures Great and Small, published in the 1970s. The eight-book collection chronicling his experiences as a rural veterinarian became a bestseller and inspired a BBC television adaptation, which aired from 1978 to 1990. A revival of the series was launched in 2020, a quarter-century after Wight’s death in 1995.

Rosie Page, one of Wight’s children who grew up in the Thirsk residence along with her brother Jim, described the installation of the plaque as a meaningful tribute. She noted that her father would have turned 110 years old on October 3, marking a symbolic milestone near the date of the plaque’s unveiling. Page recalled the house as a central backdrop to much of her childhood.

The blue plaque serves to honour Wight’s contributions both as a veterinarian and an author who brought rural veterinary practice to a broad audience through his writing and its subsequent adaptations. It also highlights his lasting connection to the town of Thirsk, where much of his fictionalised work was based.