Devonport tram

At first glance, it's hard to place where this lovely pre-war tram is passing in Plymouth. There are several clues though. By enlarging the photo, a street sign can be seen beside the front of the tram which says 'Chapel Street'. Also,
in the background, can be seen the word 'piano' and I can recognise this as the shop belonging to Hocking's Pianos which stood beside the Forum Cinema (now the Mecca Bingo Hall). The Forum, which was at the end of Chapel Street in Fore Street, stands just to the left of Hocking's and Fore Street with its wonderfully ornate buildings continued until it met the dockyard gates. The Second World War not only devastated Fore Street but also Chapel Street and none of the buildings shown in this photo still stand. The Forum is still there, of course, but the rest of Fore Street including the Devonport Market were incorporated into the dockyard and have been unseen by civilians for many years. Recently, the area enclosed in the dockyard has been refurbished and building work still continues.

For comparison, I took a photo today of the area as it looks now. Just for good measure, I made sure I got a picture of the tram's future replacement! The Forum can be seen in the far background on the left and an Esso garage stands where all those lovely buildings used to stand.

Walking further down, I thought that I could see tramlines in a pothole in the road. A similar thing was reported in Saltash Passage recently. On the way home, I decided to photograph the gates at HMS Drake for a 'then and now' project I'm putting together. I was surprised that because I'd taken a photo of the gate, I was then questioned by the police, complete with machine guns, for half an hour! I pointed out that a photo of the HMS Drake gates could be found easily on Google Earth and my pictures came out terrible anyway! They were very nice about it all though and said these were 'sensitive times' but, if you're thinking about photographing any Naval, or any other military establishments, think twice! I think we parted on good terms and I still haven't got a decent photo of the gate!

The War Effort

All over Plymouth, there are the signs of missing railings and other ornate metal work. During the Second World War, as part of the War effort, houses were stripped of their railings and other metal was collected by the Ministry of Salvage to be melted down and used for munitions . Over 1.5 million tonnes were collected and the whole operation boosted morale and brought people together. Any metal that could be taken was quickly removed including the bandstand on the Hoe. On the walls of many old houses in Plymouth, you can still see where the railings were hacksawed away. Even the Mount Edgcumbe Estate removed its railings to help the campaign. On the 12th January 1942, work started in the Mutley area to remove all unnecessary railings although some of the more ornate railings survived the exercise. However, many were removed and were never replaced. The Women Voluntary Service were responsible for organising salvage drives which not only included the removal of railings but also the collection of aluminium pots and pans, jelly moulds, kettles, paper and rubber and even artificial limbs. Children were banded together to collect as much salvage as possible including small items such as bottle tops. Regular salvage drives were organised to help the war effort. Tin, rubber, iron, steel, paper, cooking fat and even silk stockings were all collected. A popular poster during the war read, ‘Salvage saves Shipping’. Saturday Scrap collections were organised and children would knock at doors asking for any spare metal. This included gates, saucepans, empty tins and anything that could be spared. Some councils awarded certificates to recognise the work done by the children. However, while people happily banded together to help the war effort and collected a great deal of scrap metal to provide extra guns, tanks and planes for the troops, the truth was somewhat different. Little or none of the metal collected was ever melted down and used for the war effort and most was just dumped soon after.

