Dandara, which is building luxury development 1887 The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells, was left red-faced after residents noticed an inscription chiselled into a set of steps leading to the project was wrong.
The Francis Bacon quotation – which is from the philosopher’s 1605 thesis The Advancement of Learning – is understood to have been selected because of spa town’s historical connection to water.
The quotation should have read: The knowledge of man is as the waters, some descending from above, and some springing from beneath: the one informed by the light of nature, the other inspired by divine revelation.
However, a number of learned residents spotted that the developer had mistakenly used ‘ascending’ in place of ‘descending’.
One Twitter user commented: “Looks like we can bend physics, but can’t copy a quote correctly.”
A spokesperson for Dandara acknowledged the error, telling the Times: “It was noticed straight away and has been addressed. The replacement stone had a lead time of 10 weeks but will be fitted as soon as they receive it.”
