OLD DEVONPORT . UK
www.olddevonport.uk
 

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth
Webpage created: November 14, 2017.
Webpage updated: November 14, 2017

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ROADS AND STREETS IN OLD DEVONPORT

PRINCES STREET

Princes Street, sometimes spelled incorrectly as Princess Street, ran parallel with Fore Street from High Street westwards to King Street.  It was one of the principal business streets of the Town but no longer exists.

Princes Street, Devonport, 1765.

Benjamin Donn's plan of Plymouth-Dock clearly shows the original name.

It took its name, so Mr Whitfeld claims, from the fact that the Royal princes, Prince William Henry and his brothers, lodged in the Street during their time in the Royal Navy in the 18th century.

Princes Street, Devonport, is incorrectly named Princess Street on this map.

Whereas later maps changed the name to "Princess Street".

There were two lodging houses listed in Princes Street in 1812, one run by a Mr Drake.

Spare a thought for Mr William Gidley Emmett, a grocer at number 71 Princes Street.  One day in May 1863 he went in to his cellar, where he stored oil, carrying a lighted candle.  When it came into contact with the vapours from the oil it exploded with such force that the shop and the adjacent "Commercial Rooms", erected by Mr Thomas Husband, disappeared forever.  Mr Emmett's powdered remains were dug out of the rubble and buried at the Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery on May 28th 1863.  He was just 39-uears-old.

In 1914 there were only two Licensed Landmarks in Princes Street: the London Spirit Vaults and the Barnstaple Inn, both on the north side of the Street.  The most prominent building was the Hippodrome Music Hall, of which Mr G E Prance was then the manager.  The Plymouth Mutual  Co-operative and Industrial Society had a shop on the same side, along with a fish dealer, a general dealer, two hair dressers, a clothier and an outfitter, a baker, a butcher, and a boot maker, amongst others.  The Free Registry Office for Servants was at number 42, at the High Street end.

There were several shop keepers on the southern side along with a fishmonger and a fried fish dealer, a tobacconist, and a boot maker.  Chinas was sold by Mr Frederick T Hall at number 72.  But the most well-known premises were those on the corner with Marlborough Street owned by Messrs J C Tozer Limited, drapers.