Detailed History: Devonport Park History Timeline

 

Early History

1086

The manor of Stoke Damerel, the site of modern-day Devonport, was granted to Robert de Albamarla by William I and recorded in the Domesday survey with twenty-five inhabitants. It then passed through the Courtenay, Kemiell, Branscombe, Britt and Wise families (3).

 

1539

Apart from Keyham Barton, the land east of the Hamoaze, the Point

Froward peninsula, was mapped as open ground, probably consisting of

agricultural land (figure 2). See maps   

 

1643

During the Civil War Monthouse, or Mount Wise, was mapped on Point

Froward (figure 2). Mount Wise was built by Sir Thomas Wise of

Sydenham, also lord of the manor of Stoke Damerel, to replace Wise’s

previous residence at Keyham Barton (3).

 

1667

Sir Edward Wise sold the manor of Stoke Damerel, which included the

Barton of Mount Wise, to Sir William Moris, or Morice, for £11,000 (76).  

William Morice was the Governor and Member of Parliament for Plymouth who, through his support for the restoration of Charles II, was knighted in 1661 and made the Principal Secretary of State (73).

 

1690

Sir William Morice died and the manor passed to his son, also William (3).

 

1691

Work on the dockyard began at Point Froward. The site was favoured for

its sheltered location and proximity to the very deep and nearly land locked harbour of the Hamoaze (46).

 

1692

The government set aside £23,406 for completing the yard at Hamoaze,

and this included enclosing the dockyard with a wall (73).

 

1696

A substantial wall had been completed around the dockyard, along with

thirteen officers’ houses (46).

 

1718

The admiralty leased an additional four and a half acres off Sir Nicholas

Morice on which to establish the Gun Wharf (73).

 

1725

Dock became the seat of the military as well as the naval government of the port of Plymouth (76).

 

1736

In Samuel and Nathaniel Buck’s West Prospect of His Majesty’s Dockyard near Plymouth  (figure 3), dedicated to Sir William Morice, the area of the dockyard is enclosed with a substantial fence or wall, visible to the left of the view. Immediately beyond the boundary is agricultural land comprising of hedged fields.

 

1739

A large area of agricultural land surrounding the dockyard was purchased

by the Admiralty under the Defence Act 31 Geo: II Cap 39. The Act was an act for vesting certain Messuages, Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, for the better securing of His Majesty’s Docks, Ships, and Stores, at Portsmouth, Chatham and Plymouth…. The several pieces and parcels of land, ranging North from the Gun Wharf Wall at Plymouth dock to the Wharf of Joseph Hooper, Shipwright, on the South was bounded and marked out for completing the Fortifications or intended for the security of His Majesty’s Dock Yards, Ships and Stores at Plymouth.  The report goes on to state how the commissioners and Jury held their first meeting at the Plymouth Dock, on the 11 Sept 1739, to award the purchased moneys to be paid for the lands belonging to the family of John St Aubyn, with compensations to some tenants, for lands belonging to the church.

 

The original 1739 plan of the land acquired was copied in 1848 by Samuel B Howlett, Chief Draftsman in the War Office, Whitehall (figure 4). The land that later became Devonport Park then consisted of fourteen hedged fields along with small portions of adjacent fields. Love Lane ran along the northern boundary, leading to the Hamoaze and the Lower Quarry. Field names indicate the existence of gorse (Furze) and claypits to the south east. At the far western end was a carpenter’s workshop. Around half the area was owned by Sir John St Aubyn Bart., with the remainder occupied by a variety of other local tenants including John Pritchard, John Spurrell and Timothy Bayley. The plan also shows how the northern boundary was redrawn by the Admiralty after they purchased the land, forming a straight Ordnance edge to the area with little relation to the original field boundaries (16).

 

1749

William Morice died without issue, and the Stoke Damerel estate passed

to his sister, Catharine, wife of Sir John St Aubyn of Clownance (3).

