Plymouth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Plymouth | |
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| Population | 246,100 (2005 est.) |
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| OS grid reference | |
| Unitary authority | Plymouth |
| Ceremonial county | Devon |
| Region | South West |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | PLYMOUTH |
| Postcode district | PL1-9 |
| Dialling code | 01752 |
| Police | Devon and Cornwall |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| European Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | Plymouth Sutton |
| Plymouth Devonport | |
| South West Devon | |
| Website: www.plymouth.gov.uk | |
| List of places: UK • England • Devon | |
Plymouth (ˈplɪməθ ) is the largest city in the county of Devon in South West England. It is situated between the mouths of the rivers Plym and Tamar, at the head of one of Europe's largest natural harbours, Plymouth Sound.
Plymouth has a rich maritime past and is one of the most important Royal Navy bases in the United Kingdom, which made it a prime target of the Luftwaffe during World War II. After extensive destruction during the Blitz of 1941, Plymouth was comprehensively rebuilt under the guidance of masterplanner Sir Patrick Abercrombie. It is still home to the largest operational naval base in Western Europe.[1]
Important locations in the city include The Royal Citadel, Devonport Royal Dockyard and The Barbican from which the Pilgrims finally left for the New World in 1620. The University of Plymouth with thirty thousand students is the fourth largest in the UK.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
The earliest human remains in the Plymouth area are from a number of caves around Plymouth Sound. The ‘bone caves’, located at Cattedown, Oreston, Turnchapel and Stonehouse, contain extensive Upper Palaeolithic deposits. Including those of Homo Sapien, some of the earliest such evidence in England. A reindeer bone from one of the Cattedown caves is dated 15,125 ± 390 years B.P. There is no public access to the caves, and they are not easily locatable or visitable. However their archaeological importance is very great, owing to both the geographical location of the Cattedown discovery, in a European context, and to the quantitative and qualitative nature and physical disposition of the human remains, this is one of the most important discoveries ever documented about the history of "anatomically-modern humans" or Homo sapiens in Europe. There is currently no evidence of Homo neanderthalensis ever having been found in caves at Cattedown, Oreston, Stonehouse or Mount Batten (Turnchapel). [2]
The earliest known settlement in the area now occupied by Plymouth is at Mount Batten. It dates from the late Bronze Age, and was later an Iron Age trading port.[3] It used to be thought, based on Ancient Greek accounts, that tin brought from Dartmoor via the River Plym was traded with the Phoenicians here, but this theory is now discounted.[4] As part of the Roman Empire this port traded tin along with cattle and hides but was later overshadowed by the rise of the fishing village of Sutton opposite, 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 of 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.
As the higher parts of the Plym estuary silted up, ships used the Cattewater moorings and the then tidal harbour at the Plym's mouth instead of Plympton. And so the name of the town Sutton slowly became Plymouth. The name Sutton still exists in the name of its old harbour and a parliamentary division.
In 1403, the town was briefly occupied and burnt by Bretons. The town was often the target of enemies across the English Channel, especially during the Hundred Years' War. A series of fortifications were built in the Tudor and Elizabethan era which include the four round towers featured on the city coat of arms; the remains of two of these can still be found at Mount Batten and at Sutton Pool below the Royal Citadel.
[edit] Renaissance Age
During the 16th century, Plymouth was the home port for a number of successful maritime traders, among them William Hawkins, who made the first English expeditions to West Africa in the 1530s; and his son Sir John Hawkins, who led England's first foray into the slave trade.[5]
The historic port of Sutton Harbour, located in The Barbican, has seen the arrival and departure of many notable people; for example Catherine of Aragon and Pocahontas arrived here in England in 1501 and 1616 respectively.
Plymouth Hoe, meaning high place, is a wide grass meadow atop cliffs overlooking the natural harbour of Plymouth Sound. According to an enduring national myth, this is the place where Sir Francis Drake insisted on completing his game of bowls to allow wind and tide to change in his favour enabling his defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
There is written evidence that until the early 17th century large outline images of the giants Gog and Magog (or Goemagot and Corineus) had for a long time been cut into the grass of the Hoe exposing the white limestone beneath.[6] There is no trace of these figures today.
