Plymouth Stonehouse 4

Stonehouse has an ancient history, starting as a village on Stonehouse creek where the large Princess Yachts complex is situated today. It dates at least as far back as Roman times and there were Roman settlements further up the river Tamar too. It's probably much older than that, given it's strategic location tucked out of sight from the sea but with easy access through Plymouth Sound.

Today it is one of the three towns that amalgamated into the modern city of Plymouth. Known land ownership dates back as far as the 13th century when the area was owned by Robert the Bastard. Yes, you did read that correctly, Robert the Bastard was the proudly illegitimate son of Henry I and the grandson of William the Conqueror. William sired a whole line of Bastards, most of whom were not actual bastards, by which I mean the family name was Bastard. If you take the opportunity to look inside a lot of South Devon's ancient churches you will find many tombs and memorials to various Bastards. The land then passed through various owners including the Durnfords and the Edgecombes. The land opposite Stonehouse Creek is still called the Mt. Edgecumbe Country Park and we start this section of the Stonehouse Walk in Durnford Street.

Stonehouse was a separate government district in 1872 and by 1914 was absorbed into the county borough of Plymouth.

Its most rapid period of growth was in the late Georgian and Early Victorian periods. This saw the building of Royal William Yard and St. Pauls Church that we saw in the previous post. As you walk out of Royal William Yard there are three main parallel roads. First Cremyll Street which we saw in Part One, then Durnford Street and finally Admiralty Street. These run roughly north south along the neck of land between Stonehouse Creek and Mill Bay.

This is Durnford Street which had a couple of world famous residents in the past. One was probably one of the most famous doctors of the Victorian era, although he was more famous for having another string to his bow, while the other celebrity was a military hero. We will also "escape" into Plymouth's entertainment past.

The houses in Durnford and Admiralty Streets are a lesson in social hierarchy. Although they are all built at around the same time and in the same style, you will notice that they are very different in scale and detail.

You could say that they all look very grand and impressive, and so they do. These were the homes of businessmen, doctors, Royal Navy captains and admirals, and status and wealth dictated which version of these houses you lived in.

This end of Durnford street in the south gives away the lie of the land. This is a rocky promontory that reaches out into Plymouth Sound and here is that natural rock bringing an abrupt end to the houses right here. That pale blue house that forms the end of this less showy terrace had a very famous inhabitant.

The building is Grade 2 listed as are many in this street. Late 18th century, stucco fronted, with its original doorway with fluted pilasters, an open pediment above a blind spoked fanlight, with panelled door and reveals.

The house is an early example of a status symbol. What is essentially a plain stone built box has Greek or Classical Branding as I am going to call it, designed to tell you about the sort of person who lives here. We don't know exactly when Hardy lived here but he was created a baronet on 29 January 1806. Did he live here aspiring to a baronetcy or did he live here as a baronet?

A pilaster as opposed to a pillar is an architectural device that resembles a pillar but is flat and decorative, not load bearing. A fanlight is as you might expect a fan shaped window, but again here, it is purely a decorative feature so is blind, in other words it has no glass. Even the open pediment is a decorative feature. The triangular roof above the door is open along its bottom edge showing it is purely decorative. A traditional pediment would be complete and designed to be load bearing.

"Here reputedly lived Admiral Sir T.M. Hardy Bart. C.C.B, born 1769, Captain of the Fleet at Trafalgar 1805, and witness to Nelson's immortal dying words aboard HMS Victory "Kiss Me Hardy". First Sea Lord 1830-1834, Governor Greenwich Hospital 1834, Died 1839."

Now we are moving up in society to something of a statement. It's a slightly later early 19th century town house some four times the size at least. Durnford Street was laid out in 1773 so this was one of the later properties to be built.

What we are seeing here is "a giant, Ionic order of distyle in antis under a moulded entablature". What on earth does that all mean?

