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PLYMOUTH ROADS AND STREETS
FRANKFORT STREET
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of Frankfort Street
Frankfort Street ran westerly from the
junction of Bedford Street and Russell
Street.
Origin of the name, Frankfort Street
The name
commemorates the old Frankfort Gate that stood until 1783 as the
western exit from the Town towards Plymouth Dock. The origin
of the name "Frankfort" is not yet known. There is no evidence
to support the suggestion that the fort at the gateway was under the
command of a man named Frank [1].
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History of
Frankfort Street
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There is a reference in
Worth's
"Calendar of the Plymouth Municipal Records" [2] to a deed which he
summarizes as 'Frankfort gate house newly built, lately in the
occupation of Thomas Gill, 1652'. As the
number and size of carriages and waggons got larger and heavier so
all the Town gates began to cause obstructions to the traffic and
they were gradually removed. Frankfort Gate was in a ruinous
state by the time it was pulled down in 1783. [3]
By 1812 Frankfort Street had appeared
but there was also a Frankfort Row, which Whitfeld states later
formed part of Frankfort Street [4]. |
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Frankfort Street was almost
completely destroyed during the Second World War, with only the brand new
offices of the Western Morning News Company Ltd surviving. Some Views of
Frankfort Street
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A drawing of the old Frankfort Gate, Plymouth.
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At the western end of Bedford Street
stood, until 1899, the Globe Hotel. Frankfort Street is on the
right. |
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The Globe Hotel is in the centre of this
picture, which also shows Kerswill's premises in Frankfort Street.
Russell Street went off to the left of the picture.
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A closer view of Kerswill's premises.
Over the archway to the Globe Hotel stables can be seen
the plaque put up by Plymouth Corporation in 1813 to commemorate the
demolition of Frankfort Gate. |
Occupants of Frankfort
Street
Principal Sources:
[1] This
claim was made by Mr Chris Robinson in the Evening Herald dated July
12th 1997. In this context Frank should be seen as a surname rather than a Christian name.
[2] Worth,
R N, FGS,
"Calendar of the Plymouth Municipal Records", 1893, page 201 (item 632).
[3] See
Town Gates and a transcription of the plaque.
[4]
Whitfeld. Henry Francis, "Plymouth and Devonport: In Times of War
and Peace", E Chapple, Plymouth, and Hiorns & Miller,
Devonport, Second Edition, 1900.
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