Plymouth is also internationally renowned as the departure point of the Mayflower in 1620, aboard which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World, thereby establishing the modern English-speaking constitution of the United States of America. On sighting land, they christened their first point of contact on the western Atlantic shore Plymouth Rock in gratitude for the hospitality they had received whilst wintering in Plymouth. Their settlement of Plymouth, Massachusetts also bears the name of its European forebear. Twin flags of the US and UK now fly at the Mayflower Steps to commemorate the significance of this event to both nations.
[edit] Civil War and Restoration
During the English Civil War Plymouth sided with the Parliamentarians and so was isolated from the surrounding regions of Devon and Cornwall which were held by Royalist sympathisers. The town was besieged for almost four years until the Royalists were defeated. Various skirmishes and confrontations occurred, including the battle of St Budeaux and the rout of Royalist cavalry along Lipson Ridge. Freedom Fields Park still commemorates the latter site.
Construction of the Royal Citadel began in 1665, after the Restoration; it was armed with cannon facing both out to sea and into the town, rumoured to be a reminder to residents not to oppose the Crown. The dockyards at Devonport at the mouth of the Tamar, were founded in 1689 by King William III thereby establishing the naval service economy which later came to dominate the city.
[edit] Napoleonic era
After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was brought to Plymouth aboard HMS Bellerophon which remained in Plymouth Sound for two weeks before his exile to St Helena. Under renewed threat of invasion from across the English Channel, Plymouth Sound and the dockyards at Devonport once again assumed a critical strategic significance in the defence of the nation. Though the threat never materialised, the sound was heavily fortified with early nineteenth century gun emplacements installed at Mount Edgecumbe and St Nicholas Island (now Drake's Island), and with the construction of forts guarding the port on the headlands at the mouth of the harbour.[citations needed]
The Three Towns enjoyed some prosperity during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and were enriched by an series of neo-classical urban developments designed by London architect John Foulston.[7] Foulston was an important and early advocate of the Greek Revival[citation needed] and was responsible for several grand public buildings, many now destroyed, including the Athenaeum, the Theatre Royal and Royal Hotel, and much of Union Street.[7]
[edit] Twentieth Century
Until World War II, the port at Millbay Docks was used for Transatlantic liner shipping, as it had been since the 1870s. Many of the surviving crew of the RMS Titanic disaster disembarked at Millbay docks on their return to England in 1912.[8]
[edit] World War II
Due to its strategic proximity to the northern coast of France and its naval preeminence, the city was heavily blitzed by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Although the dockyards were the principal targets, the two main shopping centres, most of the civic buildings and over 3,700 houses were completely destroyed and more than 1,000 civilians lost their lives.[9] Charles Church has been left in its ruined state as a memorial to those civilians who died. On the Hoe stands a memorial to the many members of the Royal Navy from Plymouth who were killed in both World Wars.[10]
In June 1944 Plymouth was one of the principal staging posts for the Normandy landings. General Omar Bradley and the 1st US Army embarked here for the landings at Omaha Beach and Utah Beach and after the initial bombardments some of the American battleships came to the dockyard for repair.[9]
[edit] 1945 to the present
Sir Patrick Abercrombie's 1943 Plan for Plymouth was published well before the war ended in 1945 in response the devastation inflicted upon the city. Its wide-ranging vision called for the destruction of the few remaining pre-War buildings in the city centre and their replacement with wide, modern boulevards aligned east-west linked by a grand north-south avenue (Armada Way) linking the railway station with Plymouth Hoe.[11]
The Plan had to deal not only with the effects of the War, but also the pre-war defects of the city: much of the housing and many narrow streets were overcrowded. The main concern was for housing, and many prefabs were built by 1946, followed by over a thousand permanent council houses built each year from 1951–1957 as part of the 'Homes for Heroes' programme . The first estate, at Efford, was started in 1945 and this was rapidly followed by many others, laid out according to the Plan. By 1964 over 20,000 new homes had been built, more than 13,500 of them permanent council homes and 853 built by the Admiralty. Despite all this building, in 1971 over ten percent of the houses in Plymouth were still occupied by more than one family.[12]
After the war, the Admiralty required more space in the city and by 1950, after much discussion, fifty acres were allocated. Devonport Dockyard was kept busy for many years refitting aircraft carriers such as the Ark Royal. By the time this work ended in the late 1970s the nuclear submarine base was operational. In the 1950s a new Royal Navy Engineering College was built at Manadon, and HMS Raleigh, the current basic training facility of the Royal Navy, was opened west of Torpoint. The army had substantially left the city by 1971, with Raglan Barracks and Plumer Barracks pulled down in the 1960s.[12] However the Royal Citadel has been home to 29th Commando Regiment Royal Artillery since 1962,[12] and 42 Commando Royal Marines has been based at Bickleigh Barracks, a few miles outside Plymouth, since 1971.[13]
On 28 May 1967 Sir Francis Chichester returned to Plymouth after the first single handed Clipper Route circumnavigation of the world and was greeted by an estimated crowd of a million spectators on the Hoe and every vantage point from Rame Head to Wembury.