Distyle in antis denotes a temple with the side walls extending to the front of the porch and terminating with two antae, the pediment being supported by two columns or sometimes caryatids. This is the earliest type of temple structure in the ancient Greek world.

So forget blind fanlights and open pediments and pilasters, this is your actual Greek Temple, no half measures. The two square columns are the antae and at the top of each is the moulded entablature. Along the top is the pediment and in between the antae are the Ionic style Greek columns. None of your flat decorative pilaster stuff going on here. The Greeks were doing this sort of thing back in 525 BC.

You can almost hear the developer selling this building to the owner....... Ionic columns are a style of classical Greek architecture characterized by a slender, fluted shaft, a base, and a distinctive capital with scroll-like volutes. The order is known for its graceful and decorative appearance, originating in the Ionian region of ancient Greece around the 6th century BC and used in buildings requiring elegance and refinement.

You are elegant and refined aren't you sir?

The lower orders lived further down the street in a little less than Greek splendour. These weren't the real lower orders though, they probably still had professions and certainly had servants. The lucky servants probably lived in the attics while those less fortunate didn't even live nearby. These houses were turn of the century 18th into 19th.

Charles Bracken in his 1932 History of Plymouth, explained the area thus, “It would be wearisome to recount the long list of grants and legacies by which the Durnford family became at last almost the sole owners of the manor. Suffice it to say, that by the end of the 14th century it possessed all the estates in Stonehouse, Plymouth, Maker, and Rame, which afterwards passed to the Edgcumbes.”

Now converted into apartments, and I counted 10 doorbells, a two bed apartment here would cost you about £166,000 at the moment.

Now walking along St. Pauls Church Road which links Durnford and Admiralty Streets, we come to this service road which runs between the two streets. Admiralty Street Lane. This lane formed the back entrances to both streets. It is interesting because it contains much that is original. The cobbled road surface and the gutters along the edge look like they have worn very well after two hundred years. Being granite, there's no reason to believe they are anything but original. This lane would have been used by servants, trades people and would also have accessed any stables and coach houses.

In Admiralty Street the houses are a little more ornate than those we have seen already, but are still modest in scale. Latterly some have acquired shop fronts.

The Plymouth and South West Co-operative Society Limited, known locally as Plymco, was founded in 1859 by ten tradesmen. The society grew from 18 members, as recorded on 3 January 1860, to a membership of over 130,000. Members approved a merger with the larger Co-operative Group (of which the society was a corporate member) at a series of members' meetings during 2009. The merger occurred on 6 September 2009.

When I saw this building, below, on the corner of Admiralty Street and Pound Street, my first thought was that it looked like a former pub. It just has that look. It is also opposite the main gate of the Marine Barracks, which means good business. After trawling through layers of old maps on line I was getting closer. Some old maps mark buildings PH for Public House which I managed to find, but it was the name I hoped for, and eventually there it was. The Longroom Inn. The BH opposite actually means Beer House and we'll come to that in a moment.

A strange name for a pub, unless you have already seen the name Longroom mentioned in the Marine Barracks over the road.

My research shows this pub existing at least as early as 1845 and as recently as 1992.

Pubs had many uses as buildings that were available to the public other than for drinking and socialising. I have come across many instances like this one of inquests being held in the local pub.

Western Daily Mercury - Wednesday 14 January 1863

THE CASE OF DROWNING AT STONEHOUSE. An inquest was held at one o’clock yesterday afternoon, before Allan B. Bone, Esq., County Coroner, and a respectable jury, at Mr. Maunder's Longroom Inn, Stonehouse, to enquire into the circumstances attending the death of Samuel Palmer, the finding whose body we reported in our issue of yesterday.

It appeared from the evidence adduced, that the deceased had been in the employ of the Millbay Soap Company for about 25 years, and some time since, Mr. Baker, the Superintendent of the Works, informed him that as the branch with which he (the deceased) was connected was decreasing in trade, his services would not, probably, be required in a month or six weeks hence.