King Street

King Street ran from Cambridge Street to Stoke Road and Manor Street. There doesn't appear to be many photos of the King Street arch in existance but this is the best one I've found. This photo dates from the early 1960s and shows the arch which was just after 144 King Street, which can just be seen on the left of the photo. Number 144 housed Cole's grocery shop. Perhaps one of the most remembered shops in King Street was Ivor Dewdney's pasty shop which was at number 2 and opened in the 1930s. The photo shows interesting adverts for both Ovaltine and the Co-op. In the early part of the last century, hawkers and entertainers gathered underneath the arch. One was a Mr Pratt who, with his monkey, Bruce, entertained passersby with his organ grinding. Bruce wore a red hat and jacket and was well known to the people living in the area. Mr Pratt, his wife and his monkey all lived in one tiny room in the street. Small audiences would gather to watch Bruce and would feed him chipped potatoes which were sold in the evening by Italians living in the area. By day, they would sell ice cream around the town from their small handcarts. Another well known figure was a blind Cornish miner who sold boot and shoe laces which were draped from his left arm while, with his right hand, he would hold out a tin cup to collect money. Many beer houses sprung up in the area during the 1850s including the Thistle Rose and Shamrock, the Hen and Chicken and the Botanic Garden which was near Flora Street Nursery. In the shadow of the railway embankment stood the Robert Burns, the Broad Gauge and the Tandem Inn. As a barrel organ played, bruised fruit was sold at knock down prices and women gathered to attend late night auctions selling cheap cuts of meat. Chestnut sellers would also ply their trade from a warm fire and a man on stilts would tap on windows to announce forthcoming events such as the fair or the circus. Rabbit formed a staple part of people's diet and a rabbit catcher with four or five rabbits hanging from his arm would sell and skin the creatures on the spot. It all seems a world away from the King Street of today. Torn apart in the Second World war, the area has seen a lot of changes and rebuilding. When the arch was pulled down in the 1970s, a major part of the street disappeared and the hawkers and entertainers from nearly 100 years previous, were soon forgotten.

Plymouth Hoe in the 1930s

I love this old photo of the Hoe from the 1930s. The picture is taken in the Hoe Lodge Gardens and two girls, one with an umbrella, admire the flowers. It must be Spring because there are tulips and primroses in bloom nearby. At first glance, the scene doesn't appear to have changed much over the years but, looking to the right of the lighthouse, can be seen the old bandstand which was dismantled during the Second World War to be used for scrap to help the war effort. The lighthouse itself is painted in red and white, as it is today, but between then and now it has been painted in various colours including green and white (the colours of not only Devon but also Plymouth Argyle). Much remains the same, although the fashions have changed greatly over the years. The only transport that can be seen is a man pushing a bicycle. The layout of the gardens themselves have changed though. The pool on the right of the picture has long gone and the garden, for some time, has been the home to the Prejoma Clock which was erected in 1965 in memory of Preston John Ball's parents. It told the right time in 1965 and then came to a standstill for many years. It was working for a brief period in about 2007 but has since stopped again. Nowadays, the gardens are very well kept and colourful. At the moment, they contain an ornate totem pole which has been erected to celebrate 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin. In 1831, the 22 year old Charles Darwin set sail on the Beagle from Plymouth. Nearby to the gardens is the popular Valentis Cafe and bar. It's amazing that 70 years have passed since this photo was taken and so little, in this picture anyway, has changed.

Plymouth in the 1950s and 1960s

These few photos show Plymouth city centre during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The first picture shows a very busy town centre. Many people will remember the streets crowded like this, before the area was pedestrianised. On the left can be seen the Dolcis shoe shop at 37 New George Street which adjoined Dingles. Further down can be seen the old Western Morning News building which today houses Waterstones. The fashions have certainly changed over the years. A lone sailor can be seen in the foreground in the days when wearing their uniform was compulsory. The now old fashioned cars parked on the left, all look very much the same model and there certainly wasn't the choice there is nowadays. Most came in either black, grey or green. This was to become a far more busy scene in the 1970s and 1980s when every parking meter had a car beside it and in-town parking was almost impossible at busy times.

  

The second photo, from the same period, shows British Home Stores in Cornwall Street. The buildings haven't changed that much in the 50 or so years since but the cars and fashions have changed greatly. The streets all look much more narrow with the many vehicles parked there.

The third photo shows Frankfort Gate and, at first glance, it looks like not much has changed over the years.