[edit] Governance
The city, which is a unitary authority, returns three Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. The City Council is led by 57 councillors serving 20 electoral wards. The motto of the City Council is Turris fortissima est nomen Jehova ("The Name of Jehovah is the Strongest Tower").[14]
[edit] Local government history
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".[15] A provisional order was made on May 2, 1914, to come into effect in November.[16]
In 1928, Plymouth was granted city status.[17] 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 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 the rural hinterland. 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. All powers returned when the city become a unitary authority on April 1 1998 under recommendations of the Banham Commission.
[edit] City Council
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.[18] Councillors are also known as Members of the Council and usually stand for election as members of national political parties. Full local elections are held every four years with elections for one third of Council seats being held each intervening year; the total electorate for Plymouth was 184,956 in December 2003. The local election of May 2006 resulted in a political composition of 26 Labour and 31 Conservative councillors.
Council sessions have a Chairman and Vice-Chairman, who are entitled Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor respectively. The Lord Mayor also has a ceremonial role and historical regalia. The Leader of the Council has day to day power which is exercised as Chairman of the Cabinet and there is a leader of each political group.
The Lord Mayor is elected annually in May;[19] as of early 2008 David James holds the position.[20] The dignity of Lord Mayor was granted in 1935, previously the office was simply Mayor – there have been over 540 holders of the office since its establishment in 1439. The Lord Mayor's official residence is 3 Elliot Terrace, located on the Hoe. Once a home of Waldorf and Nancy Astor, it was given by Lady Astor to the City of Plymouth as an official residence for future Lord Mayors and is also used today for civic hospitality, as lodgings for visiting dignitaries and High Court judges.[21]
[edit] Members of Parliament
In Parliament, 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.
[edit] Police and law enforcement
Her Majesty's Court Service provide a Magistrates' Court, Crown and County Courts in the city. The nearest High Court is in Exeter as are the police and prosecuting headquarters. There is no prison or youth detention unit in Plymouth. The Plymouth Borough Police, formed in 1836, eventually became part of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.[22] There are police stations at Charles Cross and Crownhill (the Divisional HQ) and smaller stations at Plympton and Plymstock.[23] The city has one the Devon and Cornwall Area Crown Prosecution Service Divisional offices.[24]
[edit] International links
| Flag | Country | Town | Area | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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France | Brest | Brittany | 1963[25] |
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Poland | Gdynia | Pomeranian Province | 1976[25] |
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Russia | Novorossiisk | Krasnodar Krai | 1990[25] |
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Spain | San Sebastián | Basque Country | 1990[25] |
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United States | Plymouth | Massachusetts | 2001[25] |
The city also maintains a link with:
and has educational and economic links with:
Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, China (since 2006)
[edit] Geography
Plymouth lies between the River Plym to the east and the River Tamar to the west; both rivers flow into the natural harbour of Plymouth Sound. The River Tamar forms the county boundary between Devon and Cornwall and its estuary forms the Hamoaze on which is sited Devonport Dockyard. Plymouth Sound is protected from the sea by the Plymouth Breakwater, built in 1812. In the Sound is Drake's Island which is easily seen from Plymouth Hoe, a large public area on top of low limestone cliffs.
