Plymouth
2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British Cities; Great Britain
| Plymouth | |||
| — Unitary Authority — | |||
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| Nickname(s): Spirit of Discovery | |||
| Motto: Turris fortissima est nomen Jehova "The name of Jehova is the strongest tower" |
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Sovereign state | United Kingdom | ||
| Constituent country | England | ||
| Region | South West England | ||
| City status | 1928 | ||
| Unitary Authority | 1998 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Type | City Council | ||
| - Lord Mayor | Brian Vincent | ||
| - HQ | Civic centre building | ||
| - Wards | 20 | ||
| - UK Parliament | Plymouth Sutton South West Devon Plymouth Devonport |
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| - European Parliament | South West England | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 30.6 sq mi (79.29 km²) | ||
| Highest elevation | 509 ft (155 m) | ||
| Lowest elevation | 0 ft (0 m) | ||
| Population (2005 est.) | |||
| - Total | 246,100 | ||
| - Density | 7,989/sq mi (3,085/km²) | ||
| Time zone | GMT ( UTC0) | ||
| - Summer ( DST) | BST ( UTC+1) | ||
| Postcode district | PL1-9 | ||
| Website: www.plymouth.gov.uk | |||
Plymouth ( ˈplɪməθ ) is a city and unitary authority area in Devon, England, about 190 miles (310 km) south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym and Tamar, where they join Plymouth Sound. Since 1967 the unitary authority of Plymouth has included the suburbs of Plympton and Plymstock, which are on the other side of the River Plym.
Plymouth’s history goes back to the Bronze Age, when its first settlement grew at Mount Batten. This settlement continued to grow as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until the more prosperous village of Sutton, the current Plymouth, surpassed it. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers left Plymouth for the New World, establishing the first colony of the United States of America. During the English Civil War the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646.
Throughout the Industrial Revolution Plymouth grew as a major shipping port, handling imports and passengers from the Americas and the construction of ships, ranging from small fishing boats to battleships for the Royal Navy. This later led to its targeting and partial destruction during World War Two, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war the city centre was completely rebuilt.
Today the city is home to nearly 250,000 people, making it the 15th most populous city in England. It has its own city council and is represented nationally by three MPs. Plymouth’s economy is still strongly influenced by shipbuilding, but has since the 1990s become a more service-based economy with the 11th largest university in the United Kingdom. Its naval base, HMNB Devonport is the largest operational naval base in Western Europe. Plymouth has ferry links to France and Spain and an airport with national services.
History
Early history
Upper Palaeolithic deposits, including bones of Homo sapiens, have been found in local caves, and artefacts dating from the Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age have been found at Mount Batten showing that it was one of the main trading ports of the country at that time. Meanwhile the port of Plympton, further up the River Plym than the current Plymouth, was also trading by sea. But the river soon silted up and the mariners and merchants settled at the current day Barbican near the river mouth. At the time this village was called Sutton, meaning south town in Saxon. The name Plymouth, a back-formation from Plympton ("Plum-tree town"), was first mentioned in a Pipe Roll of 1211.
During the Hundred Years' War a French attack (1340) burned a manor house and took some prisoners, but failed to get into the town. In 1403 the town was burned by Breton raiders. A series of fortifications were built in the Tudor and Elizabethan era which include the four round towers featured on the city coat of arms; the remains of two of these can still be found at Mount Batten and at Sutton Pool below the Royal Citadel.
Renaissance Age
During the 16th century, Plymouth was the home port for successful maritime traders, among them Sir John Hawkins, who led England's first foray into the slave trade, as well as Sir Francis Drake, who insisted on completing his game of bowls on the Hoe before engaging the Spanish Armada in 1588. During their time locally produced wool was the major export commodity. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World from Plymouth, establishing the first colony of the United States of America.
During the English Civil War Plymouth sided with the Parliamentarians and was besieged for almost four years by the Royalists. Construction of the Royal Citadel began in 1665, after the Restoration; it was armed with cannon facing both out to sea and into the town, rumoured to be a reminder to residents not to oppose the Crown.
Rise of naval power
Throughout the 17th century Plymouth had gradually lost its pre-eminence as a trading port. By the mid-1600s commodities manafactured elsewhere in England cost too much to transport to Plymouth and the city had no means of processing sugar or tobacco imports, although it played a relatively small part in the Slave trade during the early 1700s. In 1690 the first Royal Dockyard opened on the banks of the Tamar and further Docks were built in 1727, 1762 and 1793. In the 18th century new houses were built near the dock, called Plymouth Dock at the time, and a new town grew up. In 1712 there were 318 men employed and by 1733 it had grown to having a population of 3,000 people.