 

1755

William Wynne in his Travels Through Devon stated that Plymouth Dock;

…was in the memory of some people but a small barton or farm of £50 per annum, but by the present improvements and buildings on it is a large spacious place and produces its owner Sir John St. Aubins at least £3000 a year, good rents and well paid, it was left to him by his uncle the late Sir William Morice, whose father by his influence and understanding with public officers, procured this Dock to be built on his estate…(23).

 

1756    

Work commenced on the Dock Lines in response to the outbreak of the

Seven Years War. The Lines were dockyard fortifications, and consisted of an arthwork bastioned rampart fronted by a shallow ditch. The defences extended from New Gun Wharf, east to Granby Bastion and south to Devonport Passage and Mount Wise (10). They were designed by Mr. Smelt, thought to be an engineer in the dockyard (3).

 

1765

Donn’s map (figure 5) showed the completed dock defences and barracks, with the glacis as an open area. See maps

 

1779  

Alterations were made to the Devonport Lines in response to threats from French and 1780 Spanish fleets. A thousand Cornish miners were employed to assist with the works (3,10).

 

1784-6

The Ordnance Surveyor’s drawing (figure 5) depicted the glacis divided by field boundaries, in a more simplified arrangement than recorded in 1739.  The glacis was divided into five fenced enclosures, and a substantial fence also ran along the northern, eastern and southern boundaries, presumably to control trespass and grazing stock.

 

1788-9

A new road and gateway were built through the curtain of the earlier Lines to the west of Marlborough Bastion leading to the new ferry crossing to Torpoint (67).

 

1792

A plan by J. King (figure 6) showed an intended Cut or Aqueduct running

across the eastern half of the glacis to the Granby Bastion, providing the

Dock with a water supply sourced from the West Dart. The faint, dotted

line suggests that this section was to be piped underground (possibly to a

small circular reservoir within the Granby Bastion) (25).  

 

1809   

Further modifications to the Dock Lines were started including the

realignment of the lines west of Marlborough Bastion, a new rampart faced with ashlar, installation of sally ports adjoining some of the bastions, and deepening of the ditch. These works were abandoned in 1816 midway between George’s Bastion and Stoke Bastion when the Duke of Wellington declared the Lines to be useless (3,10).

 

The Ordnance Survey old series map (figure 6) recorded a new road crossing the western end of the glacis, presumably representing New Passage Hill, developed in conjunction with the extension of the dockyard.  The Dock Leat is plotted crossing the area.

 

1817

A plan illustrates the diversion of Fore Street (figure 7) by reason of certain works and fortifications made and erected by Order of His Majesty’s Board of Ordnance (24). The line of the trench was shown running between the glacis and the dock defences, and crossed by a bridge on the New Road. Further lines may denote Ordnance field boundaries. A small square structure was recorded in the northeastern corner of the glacis, possibly a guard shelter.

 

1820

Cooke’s map of Plymouth, Stonehouse, Dock, Morice Town, Stoke and

the Environs (figure 8) reveals the initial spread of development to house

the expanding population of Dock. Navy Row and what was to become

Portland Place and Gloucester Street bordered the glacis to the north, and Tamar Terrace ran along the eastern boundary, overlooking the open

ground towards the Granby bastion. See maps

 

1824

Dock was renamed Devonport (1).

 

1827

A further edition of Cooke’s map (figure 8) depicts a footpath running from Tamar Terrace, across the northern half of the glacis, and emerging into Portland Place, implying public access.  In the same year, Greenwood published his map of Devon (figure 8), which illustrates how the glacis remained open space despite the growing built up area to the north and east. One structure was shown in the glacis, midway along the northern boundary.

 

1828

A view of Hamoaze from New Passage Hill illustrated in Carrington’s

Plymouth and Devonport Guide depicts New Passage Hill in the

foreground (figure 9) as a landscape of grazed grassland and occasional

boulders, crossed by a worn mud path (75).

 

1834

A Survey of the Parish … of Stoke Damerel  showed the glacis in detail

(figure 10). As mapped in 1827, a small building had been constructed to

the north of the glacis, adjacent to the footpath. Of further note is a second footway, extending from Tamar Terrace to a gate in the fence along Fore Street. The glacis as a whole is labelled Brick Field, perhaps a reference to the earlier existence of clay pits in the area (20).