After receiving this intimation, deceased appeared to be very much depressed in spirits ; but about a fortnight since he was appointed to another branch of the trade, and he was informed that he would be kept employed throughout the summer. This did not have the effect of quelling the depression of spirits which he had exhibited ; on the contrary, he became much more depressed. On Monday morning, he left his residence Hobart Terrace, Stonehouse, at the usual hour, to proceed to his work, taking with him, as was his custom, his breakfast, which consisted of four slices of bread and butter. He did not return to dinner, and his wife became alarmed at his absence. Enquiries were made for the deceased, and his body was subsequently found at the Life-boat House......The body was brought ashore, and put in the Life-boat House. Sergeant Ockford, of the Devon County Constabulary, stationed at Stonehouse, was communicated with, and he searched the clothes of deceased, which search resulted in his finding a tobacco box and comb only. He made enquiries, and succeeded in finding out who deceased was, and had the body removed to the Longroom Inn, where it remained until yesterday, when the Coroner’s inquest was held.

The Jury returned a verdict of "Found Drowned."

This is the northern range of military buildings over the road from the Longroom Inn, on the other side of the road is the southern range which was an extension to the site and on that site is the actual Longroom.

I will digress here briefly, as the Longroom has come up. The Longroom is shown here in the bottom right hand corner, it's that long room you can see. The Longroom, located within the former Royal Marine Barracks in Stonehouse was used as assembly rooms, an infirmary, and a school, and is now a Grade II* listed building within the barracks site, which is a military installation.

The Longroom predates the rest of the military installation which we saw in Part One on the tip of the peninsula. This old drawing shows Millbay from the Plymouth side. That water in the middle is now the ferry port, the building at the waters edge was a bath house and the long building in isolation is the Longroom.

Western Evening Herald - Saturday 01 February 1992

In May 1766 the streets of Plymouth were being paved, gutters were being sorted out and “lamps around the Town were the first set up” The Royal Naval Hospital on the southern bank of Stonehouse Creek had been opened comparatively recently and representations were being made to Parliament to gain the necessary permission from George III to build what was to become Stonehouse (H’apenny Bridge) across the Creek. Meanwhile further towards the end of the Stonehouse peninsula the Long-Room and the adjacent Baths were opened. At that time there was little else in this part of Stonehouse indeed the Long-Room was not even advertised as being in Stonehouse rather it was described as being “near Plymouth”. Despite its nearness however the Long-Room was really a little out of reach for the average Plvmothian and it certainly wasn’t intended for them “The Nobility and Gentry are respectfully acquainted that the Long-Room near Plymouth will be opened for their reception with a Concert and Assembly on Thursday May 12 next which will be continued every Thursday afternoon during the season.”

The Long-Room though was by no means the only attraction here for this was also the time that the English discovered the healthy joys of “Salt-Water Bathing” and here on the unspoilt banks of Mill Bay was” a very fine Beach” for patrons to enjoy. The baths can be seen here just to the left of the Long-Room on the water’s edge A machine was available for those who wished to bathe in the open sea There was also “A Tepid Bath provided for those who are more particularly afflicted and inquire its aid” That salt-water bathing was considered to be not just a pleasant pastime but also good for you was evidenced by the fact that as late as 1765 an advertisement for the Long-Room in the London Evening Post quoted at length a letter from the “late celebrated Doctor Huxham” Dated May 24 1766 it read: -“Gentlemen “Yesterday I saw and examined the Sea Baths you have lately built near Plymouth and must say I think them very elegantly constructed and exceedingly well adapted to the purposes they are designed for The beauty of the situation the salubrity of the air and strength and purity of the sea-water with which they are supplied cannot but highly recommend them to all persons that view them”

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Back to that BH opposite the PH. When I took this photo, below, I had not noticed that this pub had two names. The sign I saw from Pound Street was The Artillery Arms and when I researched it, not much came up. Having now started this post and looked more closely at my photos I see that it originally had a different name The Navy and Army Inn.

