::''This article is about the city of Plymouth in England. See also
Plymouth, Massachusetts or
Plymouth (disambiguation).''
'Plymouth' () is a
city of 243,795 inhabitants (2001 census) in the
south-west of
England, or alternatively the
West Country, and is situated within the
traditional and
ceremonial county of
Devon at the mouths of the rivers
Plym and
Tamar and overlooking one of one of the world's largest and most spectacular
natural harbours,
Plymouth Sound.
The city has a rich maritime past and was once one of the two most important
Royal Navy bases in
the United Kingdom, a factor that made the city a prime target of the
Luftwaffe during the
Second World War. After the destruction of the dockyards and city centre in
the Blitz of 1941, Plymouth was rebuilt under the guidance of architect
Patrick Abercrombie. It is still home to the largest naval base in
Western Europe.
Important locations in the city include
The Royal Citadel,
Devonport Dockyard,Drake Circus Shopping Centre and
The Barbican from where the
Pilgrims finally left for the
New World in 1620.
People born in Plymouth are known as Plymothians or less formally as
Janners. Plymouth's waterfront social services area is one of the poorest and disadvantaged residential areas in north west Europe.
Smeaton's Tower
History
The earliest known settlement in Plymouth dates back to
1000 BC with a small Iron Age trading port located at
Mount Batten in
Plymstock. It is thought that tin was brought here from Dartmoor via the Plym and traded with the ancient
Phoenicians. As part of the
Roman Empire this same port continued to trade tin along with cattle and hides. The small port was later overshadowed by the rise of the fishing village of Sutton, whose name means 'south town'.
At the time of the
Domesday Book (1086) the manor of Sutton was held by the King, but
Henry I granted it to the Valletort family whose local powerbase was at nearby Trematon Castle. The Valletorts in turn granted parts to the Augustinian priory at
Plympton, a larger and older settlement than Plymouth at the head of the
tidal estuary of the
River Plym.
That part of the town owned by Plympton Priory was granted a market charter in 1254, and the whole town and its surrounding area achieved municipal independence in 1439, becoming the first town to be incorporated by
Act of Parliament English Parliament. As the higher parts of the Plym estuary silted up, ships used the port at the Plym's mouth instead of Plympton. And so, the name of the town of Sutton slowly became Plymouth instead, but the name 'Sutton' still resonates in the area, for example in the naming of its old harbour.
In 1403, the town was briefly occupied and burnt by the
French, especially the Bretons. Indeed, the town was often the target of enemies across the channel, especially during the
Hundred Years' War. Plymouth had a castle at the mouth of Sutton Pool, as well as barricades across the seafront on the Hoe, but all of these have either been demolished or built upon by later fortifications dating to the Tudor and Stuart eras.
Sutton Harbour Lock Gates
During the 16th century, Plymouth came to prominence as the home port for a number of successful maritime traders, amongst them Sir
William Hawkins (or Hawkyns) and his son,
Sir John Hawkins, who defied the
Treaty of Tordesillas. It was
Sir William Hawkins who led the first English participation in the
triangle trade. In 1562 Sir John Hawkins, with the full support of
Queen Elizabeth I, led England's first foray into the
slave trade, kidnapping hundreds of men and women from
Sierra Leone and elsewhere in
West Africa to trade in the
Spanish colonies in the Americas.
As an
Atlantic port Plymouth has seen the arrival and departure of many historical figures in
English history.
Catherine of Aragon and
Pocahontas both arrived in England via the port in 1501 and 1616 respectively. It was also from Plymouth that the
Pilgrims left England for the
New World in 1620 aboard the ''
Mayflower'' before landing at and founding the "
Plymouth Colony", although they were from East Anglia but had put into Plymouth for repairs before setting sail across the
Atlantic.
Napoleon Bonaparte was brought to Plymouth aboard the
HMS ''Bellerophon'' which remained on the
Plymouth Sound for two weeks before his exile to
St Helena in 1815 and the surviving crew of the
RMS ''Titanic'' disaster disembarked at
Millbay docks on their return to England in 1912.
On
14 December 1810, Plymouth was struck by the strongest tornado yet reported in the UK (
as of August 2005), with a T8 rating on the
TORRO scale, and a
wind speed of 213 to 240
mph.
