OLD PLYMOUTH
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© Brian
Moseley, Plymouth Webpage created: February 03, 2019 Webpage updated: July 02, 2021 |
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- TOWN GATES Gates with drawbridges were provided in the town wall at various points on main roadways. These were often the last part of the wall to be removed or demolished. The gates in a clockwise direction from the North, or Old Town, Gate were:- Old Town or North Gate: the first gate here was destroyed by the French (Bretons) in 1379. The last one was built in 1759 and removed circa 1809. The area outside the Gate, upon which Cobourg Place, Pound Street, the Plymouth Public Free Schools and New Town were subsequently built was known as "Old Town Without".
This engraved stone
formerly stood over the fine wooden doorway of number 63 Old Town Street
A replica of the Old Town Gate erected for the visit of the Royal Agricultural Show in 1890. Gasking, Gascoigne, or Gascoyne's Gate was removed in 1768 in order to widen the main road from the Town to Exeter. At that time, before the construction of The Embankment, the main road to Exeter ran through this Gate, and up Lipson Road, down the steep, winding and dangerous Lipson Hill, and in to what is now Old Laira Road. A commemorative tablet was erected in June 1817:
Friary Gate: removed 1763. Martyn's Gate was part of the original Town Wall around Plymouth. Briton Side or Breton Side, was outside this Gate and people who loved beyond it were known as Breton Boys. That area was destroyed by the French, who were prevented from taking the Gate and thereby gaining access to the Town. When the Wall was extended to protect that area, Coxside Gate, or New Gate, was erected. Martyn's Gate survived until 1789 when it was demolished at following an accident to one of the servants of the royal princes was injured while passing through it in a carriage. The cost of its removal was raised by public subscription. Coxside or East or New Gate was erected when the Town Wall was extended to include Breton Side. It was removed shortly after 1809. Jory's Almshouses stood nearby. Barbican or South Gate: removed in 1831. Hoe Gate: the last to be removed, in 1863. Strenuous efforts were made to preserve Hoe Gate, which had become the property of a Mr T W Fox. However, he could not be persuaded and sold the materials for £44.
Hoe Gate from the north side.
Hoe Gate from the north (Hoegate Street) and
from the south (the Hoe) Frankfort or West Gate: although rebuilt in 1661, was removed in 1783. When the expansion of road traffic led to the removal of this gate, a tablet was inserted into the walls of the Globe Hotel, which was inscribed:
It was only after these Gates had been removed that Plymouth started to grow to the north and east.
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