An announcement on 30th April 1935 states that Plymouth Breweries have had plans approved to amalgamate the Artillery Arms and The Army and Navy Inn, and both names are still displayed today.

It has been there as The Navy and Army Inn at least as early as 1824 and The Artillery Inn since 1935 and has been witness to both happy and sad events.

Western Courier, West of England Conservative, Plymouth and Devonport Advertiser - Wednesday 29 May 1850

The Royal Marine Band —We stated in a recent number that Mr. Stockham, the able Bandmaster of this Division of Royal Marines, was about to retire from that situation. We now learn that Mr. Rogers, of Chatham, has been selected by the officers to succeed Mr. Stockham, and will enter on his duties in a few days. The members of the Band, anxious to testify the esteem in which they held their leader, invited him, on Saturday evening last, to meet them at Quatremain’s Navy and Army Inn, Stonehouse, when Mr. Kilbee, on behalf of his comrades, presented Mr. Stockham with a very handsome silver snuff box ; and, in doing so, most deservedly eulogised the able manner in which Mr. S. had filled the responsible post for nearly quarter of a century. Mr. Stockham, who was deeply affected by this unexpected mark of regard from his old associates, expressed his acknowledgments in terms which showed the deep sense he entertained of this manifestation of their affection.

Express and Echo - Monday 19 November 1883

Mr. R. R. Rodd (County Coroner) held an inquest on Saturday afternoon last, at the Navy and Army Inn, Stonehouse, on the body of Jonathan Perkins, aged 36 who died suddenly at his residence on Wednesday night. The jury, after hearing the evidence, returned a verdict of "Death from natural causes."

So what was a beer house and why was it different to a public house?

A public house is a general term for an establishment licensed to serve alcohol, while a beer house is a specific type of public house that was legally limited to selling only beer and not wine or spirits. The term "beer house" became common after the Beer Act of 1830, which created a new, cheaper license for establishments that wanted to sell only beer, leading to the opening of many smaller, simpler drinking spots. The distinction between the two legally existed until 1960, though the term "public house" (or "pub") came to be used as a catch-all for all licensed drinking establishments, including beerhouses, by the Victorian era. Wikipedia

As I walk back into Durnford Street I pass this reminder that we are in an International European gateway.

In 1909 Harry Houdini famously came to Plymouth, and always being on the lookout for free publicity, he offered the local inhabitants a free spectacle when he jumped off Stonehouse bridge with his arms handcuffed behind his back, and with his arms in elbow locks linked to a chain around his neck. I'm willing to bet that at that time he was more at risk from the water quality than from the handcuffs.

‘Naked but for a pair of white knickers’ and ‘without betraying the slightest sign of trepidation, fettered and hampered as he was by 18lbs weight of iron, he stood for a few seconds in an upright posture, drew several deep inhalations until his lungs were visibly distended and then hurled his body forward into space. In falling, he gave a backward kick in order to balance his body. His head cleaved the placid waters and Houdini disappeared from view.’

45 seconds later, and up he popped to the cheers of the crowd. He swam ashore, didn't die of cholera, and jumped into a waiting cab to emerge fully clothed at the New Palace Theatre. I wonder if that 18lbs of iron still lies in the silt somewhere.

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Back in Durnford Street and I find these intriguing sentences, at intervals. Not familiar at first, they are quite intriguing.

Wait a minute, "gigantic hound"? That rings a bell.

Of course, it's elementary, this must be something to do with Sherlock Holmes.

Arthur Conan Doyle was in Plymouth for about two months in 1882, practicing medicine at a clinic with his partner, Dr. George Budd. He worked at No. 1 Durnford Street, Stonehouse, before leaving to start a medical practice in Southsea in June 1882. That end of the street is long gone, I suspect in World War Two bombing raids, as we'll see later.