Most visitors to Plymouth are drawn to the spectacular
Plymouth Hoe, a stretch of greensward on Plymouth Limestone (
Devonian) low cliffs, overlooking
Plymouth Sound; it is believed that this is the place where Sir
Francis Drake completed his game of bowls while waiting for the tide and winds to change before setting sail to defeat the
Spanish Armada. It also features in the legend of the ancient British giants "
Gog M'a Gog".
Civil War
Plymouth sided with the
Parliamentarians against
Charles I in the
English Civil War. The town held out for almost four years until the defeat of the
Royalists. There are a number of forts and keeps from that era, the remains of which can still be seen. After the restoration of the monarchy, construction of The Royal Citadel began in 1665. It is interesting to note that cannons were placed on the walls both facing out to sea and towards the town. A reminder to the people of Plymouth what consequences a repeated stance against the monarchy could have in future.
World War II
Royal William Victualling Yard
Plymouth was one of the United Kingdom's principal naval dockyards, a naval tradition that continues to this day. The city was extensively
blitzed during the
Second World War, to the extent that approximately twice the amount of housing stock that existed prior to the war was destroyed during it (as a consequence of rebuilt houses being successively hit). Although the dockyards were the principal targets,
civilian casualties were inevitably very high.
The first bomb fell on the city on Saturday
6 July 1940 at
Swilly, killing 3 people. The last attack came on
30 April 1944. Altogether 1,172 people were killed and 3,269 people were injured - these figures do not include the many service casualties. At one point the population fell from 220,000, at the start of the conflict, to 127,000. Probably the worst single raid of the blitz was on a central area of the town called Portland Square. On the evening of the
22 April 1941 the communal
air raid shelter took a direct hit, killing 70 people. This has been remembered by the university who recently named a new building after the incident and also commissioned a local artist to create a piece that paid honour to the tragedy.
The two main shopping centres and nearly every civic building were destroyed, along with 20 schools and 40 churches. 3,754 houses were destroyed with a further 18,398 seriously damaged. In the midst of that devastation a famous wooden sign was anonymously posted over the door of
St Andrew's Church saying simply "Resurgam" (a
Latin word meaning "I shall rise again"), indicating the wartime spirit. To this day the entrance of the church has been referred to as Resurgam door and a granite plaque with the word engraved is now permanently placed there.
Plymouth was also one of the principal staging posts for the
Normandy landings in June 1944, with ''Normandy Way'' (near the
Tamar bridges) leading down to one of a series of embarkation points for
US troops.
Arts
Many highly acclaimed events and festivals are held in Plymouth including the British Fireworks Championships and
Music of the Night, a massive outdoor production held every two years in
The Royal Citadel involving the efforts of the 29th Commando Regiment,
Royal Artillery, The Royal Artillery Band, the band of Her Majesty's
Royal Marines and hundreds of local amateur performers.
Theatres
The premier theatre not only for Plymouth but of the entire
South West of England is the
Theatre Royal and its Drum Theatre where many current and widely acclaimed productions are shown. The Theatre Royal recently opened its Production and Education Centre on the waterfront at Cattedown, otherwise known as TR2. This architecturally praised building ensures that drama and acting continue to succeed in the city. On the
Barbican is the Barbican Theatre providing the opportunity for the people of Plymouth to access and participate in high quality drama and acting, it also hosts a monthly comedy night. Many amateur dramatic societies and schools of dance function in Plymouth and regularly perform at the Athenaeum Theatre, Devonport Playhouse and the delightful Georgian Globe Theatre within the Royal Marine barracks.
The Plymouth Pavilions opened in 1991, and stages regular music concerts to suit all tastes from rock and pop to ballet, and other live events. It is the largest local indoor venue but there are plans for redevelopment.
The Plymouth Music Accord is an organisation of
classical music consisting of many amateur and professional orchestras and choirs such as the South West Sinfonietta, Plymouth
Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic Choir, Opera South West, the City of Plymouth
Concert Band, the University of Plymouth Choir and Orchestra and Plymouth Jazz Club.