The River Plym which flows off Dartmoor to the north east forms a smaller estuary to the east of the city; the mouth of this estuary is called Cattewater. On its south bank lies the outcrop of Mount Batten, the earliest-known settlement in the area; and on its north bank was the manor of Sutton which grew to form the present day city.
Plymouth straddles the A38 road which crosses into Cornwall via the Tamar Bridge and it is at the southern end of the A386 which runs north across Devon to Bideford on the north coast, via Tavistock and Okehampton.
| Climate chart for Plymouth[26] | |||||||||||
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Imperial conversion
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The city is large in geographical area because of the building of many post-war satellite housing estates and the absorption of Plympton and Plymstock in the 1960s. Many of the city's suburbs have their own articles – see the category list. Plymouth has a number of public parks, the largest of which is Central Park. Other sizeable green spaces include Victoria Park, Freedom Fields Park, Alexandra Park, and significantly, the Hoe.
[edit] Climate
Along with the rest of South West England, Plymouth has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is approximately 11 °C (52 °F) and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation, but due to the modifying effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the UK.[27] February is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 3 °C (37 °F) and 4 °C (39 °F). July and August are the warmest months with mean daily maxima over 19 °C (66 °F).[26]
South West England has a favoured location with respect to the Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer. Coastal areas have average annual sunshine totals over 1,600 hours.[27]
Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the south-west is from this source. Average annual rainfall is around 980 millimetres (39 in). The number of days with snow falling is typically less than ten per winter. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.[27]
[edit] Demography
| Plymouth Compared[28][29] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| UK Census 2001 | Plymouth | Devon | England |
| Total population | 240,720 | 704,493 | 49,138,831 |
| Foreign born | 4.4% | 4.1% | 9.2% |
| White | 98.4% | 98.9% | 90.9% |
| Christian | 73.6% | 74.8% | 71.7% |
| Muslim | 0.4% | 0.2% | 3.1% |
| Hindu | 0.1% | 0.0% | 1.1% |
| No religion | 18.3% | 16.3% | 14.6% |
| Over 75 years old | 7.7% | 10.5% | 7.5% |
| Unemployed | 3.2% | 2.5% | 3.3% |
In 2005, Plymouth's population was estimated at 246,100,[30] of whom 13.9% were retired and 13.5% have a degree.[citations needed] The average household size is 2.3 persons.[31]
At the time of the 2001 UK census, the ethnic composition of Plymouth's population was 98.4% White, with the largest minority ethnic group being Chinese at 0.3%. In terms of religion, 73.6% of the population are Christian with all other religions represented by less than 0.5% each. The number of people without a religion is above the national average at 18.3%, with 7.1% not stating their religion.[32]
[edit] Population change
Below is a table outlining population change of the city since 1801. The population rose rapidly during the second half of the 19th century. The decline of over 1.6% from 1931 to 1951, including the period of World War II, is notable.
| Year | 1801 | 1851 | 1901 | 1921 | 1931 | 1941 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 38,500 | 75,642 | 191,232 | 220,075 | 222,317 | 220,461 | 218,632 | 227,392 | 236,567 | 238,574 | 254,177 | 240,718 | |
| Source: A Vision of Britain through Time[33] | |||||||||||||
[edit] Transport
[edit] Road
Plymouth has no motorway links but the national network is accessible via the A38 dual-carriageway Devon Expressway to the M5 motorway which starts about 40 miles (64 km), east near Exeter. The A38 Parkway, runs east west across the geographical centre of the city. The city links to Cornwall via the Torpoint Ferry across the Hamoaze, and via the Tamar Bridge from the A38 Parkway to Saltash.
Plymouth Citybus provides bus 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. From the Bretonside Bus station located near to Drake Circus, National Express and other operators run long distance coach services to London and many parts of the UK.
[edit] Ferries
A regular international ferry service provided by Brittany Ferries operates from Millbay taking cars and foot passengers directly to Roscoff, Brittany and Santander, Spain.
