Plymouth memories
Here are memories of Plymouth and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Plymouth or a Plymouth photo.
Bubbles up Your Bum!
Just look closely at the picture, sitting on top of the fountain was half the fun & excitement of coming to the pool. Water wings under my arms and the supervision of Granddad Russell I made my first attempt at learning to swim. Getting really daring swimming to the back of the pool, climbing out would lead to the open sea where only the brave would swim. The pool was accessed by steps from the road at the front of the Hoe. Walking down the damp steps we then divided into boys and girls changing rooms from where we emerged into the circular concrete pool. There were 2 four layer fountains to climb and sit on and a central taller fountain where the 'teenagers' hung out. Without the luxury of an indoor swimming pool we went from Sailsbury Road, Primary School, I can only think by pd2 Bristol bus, for our swimming lessons. After the time in the pool we dressed and walked through the passage way by the pool... Read more
Swimming Certificate
Margaret's memories of the pool jogged my own. I too remember being transported on red double deckers to the pool on several cold May and June mornings for swimming lessons. I attended Coburg Street Secondary School for Boys and there was no question of whether to enter the pool or not, we were pushed by the teachers if we hesitated. The good news though is that I managed to get a quarter mile certificate by completing several diameters of the pool. It was a miracle that we did nt catch pneumonia after some of those mornings. Jeff Smith Sydney
Flats in Palace Street
Hi, does anyone recall these flats? My grandparents lived there, Mr and Mrs Rowe. My grandad worked on the Barbican, he was a skipper on a fishing boat. They had a large family, my dad was one of their children, name of George Rowe. They have all long gone but I still have lots of family in Plymouth. Shirley Jones (nee Rowe)
J Cousins Hairdressers
My mother was apprenticed to the ladies' hairdressers in George Street, circa 1934. She did well and was made manageress of the salon in the late 1930s. Her name was Betty Cowling, she was born and raised in Bickleigh and would come into Plymouth every morning on the steam train from Bickleigh station. A long shot but does anyone out there remember anything of this? The Blitz, of course, ended Mum's dream, she said she heard the bombs in the night, but obviously they were preparing themselves for Devonport being hit. The Germans were lousy pathfinders. But New George Street, as does my beloved Mum, lives on in my heart forever. I would love any photos of J Cousins Hairdressers if anyone has any?
A Family Visit to The National Marine Aquarium
This view is close to the Fisheries Quay and the area now known as Sutton Harbour. I visited with my family on a cold wet Easter Saturday to give my granddaughter Anna a day long tour of the National Marine Aquarium. The rain and hail poured down outside and we were glad to get into the cosy warmth indoors where we spent an entire day touring the exhibits. We stood at the panoramic window viewpoint on the top floor and looked out over the line of fishing vessels which are now a great deal more modern than those shown in this picture!
Anna's favourite exhibit was the huge tank holding deep water fish including sharks! I loved the "Coral Seas" exhibit with the brightly coloured tropical fishes. It is a truly educational experience with fascinating storyboards beside each of the tanks. Some of the glass viewing panels are huge and much higher than a standing man so the fish actually swim above you! I loved it and... Read more
Plymouth College
Whilst this is the best known photograph of Ford Park Cemetery in the late nineteenth century it is also one of the best of Plymouth College (seen in the top right), because it was taken at a time when the school still owned all the land down to the eastern cemetery wall and had continuing hopes of extending the first phase of the Oxbridge style complex to both sides and forward as well as further developing the prominent site into impressive gardens and playing fields. Regretably expensive civil proceedings arising from a sporting accident left the school almost bankrupt and all but the small residual cricket pitch had to be sold to speculative residential developers who quickly filled the huge site with dense terraces right down to the edge of the burial grounds.
Ford Park Cemetery
The Cemetery, popularly known as Ford Park Cemetery, and owned by the Plymouth, Devonport & Stonehouse Cemetery Company finally went into liquidation in 1999 owing to the decline in burials following the opening of the two Council run cemeteries at Weston Mill and Efford and also in part due to the increasing popularity of cremation. At that time there had been upwards of 250,000 pesons interred in the Cemetery but there was still room for some 10,000 more.
A charity - The Ford Park Cemetery Trust - was formed in 2000 to run the over-grown and vandal damaged cemetery and has now, with the help of a very willing team of volunteers and a dedicated ground staff, completely cleared the grounds, replanted trees, restored many of the graves and turned this once ailing eyesore into a fully functioning cemetery with annual burials numbering some 50. There is also a fund-raising drive underway to restore the old Victorian Chapel and turn the new chapel into a heritage centre.
Woodside
I found myself in Plymouth just before Christmas 1966. I was pregnant and unmarried. Upon arrival at the Woodside home for unmarried mothers I was taken into the bosom of that wonderful establishment and strange as it may seem it was one of the happiest times of my life and I hold dear the wonderful memories of the girls and ladies that I met there. We had a common bond and although we all came from different backgrounds we became the best of friends.