Prior to the latter half of the 18th century Grain, timber and then coal were the greatest imports. In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was brought to Plymouth for two weeks before his exile to St Helena. During this time the real source of wealth and the major employer in the region became the dockyard. The Three Towns enjoyed some prosperity during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and were enriched by a series of neo-classical urban developments designed by London architect John Foulston. Foulston was important for the town and was responsible for several grand public buildings, many now destroyed, including the Athenaeum, the Theatre Royal and Royal Hotel, and much of Union Street. Some of the greatest imports to Plymouth from the Americas and Europe during the latter half of the 19th cenury included maize, wheat, barley, sugar cane, guano, nitrate of soda and phosphate. Aside from the dockyard, other industries such as the gasworks, the railways and tramways and a number of small chemical works had begun to develop in the 19th century continuing into the 20th century.
Twentieth Century
The city was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War in a series of 59 raids known as the Plymouth Blitz. Although the dockyards were the principal targets, much of the city centre and over 3,700 houses were completely destroyed and more than 1,000 civilians lost their lives. The redevelopment of the city was planned by Sir Patrick Abercrombie and by 1964 over 20,000 new homes had been built, but despite this in 1971 over ten percent of the houses in Plymouth were still occupied by more than one family. Devonport Dockyard was kept busy for many years refitting aircraft carriers such as the Ark Royal. By the time this work ended in the late 1970s the nuclear submarine base was operational. The army had substantially left the city by 1971, with barracks pulled down in the 1960s, however the city has become home to more Royal Marines.
Governance
Local government history
In 1914 the county boroughs of Plymouth and Devonport, and the urban district of East Stonehouse merged to form a single county borough of Plymouth. Collectively they were referred to as " The Three Towns". A provisional order was made on 2 May 1914, to come into effect in November. Plymouth was granted city status on 18 October 1928. The city's first Lord Mayor was appointed in 1935 and its boundaries further expanded in 1967 to include the town of Plympton and the parish of Plymstock.
The 1971 Local Government White Paper proposed abolishing county boroughs, which would have left Plymouth, a town of 250,000 people, being administered from a council based at the smaller Exeter, on the other side of the county. This led to Plymouth lobbying for the creation of a Tamarside county, to include Plymouth, Torpoint, Saltash, and the rural hinterland. The campaign was not successful, and Plymouth ceased to be a county borough on 1 April 1974 with responsibility for education, social services, highways and libraries transferred to Devon County Council. All powers returned when the city become a unitary authority on 1 April 1998 under recommendations of the Banham Commission.
City Council
The City of Plymouth is divided into 20 wards, 17 of which elect three councillors and the other three electing two councillors, making up a total council of 57. Councillors are also known as Members of the Council and usually stand for election as members of national political parties. Full local elections are held every four years with elections for one third of Council seats being held each intervening year; the total electorate for Plymouth was 184,956 in December 2003. The local election of May 2006 resulted in a political composition of 26 Labour and 31 Conservative councillors.
Council sessions have a Chairman and Vice-Chairman, who are entitled Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor respectively. The Lord Mayor also has a ceremonial role and historical regalia. The Leader of the Council has day to day power which is exercised as Chairman of the Cabinet and there is a leader of each political group. The Lord Mayor is elected annually in May; as at May 2008 Brian Vincent holds the position for the Labour Party. The dignity of Lord Mayor was granted in 1935, previously the office was simply Mayor – there have been over 540 holders of the office since its establishment in 1439.
The Lord Mayor's official residence is 3 Elliot Terrace, located on the Hoe. Once a home of Waldorf and Nancy Astor, it was given by Lady Astor to the City of Plymouth as an official residence for future Lord Mayors and is also used today for civic hospitality, as lodgings for visiting dignitaries and High Court judges. The Civic Centre municipal office building in Armada Way became a listed building in June 2007 because of its quality and period features, but has become the centre of a controversy as the council disagrees. In September 2007 the city council announced its application to demolish the building.
In Parliament, Plymouth is represented by the three constituencies of Plymouth Devonport, Plymouth Sutton and Southwest Devon. As of the 2005 General Election the two former constituencies are held by Labour MPs Alison Seabeck and Linda Gilroy respectively with the latter held by Conservative MP Gary Streeter. The city is part of South West England and Gibraltar in the European parliament.
