Bowls on the Hoe

Francis Drake was born at Crowndale near Tavistock in around 1540. Perhaps the most famous story connecting Drake with Plymouth Hoe is the one of how he played bowls on 19th July 1588 with his fellow captains. When news was brought to them that the Armada had been spotted off the Lizard, Drake announced that they still had time to finish the game and beat the Spaniards as well. Many people have dismissed the story as a myth and if the game did take place, it wasn't where the current bowling green is on the Hoe now. Interestingly, the game was banned by law at the time and the reason given was that it caused people to neglect their archery practice. It's possible that the rich had private games in their own gardens. Drake had a house with a garden in Looe Street and John Hawkins had a residence closer to the harbour. If the game did take place on the Hoe, it's likely to have been in the area of the much quarried Lambhay Hill where the Citadel now stands which would have also been near the chalk giants, Gog and Magog. From here, Drake would have had an excellent vantage point of the Sound right across to Rame. In the only remaining copy of Phoenix Britannicus, published in 1624, only 36 years after the event, the story is told as fact and states that the match did indeed take place on the Hoe.