Today Conan Doyle is thought of as a novelist but in his early writing career there were still those who thought more of him for his medical career.

Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art - Saturday 26 December 1896

I BELIEVE the Doctor sold his practice some years ago, after his first success in fiction. Yet, though I have read much of his writing, I never regard him as anything but a medical man. He is the first to have carried the bedside-manner into literature, and I rather like him for it. He is so strong, and shrewd, and brisk, and kindly. The very touch of his large cool hands is soothing. In the very glint of his gold-rimmed glasses there is something which inspires me with confidence. None would commend more heartily than I, the skill and patience he has brought to the treatment of many notable cases.

I had never thought of Conan Doyle as a philosopher, but he may just have had much to tell us today, at a time when many reject difficult truth in favour of pleasanter uncertainty.

The phrase "any truth is better than indefinite doubt" is a quote from Arthur Conan Doyle, most famously associated with his Sherlock Holmes stories, specifically in The Adventure of the Yellow Face. It suggests that it is preferable to know a difficult truth rather than remain in a state of prolonged uncertainty.

I continue along Durnford Street where we are still in Georgian style. This row are listed Grade 2. Late 18th century. Various pilastered doorways, blind spoked fanlights and open pediments, aplenty, along with the traditional upstairs downstairs arrangement, with servants areas below street level and accessed through separate gates and steps.

Durnford Street. Listed Grade 2 as a terrace of houses. Very early 19th century. 54, 56 and 62 have pilastered doorways with open pediments and fluted friezes;

Here the street runs along a grand military complex with it's formal entrance. This is the ROYAL MARINE BARRACKS ARCHWAY BLOCK. Grade 2* listed.

Guard house, officer's quarters and divisional offices, school, now chapel, including entrance block to marine barracks. 1867-71, by Colonel G Greene, Director of the Admiralty Works Department. STYLE: Baroque Revival. Double depth block with central archway and chapel over. Road front has central pedimented block projecting with fine carved coat of arms. An impost string links an arcade of 5 round arches with architraves over original hornless sashes with fanlight heads. There are mid-floor strings and rusticated quoin strips. Ground floor has channelled rustication surrounding small side arches and with large central round carriage arch rising into flanking ashlar masonry above which frames 2 round medallions with carved upper torsos. Historic England

This is a side view .

And guess what? The railings even have their own separate listing. Grade 2. Formerly known as: Railings along Durnford Street. The Western Boundary of Royal Marine Barracks DURNFORD STREET Stonehouse, R M Barracks. Railings on western boundary of Marines barracks. c1865, designed by Colonel G Greene, Director of the Admiralty Works Department. Dressed Plymouth limestone plinth surmounted by cast-iron railings with arrow-head shafts, and stanchions with ball finials and each with crown surmounted by lion.

Here on the left is the North Barrack Block, complete with basement railings, again listed Grade 2*. Formerly known as: N & E Blocks, Officers Mess, Dining Hall & Single Officers Accom. DURNFORD STREET Stonehouse, R M Barracks. Barrack block at Marines barracks. c1860, designed by Colonel G Greene, Director of the Admiralty Works Department; altered late C20.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: late C19 latticed and scrolled wrought-iron railings surrounding forecourt and flanking steps up to doorways. HISTORY: built to match the 1783 barracks, after the former N officers' wing was demolished when the barracks was enlarged by Greene in the 1860s, to enclose the C18 parade ground.

Stonehouse is the earliest and most important barracks in England not forming part of a fortification, a rare example of C18 planning, and a complex of great historical value.

As I walk further on I came across a different set of messages set into the pavement.

Captain D. H. Bernard was a maritime officer who created "The Nautical Telegraph Code Book" in the early 20th century to help seafarers send cheaper and shorter telegrams. The code book allowed a single word to represent a much longer, pre-determined message, which was particularly useful because telegrams were charged per word.

It is revealing of the time that it was thought necessary to have a special code for delivering evening dress.

