OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
www.oldplymouth.uk
 

ROADS AND STREETS IN OLD PLYMOUTH

SALTASH STREET

Saltash Street, Plymouth, was so named because once outside of the Old Town Gate the left-hand road led through Milehouse and Saint Budeaux to Saltash Passage.  The right-hand road led to Tavistock and thus became Tavistock Road.  The Street thus linked Old Town Street with Cobourg Street, Pound Street and Rowe Street, and the numbering ran from Old Town Street to Cobourg Street on the western side and back on the eastern side.  There was also a Saltash Road which ran between Cobourg Street and Pennycomequick.

An unusually quiet but sunny day in Saltash Street (see below).
The Plymouth Public Secondary School, Cobourg Street, is in the background.
The gate on the left gave access to the Methodist Central Hall.
© Plymouth Library Service.

The reason for the reference to 'an unusually quiet' view of Saltash Street is because, firstly, all traffic going to Pennycomequick, Stoke, Milehouse, Keyham, Saint Budeaux and Ernesettle Estate passed up this road, which was eventually made one-way inthe direction of this photograph; and secondly because the motor bus services from those areas of Plymouth dropped their passengers at the end of the Street, at what was known as "Harvest Home", after the public house, and in the 1950s and 1960s they poured down Saltash Street, towards the camera, on their way to the City Centre.  It was frequently heaving with both traffic and pedestrians, the road being as busy with them as it was with vehicles.

Where Saltash  Street came out into Cobourg Street, with Pound Street on th left.
Note the bus stops on the right, on the bend.
© City of Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery.

Even in 1951 there were several important locl businesses in Saltash Street although the only prominent building was the Plymouth Methodist Central Hall, on the west side.  Amongst the businesses on the western side were: the Fifty Shilling Tailors (Messrs Price's Tailors Limited); Messrs R C Ray Limited, cycle dealers; Messrs E C Arnold and Company Limited, seed merchants; and the temporary showroom of the South Western Electricity Board.  Shops on the eastern side included: Messrs Tucketts Limited, confectioners; Messrs Edna Sherrell's, florists; Messrs F T B Lawson Limited, models; Mr William H Kitto, bookseller; and Mr Percy L Craig, opticians.