There is a passenger ferry between Stonehouse and the Cornish hamlet of Cremyll and a water-bus from the Mayflower Steps to Mount Batten.
[edit] Air travel
Plymouth City Airport is a small airfield located in the suburb of Derriford 4 miles (6 km) north of the city centre, just off the A386 road to Tavistock. The airport is home to the local airline Air Southwest who operate flights to London, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds-Bradford, Cork, Dublin, Bristol and Jersey.
[edit] Railways
Plymouth railway station is an important First Great Western station on the London to Penzance Line and also sees trains on the CrossCountry and South West Trains networks. Smaller stations are served by local trains at Devonport, Dockyard, Keyham, St Budeaux Victoria Road and St Budeaux Ferry Road on the Tamar Valley Line and Cornish Main Line.[34]
[edit] 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 Great 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 |
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Footnotes 1Components may not sum to totals due to rounding ²includes hunting and forestry ³includes energy and construction 4includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured |
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The economy of Plymouth has traditionally been linked to its coastal location based around fishing and the armed services, in particular the Navy and Devonport Dockyard. The long term decline of these industries has seen a greater diversification towards a service based economy based on healthcare, food and drink, chewing gum 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. Thirty thousand university students together with teaching and support staff now make higher education a powerful influence.
[edit] Tourism
The Plymouth tourist office used to market the city under the slogan "Spirit of Discovery", a reference to the British seafarers and others who have set out from Plymouth to distant or uncharted areas of the world.[citation needed] The historical connections, especially those related to Francis Drake, and the final sailing of the Mayflower, together with the view from the Hoe ensure that many visit the historic Barbican and seafront areas. Plymouth has no pleasure beaches, but Tinside Pool, a large lido that was restored in 2003, is at the foot of the Hoe. The city does not have a great deal of tourist accommodation compared to districts like Torbay: in 2006 it had just over 6,000 bed spaces, compared to Torbay's 44,000.[35]
[edit] Retail
Plymouth has a large, entirely post-war, shopping area in the city centre. Most of the shops had been destroyed in the Blitz and those that remained were cleared to enable a huge zoned reconstruction according to the 1943 plan.[12] As the new buildings were completed, shops returned from their temporary wartime premises and throughout the 1950s and 60s the city boasted one of the largest and modern shopping centres in the west of England. There was substantial pedestrianisation, more car parks, and a pannier market at the west end of the zone inside a now-listed grade II building that was completed in 1959.[36]
In terms of retail floorspace Plymouth is ranked in the top five in the South West,[37] and 29th nationally.[38] Plymouth was one of the first ten British cities to trial the new Business Improvement District initiative.[39]
In 1986 a small shopping complex called the Armada Centre opened in the northwest corner of the retail zone. Significant regeneration has occurred in the last five years with the construction and opening of Drake Circus Shopping Centre, built on the site of an earlier shopping arcade in the retail zone's north-western corner. The council has encouraged cafés to create outdoor eating areas; and the clearing of a large public area in Armada Way has enabled farmers' markets and other street markets as well as exhibitions, entertainments and festivals.
[edit] Plymouth 2020
Plymouth Council is currently undertaking a project of urban redevelopment, the largest since the city was rebuilt after the Second World War. The 'Vision for Plymouth' launched by the architect David Mackay, backed by Plymouth City Council is set to see areas of the city centre demolished, redesigned and rebuilt by the year 2020.[40]
The old Drake Circus shopping centre and Charles Cross car park were demolished in 2004 and have been replaced by the latest Drake Circus Shopping Centre, which opened in October 2006.[41]
The Civic Centre municipal office building in Armada Way became a listed building in June 2007 because of its quality and period features,[42] but has become the centre of a controversy as the council disagrees.[43] In September 2007 the city council announced its application to demolish the site.
As of 2007, the former Ballard Leisure Centre is being replaced with residential and office space along with a project involving the future demolition of the Bretonside bus station to build a new civic complex. In Drake Circus the Roland Levinsky Building, part of Plymouth University opened in 2007. Other suggestions include the demolition of the Plymouth Pavilions entertainment arena to create a canal 'boulevard' linking Millbay to the city centre. Millbay is being regenerated with mixed residential, retail and office space alongside the ferryport.