Museums, art galleries and historic buildings
The Plymouth
City Museum and
Art Gallery is home to vast collections of
fine and
decorative arts,
natural history and
human history. The museum's natural history collection consists of over 150,000 specimens of insects, birds, mammals, skeletons, plants, fossils and rocks along with an historic natural history library and archive. Many prehistoric artefacts from
Dartmoor, important
Bronze Age and
Iron Age material from
Mount Batten and medieval and post-medieval finds from Plymouth are found in the human history collection alongside artefacts from
Ancient Egypt and other ancient cultures of Europe and the
Middle East. The Art Gallery boasts ever-changing art displays and exhibitions showcasing local and international art ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries. The collections include 750 easel paintings, over 3,000 watercolours and drawings, at least 5,000 prints and a sizeable collection of sculptures. Work by local artists include that of
Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Robert Lenkiewicz along with work by artists of the 19th century
Newlyn School, the influential 20th century
St. Ives group of painters and works by the
Camden Town Group.
The Plymouth
Arts Centre is located near the historic
Barbican and offers regular visiting displays of work by a wide range of local, British and international artists such as
Beryl Cook,
Richard Deacon,
Andy Goldsworthy and
Sir Terry Frost. As well as promoting art, many independent
art house and foreign films are also shown here. In a spectacularly converted church on North Hill is the Sherwell Centre that plays host to regular exhibitions, concerts, recitals, lectures and other public events. Many more small and privately owned galleries can be found on The Barbican.
Also in Plymouth are the Plymouth &
West Devon Record Office; Smeaton's Tower (the second
Eddystone Lighthouse reerected on The Hoe); the Elizabethan House and Merchants House in The Barbican.
Plymouth is also home to the
National Marine Aquarium.
[1]
The synagogue, in Catherine Street, was built in 1762. It is the oldest
Ashkenazi synagogue still standing in the
English-speaking world.
Nightlife
The centre of Plymouth's nightlife for over a century has been the infamous
Union Street. Once lined with numerous
music halls and cinemas, the street is now home to a decreasing number of bars, clubs and casinos such as Club Jesters, Kularoos
Sports Bar, Walkabout Bar and The Stanley Grand Casino. The Millennium Complex was the major club on this thoroughfare incorporating three clubs in one, but was shut down due to allegations that
drug dealers were operating within the premises. Union Street maintains a reputation for unruly drunken behaviour but guarantees a wild night out. Although most clubs play commercial dance and R&B, there are some such as C103s which plays a variety of rock, spanning from classic to new age. You also have clubs such as Flares and Reflex, which play hits from the 60's, 70's and 1980's. Another location of clubs and bars including Oceana is at the Barbican Leisure Park and the
gay friendly Zero's on Lockyer Street.
There are a number of bars with
live music such as the Barbican Jazz Cafe, The Cider Press, The Cooperage and The
Three Crowns on
The Barbican and Yates's Wine Lodge on Royal Parade. The Plymouth Gin Distillery on the Barbican serves award winning cocktails. Major cinemas include the Reel Cinema on Derry's Cross and the Vue multiscreen complex at the Barbican Leisure Park.
Mutley Plain, a road in the area of Mutley, is a pleasant residential shopping area and also now has many bars like Cafe Sol and
The Underground; due to the increase of student population in the city. The Fortescue Hotel is a good natured & busy pub that has a wide range of beers, customers and a downstairs bar that boasts The
Acoustic Cafe every Thursday night and Bizarre, Mutley (
stand up comedy) on the 1st Saturday of each month.
National fears about public disorder and excessive drinking have locally resulted in the making of many large dispersal and designated public no drinking areas, giving police the power to disperse groups of two or more and seize and dispose of any alcohol being carried or drunk in public spaces.
Looking towards the sea, from Cliff Road near the Hoe
Government
In 1914 the
county boroughs of Plymouth and
Devonport, and the
urban district of
East Stonehouse merged to form a single county borough of Plymouth. This was supported by the
War Office, who were concerned that having three different
local councils would complicate matters in time of war. Collectively they were referred to as "
The Three Towns".
[1] A
provisional order was made on
May 2,
1914, to come into effect in November.
[2]
In 1928, Plymouth was granted
city status.
[3] The city's boundaries were extended in the mid-1930s and further expanded in 1967 to include the town of
Plympton and the parish of
Plymstock.
