PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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The site that formed Westwell Gardens was formerly a burial ground for St Andrew's Church. The ground was cleared of graves and remains in the 1890s, when the older burial ground outside the Church was replaced by the St Andrew's Cross. However, before the site could be transferred from the Church authority to the Town,a faculty had to be obtained, as well as the sanction of the Local Government Board and the Home Office. Once placed in the hands of The Hoe and Recreation Grounds Committee, it was quickly transfomed into a public open space. At a public ceremony on the afternoon of Wednesday June 19th 1901, the Venerable Archdeacon Wilkinson, DD, on behalf of the Church, presented the Mayor, Mr R Risdon, with a silver key with which to unlock the main gates. The chairman of the Committee, Councillor Cumming, was also presented with a silver key by the contractor. The Gardens became a popular lunchtime spot for workers in the surrounding shops and offices and a Hansom cab rank was located nearby at which Plymouth's last cabman, Mr Jimmy Platt, operated before it became a taxi rank. In 1941 a bomb fell in the Gardens but it failed to explode. On Friday October 3rd 1947 a party of German prisoners-of-war were sent in to search for it. After the Second World War the area was turned over to temporary shops while the City Centre was being rebuilt. Work started on demolishing them in February 1957 and the last closed on February 15th 1959.
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