 

1837

The Municipal Borough of Devonport was incorporated by Royal charter (76).

 

 

 

1853

The Devonport Lines were strengthened south of the Granby Bastion.  Stoke .

 

1856     

Bastion was replaced by a much larger bastion to the south and George’s

bastion was remodelled to include a musketry keep and gun casemates

(10).

 

1856

In the minutes of the General Purposes Committee, the issue of trespass

on Ordnance land was addressed following concerns expressed by the

War Department. Five footpaths over the glacis were confirmed as being

unquestionable public rights of way, from Baker’s Place along the edge of

the Glacis and thence to Parsonage Bridge; Stonehouse Bridge to

Parsonage Bridge Tavistock Road, outside northeast barrier; Tavistock

Road to south end of Tamar Terrace; Tamar Terrace to Lower Portland

Place; Tavistock Road to Milne Place, below Exmouth Terrace. It was

proposed that swing gates and turnstiles be inserted to impress on the

minds of inhabitants the necessity of confining themselves to the use of

the paths conceded to them. However, in a letter to the Commanding

Royal Engineer at Devonport, the committee stressed the importance of

providing the public and the troops with areas for healthful recreation, and comparison was made with a public park in Birmingham. The committee stated that it was their duty to provide an attractive place of resort, which shall be free for all classes.

 

The northern section of the glacis was considered to be particularly well

suited and it was proposed to form a handsome entrance, with a lodge of

slight construction which could be easily demolished for purposes of

defence. Walks were to be well-constructed and planted appropriately and it was planned to level irregularities the ground making the area more suitable for military reviews. Surplus rental from grazing was to be used towards forming and beautifying the ground (21).

 

1857

The Devonport Corporation requested that the War Department leased the glacis to them:

 

In addition to the re-arrangement of the footpaths, the committee would beg earnestly to impress on the Council, the great importance of securing for the public the use of that part of the Glacis, which lies between Tavistock Road and the road from Marlborough Street to Keyham works, for the purpose of healthful recreation…the committee cannot bring themselves to believe that, considering the great increase in the population and the necessary occupation by the War Department of many open places to which the inhabitants have formerly had access, it would be deemed proper to demand other than very moderate terms for the use of this ground so necessary to the inhabitants, indeed the committee have reason to believe that, in the case of Hoe Park at Plymouth, an arrangement was agreed to in which this principle was handsomely admitted to by the Ordnance Department. (7)

 

The cost of developing the park was to be met by a £500 government grant to fund urban public parks; the Trustees of St. Aubyn; private benefactors and sponsors; and £250 from Borough rates. The conditions of the War Department were:

 

• An annual rent of £65 10 shillings
• Ground was to be kept clear during military drills
• Nothing was to happen that would embarrass military evolutions
• The troops were to have exclusive use of two cricket grounds
• The troops were to have free use of the park for football
• No roads were to be constructed other than shown and all cutting and levelling of the ground had to be approved

 

A version of the first edition Ordnance Survey 1/500 map (figure 11),

owned by the Plymouth City Museum, shows a detailed survey of

Devonport Public Park. The information it supplies is confused by a

number of later additions and amendments, including the removal of the

Granby bastion and the addition of the Admiralty and Ordnance

Reservoirs.  Three faint lines on the original probably denote fence lines,

dividing the park into four areas.  Also marked are the two paths from

Tamar Terrace, as in 1834, but with a third linking path running northwest

to southeast; and a park boundary wall with the town and an entrance

through the northern boundary, which includes a lamp post.   No building

is shown situated adjacent to the northern boundary of the glacis as in

1834, suggesting its demolition by this stage.

 

1858

The General Committee minutes for May declared that the Corporation

was bound to erect a lodge, keep up the park in proper order, and provide a ark keeper, who is to be a police constable. Major General Eden had directed that troops were not to exercise horses on the Glacis so as to prevent injury to the Paths, Turf and Plantations (21).