While I was in Plymouth I had the good fortune to see Sir Frances Chichester sail into Plymouth Harbour after his single handed around the world voyage. The sight was most spectacular when he arrived in all his glory surrounded by scores of sailing craft welcoming him home..
I remember New Years Eve when as the clock struck midnight all the boats in the harbour sounded their hooters.
I returned to Plymouth for a visit in 1988 and Woodside House was a retirement home.... Read more
Mount Edgecumbe Ruins
One hundred years after this photograph was taken my husband and I visited these ruins during a holiday when we celebrated our Silver Wedding. We had came back to the West Country so that we could visit all our old haunts. We met in 1960 and had very little money so our courting had to be very economical! We spent many happy hours at Mount Edgecumbe after getting the Cremyll Ferry from Plymouth. We married in 1965 and left Plymouth the following year, but the ties are strong and we return as often as we can.
Memories of Devon
Great Grandfather Finemore
I have just discovered that my great grandfather William L Finemore was born in Knacker's knowle, Egg Buckland in 1841. He later moved to Gosport in Hampshire where he married Mary and had 5 children, one of which was my paternal grandmother.
I'm interested to know if there are any Finemore's still living in the area who could be possible relatives?
Growing Up
We moved to Cattedown in 1952 when I was 8 years old, to Tresillian Street. My first memory is of the Coronation celebrations and a resulting street party, when we received Coronation Mugs, had bicycle decoration contests and street games. How I escaped getting into serious trouble is still a mystery to me because we (the boys in the street) used to roam around the wharves and quarries fairly late at night, and trespass on various properties. We'd round off the evening at the fish and chip shop at the top of the sreet, hanging around till we ran out of ideas! In the summer, we swam down at The Battery across to the Mayflower Steps and back. This was our challenge. We always went in a crowd as we were scared of the Coxide boys. Occasionally we would make war with the kids from Mainstone Avenue and hurl stones across the railway line at them. My parents would have been devastated had they known. (They had their suspicions several times due... Read more
A Naval Hideaway.
What a great little place to be when in the RN. I was serving on the Boom Defence Boats in 1954/5. These boats were coal burning, and I was a stoker, so it was pretty hard work! We spent most of our time in Pembroke Dock, but now and again we had to do some work in the Plymouth area, and berthed in Turnchapel, a real hideaway, no Naval Patrols, no Naval Officers, as our Skipper used to leave for his home in Plymouth, well I think that's where he went!! Then we all used to go up to a little pub, just up the road from the jetty, on a hill, brilliant little place, good beer, always a sing song, nice female company!! And everyone was happy, that is until closing time! Yep, that's fifty odd years ago now but I will always remember Turnchapel, although for the life of me, I am unable to remember the name of that pub. I remember the name of one of the... Read more
Teenage Days
My parents bought the little cottage, 1 Harbour View (end of Boringdon Rd) in Coronation year. The area at that time was, quite frankly, a slum and many of the surrounding houses were being condemned and pulled down. Our cottage was ear-marked for demolition, but it was saved by my parents' refurbishment. We bought it from a elderly couple who ran a taxi service. My parents created a very cosy interior, adding a Crittal window on Borringdon Road side, near the corner which still bears a hinge - the remnant of a large gate which used to hang across a long gone entrance - perhaps to the old boat yard. The sewage pipe, like all the others, still however ran straight into the Cattwater, where hoards of little boys swam and shrimped. I was just 14 when we moved from a modern bungalow on the outskirts of Birmingham. For me, at that time, Turnchapel was quite a culture shock. I had to cross the ferry which... Read more
My First Memories
I was born in Garden Village, Billacombe in 1944 and lived there until I was 8 years old. My memories are very strong of walking up Pleasure Hill to Sunday School at Pomphlet, walking to and from Goosewell Infant School and buying cream buns from Goodbodys Bakery on the way home. We lived with my grandparents who kept chickens, had wonderful apple trees, raspberry bushes and gooseberries in their garden. Summers were very colourful. We did not own a car and my mother used to walk us to all the woods in the district such as Staddiscomb, Radford, Saltram and Colesdown where picking primroses and bluebells were a strong feature of my memory. I have always been haunted by Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' after seeing Plymstock School's version in a Christmas concert. These were the days when steam trains ran on many branch lines and my most vivid memory was of catching the train to Steer Point and collecting shells for the chickens. We owned a caravan at Bovisand where we spent a lot of... Read more
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Places this week
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- Duloe, Cornwall
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- Tredington, Warwickshire
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- Glasson, Cumbria
- Crawshawbooth, Lancashire
- Greystoke, Cumbria
- Barnehurst, Kent
- Knockentiber, Ayrshire
- Stanhope, County Durham
- Gillingham, Kent
- Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire
- Souldern, Oxfordshire
- Oswestry, Shropshire
- Tenby, Dyfed
- Romford, Essex
- Oadby, Leicestershire
- Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire
- Patshull Park, West Midlands
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