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ROADS AND
STREETS
WESTWELL STREET
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of Westwell Street, Plymouth Westwell Street ran southwards from Bedford Street to Princess Square.
Origin of the name, Westwell Street
The West Well, being
the most westerly within the Town Walls, was in a field leading
alongside a path leading to the Hoe. The Well was apparently
filled in during 1810 [1].
See below for its
previous names.
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History of
Westwell Street, Plymouth
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What was to become Westwell Street is
shown on Benjamin Donn's plan of 1765 as Love Lane [2].
This Lane went from the Town to the Hoe and is reputed to have been
a favourite resort of courting couples. [3]
By 1778 the name had become Burying
Place Lane. This was because a new burial ground for
Saint
Andrew's Church had been opened on ground to the west of the
pathway. [4]
Its final name, Westwell Street,
had appeared by 1812 [5].
In 1864 there were fourteen properties
in the Street but this had risen to thirty-one by 1867. [6]
The Street gained in importance when
the Guildhall and
Municipal Offices were built on the eastern side
in 1874 and a new General Post Office was opened opposite Guildhall
Square, on the western side, ten years later. |
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Westwell Street was badly damaged in the Second World War but some of the shops on the western
side were able to re-open afterwards. The Municipal
Offices were destroyed and the remains pulled down to make way for
Royal Parade. The position of the
Guildhall, which survived the
Blitz, gives a good idea of the
line of Westwell Street.
Some Views of
Westwell Street, Plymouth
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%20BL.jpg) |
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Tram 11 on route 4 passing through Westwell Street.
The general Post Office tower is visible just left of the tramcar and the
western wall of the Guildhall is on the right.
© Western Morning News Company Ltd.
Buy a Copy |
Part of the western side of Westwell
Street
that
survived the Second World War, 1959.
© City of Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery.
Buy a Copy
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Occupants of Westwell
Street, Plymouth
Sources:
[1] Whitfeld. Henry Francis, "Plymouth and Devonport: In Times of War
and Peace", E Chapple, Plymouth, and Hiorns & Miller,
Devonport, Second Edition, 1900, quoting from the John Harris
unpublished manuscript "A History of Plymouth", circa 1815.
[2] Donn,
Benjamin, "A Map of the County of Devon 1765", facsimile, Devon
and Cornwall Record Society and the University of Exeter,
Exeter, 1965.
[3] Worth,
R N, "History of
Plymouth from the Earliest Period to the Present Time" published in 1890 (second
edition) by William Brendon & Son, Plymouth.
[4]
Whitfeld. Henry Francis, "Plymouth and Devonport: In Times of War
and Peace", E Chapple, Plymouth, and Hiorns & Miller,
Devonport, Second Edition, 1900.
[5] "The
Picture of Plymouth", Rees and Curtis, Plymouth, 1812.
[6] Street
directories for 1864 and 1867 held by the Plymouth Local Studies
Library.
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