 

By April, work had begun on laying out the park with authorisation being

given for the purchase of a fountain and four bases (1). A commemorative date stone was located above the main park entrance, with a further commemorative plaque at the New Passage Hill entrance (40).  The lodge and other park structures were designed by Alfred Norman of Plymouth; construction work was undertaken by Messrs Arnold & Son and George Perkins; seeds were supplied by the Plymouth Seed Company.   In November the Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Herald reported on the first trees being planted either side of a sixteen-foot wide gravelled walk extending, funds permitting, as far as the head of New Passage Hill. They also commented that the walk from Tamar Terrace had been re-gravelled; that the entrance had been finished excepting a few panels which are to be filled in with Minton’s tiles, or some similar material; that the entrance gateways were being proceeded with and that, even in an unfinished state, these were considered to have a very imposing appearance; and that the band of the 69th Regiment will play select pieces of music every Friday afternoon (44).

 

1859

A statement published in the Council minutes for December showing the

total amount of receipts and payments in respect of the Public Park

provides a useful summary of the initial works on Devonport Park

(appendix 4). Alfred Norman was recorded as the superintending architect; George Perkins, the main builder; and Messrs. Arnold and Sons, also involved with construction, were responsible for ordering Iron Gates and Railings, Iron Vases, Roller and Goods from the Coalbrook Dale Company. Plants and Trees were supplied by the Plymouth Seed

Company, and Rhododendrons etc.were ordered from Messrs. Waterer,of

Bagshot, Surrey. A Bath Stone Vase had also been purchased, along with

a pedestal and fixing from the Tamar Granite Company.  The Bath stone

vase was probably the memorial erected to the greatest British

commanders of the day: Francis Drake (d. 1596), John Churchill, Duke of

Marlborough (d.1722), William Pitt, Lord Chatham (d.1778), Horatio

Nelson (d.1805), and Arthur Wellesly, Duke of Wellington (d. 1852). It has

been suggested that a common link between these men was that they all

defeated the Spanish (40).

 

A local resident, Thomas Hawker, challenged the legality of paying for the

park through the rates in the court. This delayed the construction of the

park which continued sporadically over the next thirty years (1).   

 

1860

In the Handbook of Plymouth, Devonport, Stonehouse, etc., Henry Besley described Devonport Park as being:

Formed by public subscription and a grant from the government. Nearly forty acres are here enclosed, laid out with walks and planted with trees and shrubs. Seats are placed about in the most pleasant spots, for the accommodation of the public, who here enjoy occasionally the enlivening strains of one or more military bands. Fine views of the Hamoaze and the northern suburbs are obtained from many parts of the ground (4).

 

1861

Devonport Park accounts published in the Council minutes record two

payments to Mr Pontey for Trees and Shrubs (33). Mr Pontey was

probably Alexander Pontey, a nurseryman of 21Cornwall Street, Plymouth (30). Reference was also made to the completion of the Centre Garden which included a payment to Olver, for Rockery (33).

The Pontey family owned two nurseries in Plymouth, which they

advertised regularly in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, and were highly

regarded, visited by John Loudon. Alexander Pontey ran the town nursery and specialised in plants imported from South America and the Cape (47).

 

1863

A fountain commemorating Admiral Sir Charles Napier was erected

adjacent to the entrance lodge (1). Sir Charles Napier (1786-1860) was an Admiral in the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), Syrian Campaign (1840)

and Crimean War (1854).  He fell out with the Admiralty, but remained The Sailor’s Champion and campaigned for Naval reforms. The memorial was funded by sailors who gave up a day’s wages (40).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

1865

An illustration of Devonport Park included in a handbook of Plymouth,

Devonport and Stonehouse (figure 12) shows a view looking southeast

towards Stonehouse and The Sound revealing the context of the park. The Lodge, Napier Fountain, entrance gate and railings, and memorial garden, appear to be complete. Mown grass and wide walks are visible, used by strolling families and couples.    