Plymouth lobbied for further boundary extensions throughout the post-war period, proposing to annex
Saltash and
Torpoint on the other side of the Tamar to the
Local Government Boundary Commission. The 1971
Local Government White Paper proposed abolishing county boroughs, which would have left Plymouth, a town of 250,000 people, being administered from a council based at the much smaller Exeter, on the other side of the county. This led to Plymouth lobbying for the creation of a Tamarside county, to include Plymouth, Torpoint, Saltash, and their rural hinterlands.
The campaign was not successful, and Plymouth ceased to be a county borough on
April 1,
1974 with responsibility for education,
social services, highways and libraries transferred to
Devon County Council. It would become again a
unitary authority under recommendations of the
Banham Commission, on
April 1,
1998.
The City of Plymouth is divided into 20 wards, 17 of which elect three councillors and the other three electing two councillors, making up a total council of 57. Councillors are also known as Members of the Council and usually stand for election as members of national political parties. The local elections are held every four years with elections for one third of Council seats being held each year, the total electorate for Plymouth is 184,956 as of December 2003. The
local election of May 2006 resulted in a current political composition of 26
Labour and 31
Conservative councillors.
The Council is headed by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, who are the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor respectively. There is also a Leader of the Council (the Chairman of the Cabinet) and a leader of each
political group. The current
Lord Mayor is Michael Fletcher who is the 539th holder of the office since its establishment in 1439. It was in 1935 that the grant of dignity of Lord Mayor was announced; before that the office was Mayor. The Lord Mayor of Plymouth's
official residence is 3 Elliot Terrace, located on
the Hoe. Once the private residence of
Waldorf and
Nancy Astor, it was presented by Lady Astor to the City of Plymouth as a residence for future Lord Mayors and is used today for civic hospitality by visiting dignitaries and
High Court judges.
In
Westminster, Plymouth is represented by the three constituencies of
Plymouth Devonport,
Plymouth Sutton and
Southwest Devon. As of the
2005 General Election the two former constituencies are held by
Labour MPs
Alison Seabeck and
Linda Gilroy respectively with the latter held by
Conservative MP
Gary Streeter.The local MEP is Conservative Giles Chichester.
Transport
Lorries unloading from the Pont-Aven at Plymouth Docks
Plymouth has no motorway links but the national network is easily accessible via the A38 dual-carriageway Devon Expressway to the M5 which starts about 40 miles east at Exeter. The A38 Parkway which runs east to west across the geographical centre of the city is readily reached from all parts of Plymouth.
The city is one of the primary gateways to
Cornwall providing access by way of the floating bridge
Torpoint Ferry across the
Hamoaze, and the
Tamar Bridge linking the
St Budeaux area of Plymouth on the Devon bank of the Tamar to
Saltash on the Cornish bank. The major rail link to Cornwall, the
Royal Albert Bridge runs side-by-side with the
road bridge. A busy passenger ferry also runs between Stonehouse and the Cornish hamlet of Cremyll; adjacent to the Mount Edgcumbe estate. There is a water-bus from the Mayflower Steps to Turnchapel and Mountbatten.
A regular ferry service provided by
Brittany Ferries operates from
Millbay taking cars and foot passengers directly to
Roscoff,
Brittany and
Santander,
Spain. The berth in Millbay has recently been expanded to accommodate
Brittany Ferries flag ship vessel,
Pont-Aven and future redevelopments are planned to transform the harbour into a major port that will also accommodate incoming
cruise liners. Currently Millbay is only the point where passengers are transported in tenders to and from cruise liners that occasionally stop off in the Plymouth Sound. These actions will see Plymouth revert from a predominantly naval port, where British and other foreign warships and submarines regularly dock, and return to a major destination of transatlantic liners, as was common before the
Second World War.
Air travel to Plymouth is directly to
Plymouth City Airport, or 'Roborough', a small airport located four miles north of the city centre, just off the
A386 road to
Tavistock.
Air Southwest exclusively operate short flights from the airport to destinations within the United Kingdom and the
Channel Islands, the airport currently only handles passengers to destinations where a passport is not required. The expansion of this airport to provide flights to continental Europe is currently a
controversial issue in the city. Due to the airport's central location expansion is limited and public opinion towards building a new airport to the east of the city remain divided between the economic benefits to the local economy and the environmental concerns over building in the countryside.
Plymouth railway station offers direct travel by
First Great Western and
Virgin Trains to
Penzance in
Cornwall and
Paddington in
London and links to the
North of England by
Virgin Trains.