Plymouth City Council is formally twinned with:
Brest, Brittany, France (twinned 1963)
Gdynia, Pomeranian Province, Poland (twinned 1976)
Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai, Russia (twinned 1990)
San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain (twinned 1990)
Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States (twinned 2001)
The city also maintains a link with:
Sekondi-Takoradi, Western Region, Ghana
and has educational and economic links with:
Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, China (since 2006)
Geography
Plymouth lies between the River Plym to the east and the River Tamar to the west; both rivers flow into the natural harbour of Plymouth Sound. The River Tamar forms the county boundary between Devon and Cornwall and its estuary forms the Hamoaze on which is sited Devonport Dockyard. Plymouth Sound is protected from the sea by the Plymouth Breakwater, in use since 1814. In the Sound is Drake's Island which is seen from Plymouth Hoe, a flat public area on top of limestone cliffs. The Unitary Authority of Plymouth is 30.8 square miles (79.78 km²), but the city of Plymouth, as cited from Plymouth City Council, is 30.61 square miles (79.29 km²). The topography rises from sea level to a height, at Roborough, of about 509 feet (155 m) above Ordnance Datum (AOD). The River Plym which flows off Dartmoor to the north east forms a smaller estuary to the east of the city; the mouth of this estuary is called Cattewater. On its south bank lies the outcrop of Mount Batten, the earliest-known settlement in the area; and on its north bank was the manor of Sutton which grew to form the present day city.
The geology of Plymouth has a mixture of Limestone, Devonians slate, Granite and Middle Devonian Limestone. The bulk of the city is built upon Upper Devonian slates and shales, which have been greatly folded and faulted and the rocks become progressively younger from South to North. The headlands at the entrance to Plymouth Sound are formed of Lower Devonian slates, which can withstand the power of the sea. A band of Middle Devonian limestone, formed from the coral reefs that grew in warm shallow waters, runs west to east from Cremyll to Plymstock including the Hoe. Local limestone may be seen in numerous buildings, walls and pavements throughout Plymouth. There is evidence within the city of the volcanic activity of the Devonian period at such places as Ford, Hartley and Plymstock. To the north and north east of the city the granite mass of Dartmoor has had a profound impact on climate and economic activity. Granite has historically been exported around the world via Plymouth. Rocks around the edge of the Dartmoor granite mass were not only changed by the heat of the intrusion but were also heavily mineralised by fluids driven by the heat. This has given rise to ores containing tin, copper, tungsten, lead and other minerals in the Tamar Valley. The middle Devonian limestone belt in the south edge of Plymouth and in Plymstock has been quarried for many years. There is clear evidence of former activity at West Hoe, Cattedown and Radford. Currently quarrying takes place at two sites in Plymstock where the limestone has been worked over the last hundred years.
In 1945 Sir Patrick Abercrombie's 1943 Plan for Plymouth was published to rebuild the city. It called for the destruction of the few remaining pre-War buildings in the city centre and their replacement with wide, modern boulevards aligned east-west linked by a grand north-south avenue ( Armada Way) linking the railway station with Plymouth Hoe. The Plan had to deal not only with the effects of the War, but also the pre-war defects of the city: much of the housing and many narrow streets were overcrowded. The main concern was for housing, and many prefabs were built by 1946, followed by over a thousand permanent council houses built each year from 1951–1957. By 1964 over 20,000 new homes had been built, more than 13,500 of them permanent council homes and 853 built by the Admiralty. To compensate for the large scale of housing Plymouth has a number of public parks, the largest of which is Central Park. Other sizeable green spaces include Victoria Park, Freedom Fields Park, Alexandra Park, and significantly, the Hoe.
| Climate chart for Plymouth | |||||||||||
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| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
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114
9
3
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92
8
3
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87
10
4
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59
12
6
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61
15
8
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57
18
11
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55
20
13
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69
19
13
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76
18
11
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95
15
9
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101
11
6
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116
10
4
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Imperial conversion
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Climate
Along with the rest of South West England, Plymouth has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is approximately 11 °C (52 °F) and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation, but due to the modifying effect of the sea the range is less than in most other parts of the UK. February is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 3 °C (37 °F) and 4 °C (39 °F). July and August are the warmest months with mean daily maxima over 19 °C (66 °F).
South West England has a favoured location with respect to the Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer. Coastal areas have average annual sunshine totals over 1,600 hours.
Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the south-west is from this source. Average annual rainfall is around 980 millimetres (39 in). The number of days with snow falling is typically fewer than ten per winter. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.
Demography
In 2005, Plymouth's population was estimated at 246,100 by Plymouth City Council, 5,380 more people than that of the last census from 2001, which indicated that Plymouth had a population of 240,720. The average household size was 2.3 persons. To the right is a graph showing the population change of the city since 1801. The population rose rapidly during the second half of the 19th century. The decline of over 1.6% from 1931 to 1951, including the period of World War II, is notable. Plymouth's GVA (a measure of its economy) was 3.501 billion GBP in 2004 making up aprroximately one quarter of Devon's economy. Its GVA per capita was 14,327 and compared to the national average ,of 17,115, it was 2,788 lower.
At the time of the 2001 UK census, the ethnic composition of Plymouth's population was 98.4% White, with the largest minority ethnic group being Chinese at 0.3%. In terms of religion, 73.6% of the population are Christian with all other religions represented by less than 0.5% each. The number of people without a religion is above the national average at 18.3%, with 7.1% not stating their religion.