 

1867

The first edition Ordnance Survey 25” map (figure 15) appears to reflect

the 1857 survey, without the late 1850s developments.  Around the same

time Heyden’s map of Plymouth, Devonport, Stonehouse, Stoke, Morice

Town, Ford and the Neighbourhood did show the Council’s park

improvements (figure 15). A new network of walks had been created that

integrated and enhanced the three existing glacis footpaths.  Other

additions included the Lodge and Napier fountain, two new entrances

reached via steps off New Passage Hill and Lower Stoke Road; a wide

surfaced area in front of Tamar Terrace; the suggestion of a further new

entrance off the junction of William Street and New Passage Hill; and faint circles around important path junctions presumably denoting areas of planting.

 

1860s  

There are records of cricket and rugby being played in the park (6).

1871. A memorial in the form of a small obelisk was erected near the

Napier fountain to commemorate the paying off of the ship, HMS

Galatea (40).

 

1872

The bird’s eye view of Plymouth published in the Illustrated London News

(figure 16) shows the extent of planting around major path junctions and

entrances, as well as a number of individual trees, including part of an

avenue along one of the main walks. The view also gives a sense of the

nature of the park boundary with the dock defences, the deep trench that

separated the two, as well as the place of the park as a predominant open space within the ever-growing developed areas of Devonport and

Stonehouse.  No bandstand is shown near the Lower Lodge

suggesting that this was not in place by this date.

 

1874

The park included walks, trees, shrubs, arbours, seats etc.with a splendid

recreation ground and fine promenade, with a beautiful view of the

surrounding scenery. It was also the venue for the annual military review

held on the Queen’s birthday and was tastefully laid out flower gardens, in which are fountains and figures, a rockery and other pleasing

embellishments (1).

 

1876

The Western Daily Mercury published an enthusiastic article on Devonport Park. Peter Tavy declared that the Park was without question one of the best exercise and play-grounds to be found for many miles around. He describes entering the Park from the Stoke-road through large iron swing gates with well-planted and carefully kept gardens on either side. To the right was a very picturesque lodge, the residence of the park-keeper, a superannuated member of the police force. The fountain opposite the Lodge he considered to be of very good design, consisting of a centre piece and what Tavy quotes as nasty, naughty, naked little boys blowing up jets of water generally on Sundays during the summer season.  Around the fountain and in the neighbouring enclosure were some large garden statues standing on pedestals which included Cupid and an effigy of a young girl holding a wreath.  

Tavy considered the Park to be tastefully planted with half-a-dozen small

plantations, and a big one at the top of the hill where the five roads meet.

He also describes a capital walk under the bastion wall, a good place for a constitutional when the grass is wet and comments on numerous seats,

one or two of them being the favourite resorts of naval and military

pensioners. The recreational value of the Park was fully appreciated with

hundreds of men and boys resorting there in summer afternoons and

evenings to play cricket. Younger children played on the side of the hill

sloping towards Morice Town with boys playing hide and seek amongst

the plantations to the detriment of the trees. Tavy concluded that

Devonport Park was a source of daily pleasure to some hundreds of

people and he hoped that it would be many years before it was required

for other than the present purpose (39).

 

1880

R.N. Worth in his Guide to the Three Towns enthused about the extensive views from Devonport Park, taking in Mount Edgcumbe with its fine old mansion, Stonehouse, Devil’s Point, Victualling Yard, Drake’s Island, Breakwater Hoe, Citadel, Cattedown, Mount Batten, the higher parts of Plymouth, the hills of Dartmoor, Morice Town, Hamoaze, and the hills of Cornwall and Hingston Down (66).

 

1882

The section of Devonport Lines between Devonport Road (Fore Street)

and Passage Hill (Devonport Hill) was demolished and infilled (10).

 

1890

The Plymouth, Devonport and South West Junction Railway Company

opened a line running from Devonport to Lydford in June. Construction

was expensive due to numerous engineering works, including three

tunnels, with one running under the eastern half of Devonport Park (22).

In the published accounts for this year, the Devonport Corporation

recorded the salaries of the Park Gardener and Park Keeper as £15 and

£9 respectively for twelve weeks’ work. T. Jenkin and Son were paid for

erecting a Stone Wall and Iron Railings in the Park (50).