Other
railway stations served by local trains are:
Devonport,
Dockyard,
Keyham,
St Budeaux Victoria Road, and
St Budeaux Ferry Road.
As for bus services,
Plymouth Citybus provides services to suburban areas of the city and
First Group provides other services within the city (including
Park and Ride) and in the surrounding area.
Stagecoach Devon provides services to Exeter and
Paignton and Western Greyhound provides services to
Liskeard and
Newquay. Dilapidated Bretonside
Bus Station is located near to Drake Circus.
Suggestions that acute rush hour congestion should be eased by reinstating the old tramway system or running light commuter trains on the routes of the old branch lines to Tavistock, Turnchapel or Yealmpton have met with no enthusiasm and a Congestion Charge option was ruled out by the main parties at the last council elections.
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Plymouth at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by ''Office for National Statistics'' with figures in millions of
British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional Gross Value Added1 | Agriculture² | Industry³ | Services4 |
|---|
| 1995 | '2,561' | 6 | 1,027 | 1,528 |
| 2000 | '2,676' | 1 | 795 | 1,880 |
| 2003 | '3,098' | 1 | 899 | 2,198 |
| Footnotes 1Components may not sum to totals due to rounding²includes hunting and forestry³includes energy and construction4includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured |
The economy of Plymouth has traditionally been linked to its coastal location focusing around fishing and the military, in particular
Devonport Dockyard. The recent decline of these industries has seen a greater diversification towards a service based economy based on healthcare,
food and drink and
call centres with electronics, advanced engineering and
boat building still maintaining a prime role. The decline of
heavy industries has had a negative effect on the city's employment figures. In the past eight years employment has risen 11%; however, employment and wages still remain significantly below the national average.
In terms of retail Plymouth is ranked second in the
South West and 29th nationally. As the chief regional city of
Devon and
Cornwall, Plymouth has a
catchment area of over 720,000 people with an annual high street expenditure of over £600 million being spent in the city. An annual influx of 11.8 million tourists is another major contributor to the local economy. The city is also one of a handful of British cities to trial the new
Business Improvement District initiative.
Education
The
University of Plymouth is the largest university in southwestern England (and the fourth largest in the UK) with over 30,000 students, almost 3,000 staff and an annual income of around £110 million. Founded as a college of technology and then becoming a polytechnic it also absorbed the School of Maritime Studies. In 2006 it was ranked amongst the top 40 of UK university-sector institutions.
Colleges
Plymouth has one of the largest
Further Education Colleges in the country providing courses from the most basic to Foundation Degrees, it enrols more than 20,000 students a year.
City College Plymouth (formerly called
Plymouth College of Further Education) is a highly successful college with many national awards for teaching and is to be found on the old site of Devonport Station which was Plymouth's largest and most important station until the cuts of Beeching.
The
Plymouth College of Art and Design (referred to as PCAD) is located at
Charles Cross. The College offers a wide selection of innovative and traditional courses relating to the world of art and design.
The
College of St Mark and St John (Marjon), a
higher education college which specialises in
teacher training, is situated almost at the end of the now disused runway 01/19 at
Plymouth City Airport. The construction of this establishment in the 1970s led to the
Royal Marine helicopter support units moving to Coypool (and eventually to
RNAS Yeovilton). As of May 2007 Marjon was awarded University college status meaning that it is now able to issue its own degrees. Consequently, its title has been changed to University College Plymouth St Mark & St John. As of September 2007 Marjon will be able to award Marjon degrees, at present the degrees awarded are from the University of Exeter this being the University that Marjon was affiliated with.
Schools
Consistently high performing state schools in Plymouth are
Devonport High School for Boys,
Devonport High School for Girls and
Plymouth High School for Girls, three selective
Grammar Schools with a reputation for academic excellence. There are also the
comprehensive schools that specialise in selected subjects;
Plymstock School is a Specialist Sports College, Hele's School a Specialist
Language College, Ridgeway School specialises in Science and
Coombe Dean School and Stoke Damerel specialise in Mathematics and Computing.
Sir John Hunt Community Sports College, located in Whitleigh, is also a specialist sports college.
Notre Dame
RC School, situated near to
Derriford Hospital, is an
all girls school. It is twinned with the nearby boys school, St. Boniface.