[edit] Education
[edit] Schools
Plymouth has three state grammar schools, many specialist comprehensive secondary schools and community colleges as well as two independent schools. There are state primary schools throughout the city.
[edit] Higher and further education
The University of Plymouth is the largest university in south west England 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. It is renowned[citations needed] for its courses in maritime business, marine engineering, marine biology and Earth, ocean and environmental sciences, shipping and logistics.
The University College Plymouth St Mark & St John (Marjon), which specialises in teacher training, is close to Plymouth City Airport.
City College Plymouth (formerly Plymouth College of Further Education) is a large further education college providing courses from the most basic to Foundation degrees; it enrols more than 20,000 students a year. Spread across six sites, it is a successful college with many national awards for teaching.[citations needed]
The Plymouth College of Art and Design (known as PCAD) is located at Drake Circus and offers a wide selection of innovative and traditional courses.
[edit] Language schools
The city has a number of private language schools mostly teaching children and young people who come by ferry from France and Spain to learn English as a Foreign Language.
[edit] Religion
The first meeting in England of the Plymouth Brethren was held in the city by John Nelson Darby and Benjamin Wills Newton, amongst others.[44] There are no recent records of Brethren in the modern city which otherwise has a reputation for tolerance and enlightened religious practice.[citation needed]
There are many Christian churches in the city. The senior Anglican church is St Andrews in Royal Parade which hosts the civic services. There is a Victorian Catholic cathedral in Wyndham Street, Stonehouse. There are a number of Methodist churches and also a Lutheran church situated in Plympton. There is a Quaker Meeting House on Mutley Plain. The small Jewish community has an eighteenth century synagogue and adjacent in the city centre post-war ecclesiastical zone are modern Baptist and Unitarian churches. The Greek Orthodox community have converted an old church in West Hoe for their observances. Pentecostals, Christadelphians and Jehovah's Witnesses have their own churches. There is a Muslim community who have a mosque at the Islamic Centre in North Road East. The Bahá'í have a meeting place at Dale Road in Mutley and the Buddhists in St Judes. There is also a church of Scientology in Beaumont Road.
[edit] Sports
With the promotion of Hull City AFC to the Premier League in 2008 Plymouth became the largest city in England never to have had a football team in the first tier of English football. It is home to Plymouth Argyle Football Club (commonly known as the Pilgrims, the Greens, the Green Army or simply Argyle) and is an English football team, playing in the Football League Championship. The club takes its nickname from the group of English Separatists that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620. The club crest features the Mayflower, the London based ship, which carried the pilgrims to Massachusetts. The club mascot is named Pilgrim Pete. The club is based at the Home Park stadium in Central Park. Plymouth United F.C. was formerly the town's other team. The Plymouth Rugby League Football Club play in the Rugby League Conference South West Division. Playing in the British Basketball League,the Plymouth Raiders who play their home games at the Plymouth Pavilions. There are many more sports teams in Plymouth: Plymouth Cricket Club, Plymouth Blitz, Plymouth Admirals, Plymouth Marjon Hockey Club, pgsob Hockey Club, Plymouth Mariners Baseball Club, Plymouth Marjon Cannons.
Plymouth is also home to 13 year old Olympic diving prodigy Thomas Daley. He recently qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and is hoping to participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics which are to be hosted in London.[45]
[edit] Notable people
People from Plymouth are known as Plymothians or less formally as Janners. Frank Bickerton was one of the pioneering Antarctic explorers in the early 20th century. He moved to Plymouth as a child in 1895 and lived in the city until 1920.
The artist Beryl Cook has lived in Plymouth for much of her life and her paintings depict some of the colourful characters she's encountered in the city. The actress Dawn French came from Plymouth and attended St Dunstans Abbey independent school for girls.