 

Early 1890s

A number of undated photographs (figures 12 and 13) of the Napier

Fountain and the Lower Lodge show well kept gardens and a working

fountain.   Bedding plants were used in the fountain pool wall, and there

were substantial planted urns, mature shrubs and trees, including a

monkey-puzzle, and a clipped hedge enclosing the Napier Fountain

garden. Also visible is the shallow pitched roof of the Lower Lodge

bandstand. The absence of the Technical School clock tower date these

images prior to 1897.

 

1891

The Secretary of State for War agreed to sell the park to the Corporation

of Devonport, and the Corporation resolved that an application be made to the Local Government Board for their sanction to a loan of the sum of

£5,200 for the purchase of the freehold of Devonport Park. Contractors,

Messrs. Lapthorn & Goad were prepared to enter into a Contract for the

erection of the Works for the sum of £4,550 (50).

 

1892  

Council Minutes record that the Park Committee were presented with a

plan and estimate for laying out proposed new roads and paths in

Devonport Park by Mr Upcher with a recommendation that he be paid

£100 for the work. Also this year, Messrs Lapthorn and Goad were paid

£300 for demolishing the Devonport Lines and the Devonport Water

Company were paid for supplying water to the Park Urinal, Fountain and

Lodge (29).

 

Mr Upcher was probably Reginald Upcher, a London landscape designer,

engaged by the Penzance Corporation in 1889 to produce plans for

Morrab Gardens, a private garden which they had recently purchased and intended to convert into a municipal park (37).

 

The Ordnance Survey second edition 1/500 map (figure 17) provides a

detailed plan of the park.  The bastions had been demolished, the dock

reservoirs constructed and most of the trench infilled. A substantial wall

and fence had been erected, keeping members of the public out of the

dock reservoirs, the latter cutting across, and diverting, an earlier footpath.  Two additions to the park’s network of walks were shown, one running northwest to southeast connecting the Portland Place footpath to a main path junction; and the other leading from a new park entrance in the northeast corner, simplifying an earlier arrangement of two branching

paths. A second pair of branching paths, in the northwest corner, had been removed by this stage.  

 

Other additions to the park include the provision of a urinal, a bandstand,

a rectangular enclosure adjacent to the eastern park boundary, and furtherareas of planting around three of the entrances, with particularly

extensive planting, enclosed by what was probably a low wall and railings, around the main Lower Lodge entrance. Glasshouses had also been constructed in this area, suggesting a stronger horticultural element to the park.  Many of the shrubberies were drawn with a solid line, implying that they were enclosed by fencing or a low hoop-top railing. Lamposts were installed along the major routes, as well as seats along the edge of four shrubberies.  Twelve individual stones, possibly former field boundary markers, were also recorded, along with man-hole covers and water valves.

 

1893

The War Department officially conveyed a portion of the Glacis of the

Devonport Lines, known as the “People’s Park”, Devonport to the Mayor

Alderman and Burgesses of the County Borough of Devonport. The

Sanitary Authority was responsible for the purchase in pursuance of the

powers vested in them by the Public Health Acts and the Open Spaces

Acts 1877 to 1890. It was stated that, for the time being, the Sanitary

Authority was not to build any structures on the park without written

consent from the War Department, and that the Authority was responsible

at all times for the maintenance of the park as ornamental grounds and

flower beds (this was taken from a copy of this agreement produced in

1940 for the South West Water Board) (17).

In February, the Parks and Pleasure Grounds Committee set out a plan

and the estimated costs of park improvements. This provides a useful

summary of their intentions for Devonport Park, which included:

 Excavating and making paths of 25 feet, 15 feet and 8 feet widths;

 Constructing entrance steps from William Street to Park;

 Removing and altering the Band Stand;

 Building a house for the Park Keeper, Lavatory etc.;

 Shrubs and planting;

 Creating shelters;

 Improving park boundary fences with dwarf wall and railings;

 Forming slopes at New Passage Hill and Portland Place (29).