Tamarside Community College, located in Kings Tamerton is a specialised Technology College.
John Kitto Community College, located in Pennycross is a specialist Business and Enterprise College.
Estover Community College is a specialist Arts College.
There is also a
co-educational public school,
Plymouth College, situated at
Ford Park, to the north of the city centre and its
preparatory school is at the Millfields in Stonehouse.
Green space
Plymouth has a number of public parks, the most significant of which is the massive
Central Park. Other significant green spaces include
Victoria Park, Freedom Fields Park, Alexandra Park, Keyham, Beaumont Park, St Judes, Greenbank Park, Greenbank Park, Thorn Park, Blockhouse Park, Devonport Park, Widey Woods, and Westwell Gardens.
Sport
The city is home to
Plymouth Argyle Football Club, which plays soccer in the
English Football League's
Championship division. The club is based at the
Home Park stadium in Central Park.
Plymouth United F.C. were formerly the town's other team.
Plymouth is also home to two
American Football teams, the
Plymouth Blitz and the Plymouth Admirals who compete in the
British American Football League.
Among the several hockey clubs in the city is Plymouth Marjon Hockey Club
[2] one of the West of England's top clubs in
field hockey for any age or ability, both male and female and are based at The College of St. Mark and St. John.
The
Plymouth Albion Rugby Football Club play their home games at the Brickfields. They are currently one of the top teams in the National League Division One. There are also many junior rugby clubs playing in regional, Devon and Plymouth Combination leagues.
The
Plymouth Rugby League Football Club play in the
Rugby League Conference South West Division.
Kularoos Plymouth Raiders play their home games at the
Plymouth Pavilions. They are currently one of the top teams in the
British Basketball League.
The
Plymouth Devils speedway team races at
St Boniface arena, Marsh Mills. Currently in the Conference League the newly formed team are headed by Chairman Mike Bowden.
There is major international yacht racing organised from the Royal Western Yacht Club at Queen Anne Battery and a thriving coastal and cross channel passage racing calendar. The long established Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club has its clubhouse perched on the
Hoe foreshore and there are several other thriving sailing clubs on the rivers
Plym,
Tamar and Yealm. Several of these clubs provide members and visitors with weekly 'round the cans' divisional weeknight racing in
Plymouth Sound .
The are facilities for other watersports including water-skiing, windsurfing and diving and there is a well-used watersports centre at Turnchapel. There are rowing clubs on both rivers and a growing interest in
Gig racing.
Plymouth Leander and Port of Plymouth are successful swimming clubs. There are several indoor and outdoor public pools.
Bowls is popular and there are many public and club greens.
Similarly there are many public and private squash courts.
Plymouth College has a number of
Fives courts.
The
Plymouth-Banjul Challenge is an annual car rally for charity, similar to the more famous
Dakar Rally.
There are various
cricket clubs in the city.
Joggers are a frequent sight and there is an annual
half marathon starting and ending on the Hoe. There is an athletics track at the Brickfields.
Cycling is popular and there is a long level track from Marsh Mills along the line of the old Plym valley railway comfortably leading towards Clearbrook within the southern fringe of
Dartmoor National Park.
Tennis is played in many clubs. There are indoor tennis courts at Derriford and Ivybridge and outdoor public courts spread across the city including at St Budeaux , West Hoe and Plymstock.
There are sea-
angling options from boats based on the Barbican. Many thousands of Plymothians fish from hundreds of spots around the sound and along the rivers.
Media
Plymouth is the headquarters and regional
television centre for
BBC South West, whose studios are located in the Mannamead area north of the city centre but will shortly to transfer to purpose built premises on Sutton Harbour.There is a Carlton television studio at Langage and advanced plans for a new Plymouth city digital tv station One Plymouth.
The city's main
commercial radio station is
Plymouth Sound FM based in De La Hay Ave just off
Central Park.
The regional stations include
BBC Radio Devon,
BBC Radio Cornwall,South Hams Radio and
Pirate FM.
The main regional newspaper is the
Western Morning News, whose headquarters and printworks at Derriford were designed by
architect Nicholas Grimshaw. The local city news printed by the same publisher, and at the same printworks, is the
Plymouth 'Herald' (Formerly The Western Evening Herald).
