PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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ROYAL PARADE
Reputedly 150ft wide and built at a cost of £180,000. It was originally planned to have a roundabout at the junction with Armada Way but that proposal was dropped by the time road construction started on August 4th 1947. [1] Royal Parade was opened in two portions, the western end, from Courtenay Street to Westwell Street by HM King George VI on October 29th 1947 and from there to Saint Andrew's Cross, including Derry's Cross roundabout at the western end, at 9.15am on September 27th 1948, which was considered the official opening date. The Lord Mayor, Alderman H J Perry removed the "Road Closed" signs and drove through in the official car. The flagpole in the centre of Derry's Cross came from Rooker's Garden in the Guildhall Square. [2]
Royal Parade in the late 1940s, probably
1948, An amendment to the Plan for Plymouth authorised the elimination of the roundabout proposed for the junction of Royal Parade and Armada Way. The City Engineer was authorised 'to proceed forthwith with the construction of the east/west road (ie Royal Parade), and with the layout of the road junction of the east/west and north/south axis'. [3] Clearing and road construction started August 4th 1947 (however see Aerofilms photo dated May 1947 in Brian Moseley's "Vanishing Plymouth" indicating that clearing had already been completed). [4] The demolition of the Municipal Offices would be required 'at an early date'. [5] Resolved that the Municipal Offices be demolished. [6] Work on the demolition of the Municipal Offices was in progress and the City Engineer requested the removal of the City flag pole from Rooker's Garden, Guildhall Square. [7] The Ministry of Transport agreed to the flag pole being re-erected at Derry's Cross. [8] The first fatal accident in Royal Parade occurred on January 1st 1951 when Mrs Kathleen May of 19 Fairview Avenue, Laira, was in collision with a bus. She died on the way to hospital. [9]
Royal Parade in the early 1950s,
before the bus shelter was installed opposite the Co-op. The bus shelter that had been outside the Guildhall was moved in October 1956 down to the western end of Royal Parade, on the opposite side from the Plymouth & South Devon Co-operative Society's store. [10] Doctor Cezary Ikanowicz, the Polish Consul General, and Mr Bill Glanville, the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, jointly switched on the fountain in the centre of the Saint Andrew's Cross roundabout on Thursday October 23rd 1986. It symbolises the links between Plymouth and Gdynia, in Poland. The central jet of the fountain, capable of reaching a height of 30 feet, is surrounded by our smaller jets and 24 low, curving jets at the edge of the pool. The height of the jets is controlled by a "windometer", which reduces their height in the event of strong winds so that they cause no hazard to traffic. It was said that the fountain would cost £7,000 per year to run. [11] Sources (incomplete):
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