Council minutes for April recorded a letter of support for the plan from the Devonport Mercantile Association. They listed a number of suggestions and comments which included:

• Widening the steps at the head of Fore Street
• Shifting the oval path to absorb present east-west paths
• That the path from the corner near the Sheep Pen to the Lodge entrance was unnecessary
• That reclaiming the path along the edge of the Trench from opposite the Royal Albert Hospital to Reservoir was an advantage
• It would be good to set aside a space for children to play (29).

 

The Park Committee minutes noted a resolution that the existing Bandstand be utilized as a shelter. The committee was also recorded as selecting a site for the erection of the ornamental building (Park Keeper’s Lodge etc.) on the western side of the Park. They also selected a spot in the middle of the oval for a bandstand. In July the Park Committee examined ten sets of plans for a New Park Keeper’s Residence and Shelter in Devonport Park (34).

 

Accounts in the Council minutes for this year include the payment of 18 shillings to James Bros. And Co. for Cast Pots and Flower Pots; the Devonport Gas Company for supplying gas to Lamp in Park; Parsons and Oliver for seeds and bulbs; T.J.R. Chalice for trees; and, in April, R. Upcher £100 for fee for plans (29). T.J.R. Chalice (1840-1921) was a proprietor of the South Devon Nurseries, Plympton (30).

 

1894

The Mayor of Devonport, Alderman W Waycott, laid the first sod for the park improvements in March.

The architect was Mr S Roberts and the contractor was Mr A. N. Coles. The first tree of these works was planted in the Park in October by the Chairman of the Park Committee, Alderman J May. A procession left Devonport Guildhall led by the Borough Band; Borough Police; the Fire Brigade; the Mercantile Association; the Schools Board; the Local Board Commissioners; Borough Officials and members of the Corporation (3).

The Park Improvement accounts in the council minutes for this year included a payment to Sparrow and Co. for limestone for rockery work; S. Roberts for preparing quantities for Park Keeper’s Shelter;

A.N. Coles on account of contract for erecting Park Keeper’s Shelter and then later, in October, on account of contract for erecting Park Lodge and Shelter; T. Jenkin and Son for contract for foundations for Bandstand; The Coverack Stone Company for kerbing and channelling; Western Independent for advertising Tenders for Bandstand; Willoughby Bros for Pattern Iron Railings and Patent Gulleys; James Healy on account of contract for alterations to the Park Gardener’s Lodge and Greenhouse; £312 to James Allen and Son for Bandstand.

 

In December Robert Veitch and Son, nationally renowned nurserymen from Exeter, were paid £400 for plants and shrubs. In the same month, T.J.R. Chalice was paid for preparing a plan for planting the Park

(thus questioning Meyer’s involvement) (29).

 

1895

The Gardener’s Chronicle reported to its readers that Mr Meyer of Exeter, landscape gardener to Messrs. Veitch & Son:

 

 …has grasped the idea of what a park laid out for the use of the public ought to be; that the walks and other ways should have a purpose, and one of these is to give ready access to every part, without being needlessly circuitous. Plenty of paths in a public place perform other services besides this one – they do much to preserve the verdure and general good appearance of the turf, which for the lack of them would surely suffer.

It will be noted that this plan differs from most in having no walk which skirts the boundary the entire length – a good innovation, we think, insomuch as it does not permit of an easy comprehension of the extent of the enclosed area. Of the intended planting we are unable to form any just estimate, so much depending on the species and varieties of tree and shrub made use of; but we may say that it does not err on the side of excessive planting, and lessening the area of open spaces.

 

The short article was accompanied by a plan of Devonport Park Improvement (figure 18). Proposed new, sinuous paths were integrated into the pattern of the original network of predominantly straight

walks.  A lodge and fountain surrounded by a small formal garden were proposed for the highest point in the park, and the new bandstand was located at the centre of a wide oval walk dominating the centre

of the path network. Additional informal shrub and tree planting was planned around nearly all the path junctions, with a few isolated shrubberies in open parkland between (8).