People born in Plymouth include diver Thomas Daley, Olympic swimmer Sharon Davies, dancer Wayne Sleep, newsreader and journalist Angela Rippon and the ghostwriter and author Helen Grant. Other notable residents include footballer Trevor Francis, Newsreader Sue Lawley, the tennis player Sue Barker, and TV Presenter Fern Briton.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ HMNB Devonport. Royal Navy website. Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
- ^ The bone caves of Plymouth and district website.. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ Barry Cunliffe (2004). Britain and the Continent: Networks of Interaction. In A Companion to Roman Britain, ed. Malcolm Todd. Blackwell Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 0-631-21823-8. Google Book Search. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ Todd, Malcolm (1987). The South West to AD 1000. London: Longman, 185-187. ISBN 0-582-49274-2.
- ^ Adventurers and Slavers. The National Archives. Retrieved on 2007-10-13.
- ^ Gray, Todd (2003). Lost Devon: Creation, Change and Destruction over 500 Years. Exeter, Devon: The Mint Press, 153. ISBN 1-90335-632-6.
- ^ a b Plymouth, John Foulston. www.plymouthdata.info. Retrieved on 2008-05-16.
- ^ Langley, Martin (1987). Millbay Docks (Port of Plymouth series). Exeter: Devon Books, 17. ISBN 0-86114-806-1.
- ^ a b Gill, Crispin (1993). Plymouth. A New History. Devon Books, 259-262. ISBN 0-86114-882-7.
- ^ Plymouth, Naval War Memorial. plymouthdata.info. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
- ^ Gould, Jeremy : Architecture and the Plan for Plymouth: The Legacy of a British City, Architectural Review March 2007
- ^ a b c d Gill, Crispin (1993). Plymouth. A New History. Devon Books, 262-267. ISBN 0-86114-882-7.
- ^ A Short History of 42 CDO RM & Bickleigh Barracks. www.royalmarines.mod.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ Arms of PLYMOUTH (England). www.ngw.nl. Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
- ^ Three Towns Amalgamation. The Times February 9, 1914.
- ^ Union of Plymouth and Devonport. The Times. May 4, 1914.
- ^ The City of Plymouth. The Times. October 18, 1928.
- ^ Plymouth City Council - Council and democracy. www.plymouth.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ Plymouth City Council - Lord Mayoralty. Plymouth City Council. Retrieved on 2008-05-20.
- ^ Plymouth City Council - Lord Mayor. www.plymouth.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ Plymouth City Council - Elliot Terrace. www.plymouth.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
- ^ Plymouth City Police (1928 - 1967) - Devon & Cornwall Constabulary. www.devon-cornwall.police.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
- ^ Plymouth Police Station Details - Devon & Cornwall Constabulary. www.devon-cornwall.police.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
- ^ Your Local CPS : Devon and Cornwall. www.cps.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
- ^ a b c d e Plymouth City Council - Twin towns du site web de Plymouth City Council
- ^ a b Climatological Normals of Plymouth - 1961-1990. www.weather.gov.hk.
- ^ a b c About south-west England. Met Office. Retrieved on 2006-05-28.
- ^ United Kingdom Census 2001 (2001). Devon County. statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ United Kingdom Census 2001 (2001). Plymouth UA. neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2007-07-11.
- ^ Plymouth City Council - Plymouth’s population 2005. www.plymouth.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-14.
- ^ Plymouth City Council - Facts and figures. www.plymouth.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-02-14.
- ^ Plymouth UA. Census 2001. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ Plymouth UA: Total Population. A Vision of Britain Through Time. Great Britain Historical GIS Project. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ Plymouth ---> Gunnislake Train Timetable. Network Rail. Retrieved on 2008-05-17.
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- ^ Controversy over £200 m shops plan: BBC News. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ 'Hugely ugly' council skyscraper awarded listed building status: 24dash.com. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
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- ^ E.A.Livingstone. "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'. Oxford University Press. 2000.
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- 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.
- Richard Carew (1555), The Survey of Cornwall, text here:[1] N.B. Carew refers to Plymouth Hoe as the Hawe at Plymmouth
[edit] External links
- Plymouth City Council website
- Chris Robinson's Plymouth Prints and local history
- Aerial photographs of Plymouth
- Plymouth Picture Postcards (mostly pre-WWII)
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