An independent, "alternative" podcast for the city launched in 2006 - Plymcast. It features local musicians and local comedy and entertainment content
Plymouth 2020
The old Drake Circus centre was demolished in 2004
Interior of the new Drake Circus centre a few days after opening.
Plymouth is currently undertaking a massive project of urban redevelopment, the largest since the city was rebuilt after the Second World War. The 'Vision for Plymouth' launched by the internationally renowned architect
David Mackay, and fully backed by Plymouth
City Council is set to see areas of the city centre demolished, redesigned and rebuilt by the year 2020. Two of Plymouth's greatest eyesores, the old Drake Circus shopping centre and Charles Cross
car park, have already been demolished and been replaced by the new £200 million
Drake Circus shopping centre, which opened on
5 October 2006, with an estimated 60,000 visitors during the opening morning
[3].
The current appearance of this shopping centre is subject to much criticism from some residents of the city, claiming that it spoils the city with its garish colours and unsightly exterior. The main approach to the city, Exeter Street, is the focal point of these arguments, as the centre is situated behind the ruined Charles Church
war memorial, and is said to do injustice to those killed, wounded and otherwise affected by
World War II. Others, however, say the centre forms a backdrop to the church and creates a striking juxtaposition of traditional and
modern architecture. Nationally, the shopping centre has attracted much adverse criticism, including receiving an architectural 'award' for being the single worst building in the UK.
Since development of the new shopping centre began, shop rents in the city centre have been significantly increased, inadvertently pushing smaller retail outlets out of the
marketplace. Examples include "Some Bizarre", which also lost customers as a result of the
demolition of a pedestrian
subway. The shopping centre itself contains the city centre's second
Virgin Megastore, a fourth
Costa Coffee outlet, a second Waterstones and a new
Burger King, relocated from its previous position in the city centre.
The former public
leisure centre, the Ballard Centre, is currently being replaced with residential and office space along with a project involving the future demolition of the Bretonside bus station. A new £20 million nine-storey Jury's Inn hotel has just opened near the landmark ruined church and
war memorial of
Charles Church, along with the new Arts Faculty building, part of the ongoing redevelopment of the University campus. Juxtaposed from the functional car park of Drake's Circus, the new University of Plymouth arts building is beginning to create a stunning, monolithic imprint on the city's skyline. Created from stone, glass and contemporary,
copper sheet, cladding, the diagonal wall-roof is quite unique within the confines of Plymouth.
Other plans include the demolition of the
Plymouth Pavilions entertainment arena to create a boulevard linking
Millbay to the city centre. Millbay itself, currently by day a wasteland and by night a
red light district, is also to be regenerated with mixed residential, retail and office space alongside extensive new harbour facilities.
Twinning
The twin cities of Plymouth are:
★
Brest,
Brittany,
France (twinned 1963)
★
Gdynia,
Poland (twinned 1976)
★
Novorossiysk,
Russia (twinned 1990)
★
San Sebastián,
Basque Country,
Spain (twinned 1990)
★
border
,
United States (twinned 2001)
Plymouth also maintains a link with:
★
Sekondi-Takoradi,
Ghana
See also
References
1. ''Three Towns Amalgamation''. The Times February 9, 1914.
2. ''Union of Plymouth and Devonport.'' The Times. May 4, 1914.
3. ''The City of Plymouth''. The Times. October 18, 1928.
★ Dunning, Martin (2001). ''Around Plymouth''. Frith Book Co Ltd
★ Gill, Crispin (1993). ''Plymouth: A New History''. Devon Books
★ Robinson, Chris (2004). ''Plymouth Then & Now''. Plymouth Prints
★ Casley, Nicholas (1997). ''The Medieval Incorporation of Plymouth and a Survey of the Borough's Bounds''. Old Plymouth Society.
★
Barbican Theatre
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Drake Circus
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Plymouth City Council
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The Plymouth 2020 Partnership
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Plymouth Arts Centre
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Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery
External links
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history
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Official Plymouth Tourist Information
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Unofficial Plymouth site
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Information about Port of Plymouth
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Local history society
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Aerial photographs of Plymouth
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Theatre Royal Plymouth
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Plymouth Gin Distillery
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Plymouth Marine Laboratory
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The University of Plymouth
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Plymouths around the world
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Steve and Karen Johnson's collection of historical photos, the majority of which are concerned with Plymouth and its surrounding environs
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