Many of the shops have changed ownership many times but the market can still be seen clearly in the background. Earlier shops in the area included the popular stamp shop (probably a dying hobby now), Bonus Books, the Camera Exchange and, further around on the main road, Jack Cohen's Joke Shop. The red phone box has long gone and a huge green pedestrian walkway has been built in the centre of this scene. It all looks very tidy when this photo was originally taken and quite empty. However, anyone visiting these three areas nowadays would probably notice quite a bit of difference.

More about the Silver Mine of Saltash Passage

I've had a lot of people write to me recently about the underground mine at Saltash Passage and it all makes very interesting reading. With the work recently being carried out at the bottom of Little Ash Gardens to repair subsidence, together with past damage to the houses on the left-hand side of Little Ash Gardens, it's easy to follow the route of the final leg of the mine. I had a very interesting letter from Terry (whose surname I unfortunately don't know) and I hope that he doesn't mind me reproducing it here as it sheds some light on the tunnel and the route it took. Terry writes: 'I was very interested to read, 'The Silver Mine in Saltash Passage' on your blog. I lived in St Budeaux some 40 years ago, near Kinterbury Creek. We all called it 'Mud Cott' though I don't know why. What I now know as the silver mine, we called 'Smugglers Cave'. I used to go in often and I was one of the children they sealed it up to keep out! In the mid 60s, you could go in and just inside was a large boulder which you had to go around. After you got passed it, you were in a large chamber. There was a bench/bed carved out of rock. There was one main tunnel and the beginning of another but that was only a few feet in. The main one headed towards the main road. It must have been quite level because there was an inch or two of water along the bottom. As you went through, there were a few bends and at the end, it just got smaller and stopped. It didn't go in a very long way as I remember, under Little Ash Gardens at the most, so I would be very surprised if it went as far as Vicarage Gardens. I have for years wondered what it was. I assumed it was for the Home Guard to watch the river and bridge during the War. Maybe they did use it. I still visit Plymouth and last year, I went to have a look. You can't see it now, there is a boat house or something in front. Also, when I lived there, if you went along the beach on the opposite side to the mine side, where the cast iron pipes go into the river, there was a large sheet of twisted metal with rivet holes and rivets in. We used to try and move it when we were crabbing but it was stuck solid in the mud. It's not there now, perhaps it was taken away for scrap, and I wondered if it was part of the ammunition barge blown up in the War? I enjoyed Terry's informative letter very much and I wish that I had his address but hopefully, he'll write again. I would also be very interested to hear from anyone else with tales of the area. They certainly make very interesting reading.

Tarmacadam

Driving around Plymouth today, you can't help but notice all the potholes everywhere. In many places, the old cobbled roads underneath the tarmac are being revealed. Saltash Passage is one particular place where the cobbles are appearing and it's easy to imagine what the area must have once looked like when trams travelled towards the ferry taking passengers over to Saltash. Many people will think that tarmac is a relatively new thing but amazingly, tarred roads date back to the 8th century and appeared in Baghdad at the time. Tarmac as we know it today has been around since 1903. Patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901, some of the streets of Plymouth were tarmaced in the early 1900s including roads in Stonehouse which were paid for by the then Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. Previously, Macadam road surfaces were used from 1820 and invented by Scotsman, John Loudon MacAdam. He called the process, macadamisation. McAdam's road surfaces were ideal for horses and carriages but were dusty and eroded when it rained. Once motor transport was introduced, the roads couldn't cope and a new formula containing tar was used. Hooley's patent involved mechanically mixing tar and aggregate and this was prepared before it was put on the road surface and compressed using a steam roller. Today, cobbled streets and lovely paved footpaths are regularly tarmaced over much to the annoyance of people who prefer the streets as they are, a reminder of times gone by. It's amazing to think that this whole process isn't a new one and has been going on in Plymouth for well over 100 years.

The photo shows Bedford Street on the day that the circus came to town. No cobbled streets there, just a dusty old macadam road.