Showing posts with label plymouth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plymouth. Show all posts

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Newlands at Saltash Passage


Here's a photo of 'Newlands' which was built by W E Elliot in 1860 after he reclaimed 120 acres of mud flats on the River Tamar. At the beginning of the 1900s, the building was bought by the trustees of the Mount Edgcumbe training ship and used as a cottage hospital and sick bay. It was eventually purchased by the Ministry of Defence and marked the entrance of their Ernesettle depot until it was demolished in 1922.
A couple of days ago, I thought that I would take a walk down to the 'top secret' armaments depot at Saltash Passage (it's so secret that it's signposted 'armaments depot'!) to see if anything remained of Newlands. At first glance, it appeared that nothing was left so I just enjoyed the walk and took some photos in the Autumn light. As I walked further along the

road however, I noticed several passing areas and the final one, unusually for a passing area, had a fireplace in it! I think that this must be all that remains of Newlands and probably today goes largely unnoticed. It's interesting to think of all the activity that must have taken place here when the Training Ship Mount Edgcumbe was moored close by. Nowadays, it's deadly quiet. I'm sure many people must work at the armaments depot but you certainly never see any of them and apart from the odd barge going up and down the river, it would be easy to imagine that the area has been abandoned.