Early codes were typically compilations of phrases and corresponding codewords numbering in the tens of thousands. Codewords were chosen to be pronounceable words to minimize errors by telegraphers, and telegrams composed of non-pronounceable words cost significantly more.

Are emojis a modern equivalent?

I am now on the final stretch of this walk and turn off Durnford Street into Barrack Place. From this point, old Durnford Street is gone and modern factory units and commercial premises abound. Long gone is the home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. For the first time I have been able to find old aerial photos and here is a photo from the 1940's of this end of Durnford Street and Barrack Place. The quality is not brilliant but the large areas of waste land are obvious.

Western Morning News - Friday 06 September 1946

PUBLIC NOTICES.

CITY OF PLYMOUTH.

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT, 1944.

CITY OF PLYMOUTH (BARRACK PLACE) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER. 1946.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Plymouth City Council, in pursuance of their powers under Section 10 (2) (a) of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1944, the Nineteenth day of August. 1946. made an Order, which has been submitted for confirmation by the Minister of Town and Country Planning, authorising them to purchase compulsorily as being land in the neighbourhood of an area of extensive war damage which ought be dealt with together land in that area the lands described in the Schedule hereto and directing that the provisions of the Act relating to expedited completion of purchase shall apply thereto..............

........The area of land shown edged and coloured blue on the Map hereinbefore referred to comprising the sites of destroyed or damaged dwellinghouses known as Numbers 84. 65, 86. and 87, Durnford Street, Plymouth in the event discrepancy between the written description and the said Map, the Map shall prevail.

Dated the 6th day of September. 1946.

Here is a curious looking survivor of the bomb damage. Marked on an earlier map of 1885 as a yard at the back of Emma Place Chapel then later a Sunday School and more recently in the mid 20th century as "Works".

Western Morning News - Saturday 06 July 1946

RELIGIOUS NOTICES.

ELIM FOURSQUARE GOSPEL CHURCH.

EMMA PLACE, STONEHOUSE.

GREAT MISSIONARY WEEK-END.

Speakers: Pastor K. McGILLIVRAY

(Mongolia), Mr. and Mrs CHOW

(of China).

TONIGHT. — 6.30 p.m.. OPEN-AIR SERVICE on HOE.

followed by Missionary Service

at 8 pm (in Schoolroom, Caroline Place).

From Barrack Place into Caroline Place, and as if to emphasise the violent past, here is a row of houses with the traces of its missing neighbour still visible. 5 Caroline Place has a broken arch adjoining it where 4 Caroline Place once stood.

The remaining houses 5-9 are listed Grade 2. A notable design feature which helps to emphasise those that are missing are the recessed segmented arched panels. Here is the bomb site.

Official Listing. Planned terrace of houses. Mid C19. Stucco; dry slate roofs with deep front eaves; brick end stacks. Double-depth plan, each house with probably 2 rooms at the front flanking a central entrance hall. 2 storeys; each house a symmetrical 3-bay front with recessed segmental arched panels to bays at left and right and plain recessed narrower central bay.

This brings me, finally, to the end of the walk where there is a view of Mill Bay and the ferry terminal. That ferry can be seen arriving at the port in Part One of this series where you can find out about Brittany Ferries history.

The Great Western Docks in Plymouth were developed in the mid-19th century by the Great Western Dock Company, with renowned engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel hired to design them to be a deep-water port connected to the railway. Construction began after an Act of Parliament in 1846, with the inner basin opening in 1857. The docks later became a key stop for transatlantic liners. On April 28, 1912, the surviving crew members of the Titanic arrived at the docks, and the docks were the departure point for Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition to the Antarctic in 1914.

Pictured in The Illustrated London News, to feature the official opening on 11th February 1857, at a cost of £250,000 or £14.8 million today.

Plymouth Stonehouse One

Plymouth Stonehouse Two

Plymouth Stonehouse Three