Meyer was a German-born rockwork expert who had studied at the Royal Horticultural College, Silesia and was employed by Robert Veitch. By the 1870s, Veitch and Son, with Meyer’s expertise, were one

of the two leading companies specialising in the design of rock and water gardens (48).   

 

In November The Gardener’s Chronicle published another enthusiastic account of the People’s Park, Devonport:

 

This beautiful park, acquired a few years ago from the War Office authorities, is now the freehold of the Corporation of Devonport. The total cost was somewhere about £10,000. With characteristic public spirit, the Corporations of Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport, have been liberal in laying-out their new possession, nor did they limit the carrying out of the work to local effort; for while the actual laying out was executed by local labour, the plan was furnished by and the supervision of the work entrusted to Messrs. ROBERT VEITCH & SON, nurserymen, Exeter. The park opened on Monday, October 28, by the Mayor of Devonport, Mr J. Bright James, in the presence of a large and influential assemblage of the citizens and borough officials. To commemorate the event a Quercus Ilex was planted by the Mayor, who, borrowing the language of another craft, declared the tree to be “ well and truly planted”. A public a luncheon followed, at which Lord ST. LEVAN (the Lord of the Manor), General Sir RICHARD HARRISON, Dr. MAY, the Mayor, and other public officials were speakers. The park is a great improvement and attraction, and its excellent situation has been made the most of by the landscape gardener (9).   

 

The Park Improvement accounts in the Council minutes for this year included additional payments for £50 and £180 to Robert Veitch and Son on further account contract for Plants and Shrubs; James Julian for erecting Park wall and railings; W Truscott for Park Seats; D. Sale for Garden Seat; Transfer of costs incurred by the works commenced in setting back wall and railings in front of the Park Lodge; The Devonport Gas Company for laying out a gas service to the Bandstand; S Roberts for Architects fee on contract; E.H. Littleton for Uniform for Park Keeper; The Devonport Water Company for supplying water to the Park Lodge, Fountain, New Park’s Lodge, Urinal; T Jenkin and Son on account

of contract for the erection of the Lodge and Shelter, Urinals and w.c.s in the Park; Captain Bradley for Gravel (29,31).

 

Council minutes from September noted that the oval path in the park had been declared in a fit condition and that the Parks and Pleasure Grounds Committee could permit the use of it for cycling (29).

 

The Ordnance Survey second edition 25” map (figure 19) shows a scaled down version of the 1892 1/500 survey, prior to the park improvements.

 

1896

Accounts published in the Council minutes for this year included payments of £2 to Curtis Sandford and Co. and T.F. Curel for plants; J.R. Chalice for shrubs; the Devonport Water Company for water supply to

the Old and New Lodges; D. Sale for iron seats; W.J. Hocking for painting Band Stands. The minutes also noted a vote of thanks to Mr and Mrs Bennett for their gift of a handsome Sicilian Marble Fountain to be erected in the Park (31).  

 

1897

F. Moreton and Co. were paid for Ornamental Hurdles etc.; Robert Veitch and Son 15 shillings 9 pence for trees; and G. Trafani £1. 10 shillings for Fern Vases (31). It was also noted that a sketch was submitted by the Coverack Stone Company showing the proposed erection of the fountain presented by Mr and Mrs Bennett; that a drinking fountain, presented by Mr H Pile, was to be fixed against the west side of the Park Shelter; that a proposed gift to the Park of five pairs of golden pheasants and a

pheasantry in celebration of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee was to be rejected; hat a post in the Milne Place entrance was to be removed and replaced with a lamp; that a memorial tablet commemorating the cutting of the first sod by Alderman Waycott, and the formal opening of the park by Alderman James was to be affixed on the north exterior wall of the Park helter in the blank window beneath the verandah; that damage had been done by sheep that were not within the enclosure; that the railings

near the Morice Town portion of the Park had been wilfully broken; and that the Park Lodge and Shelter should be insured against fire for £400 and £800 respectively.

 

An avenue of sixty trees to commemorate the Jubilee was also proposed this year. Prices for the trees were submitted by Messrs Veitch and Son, Mr William Gray, Mr T.R. Chalice and the Exeter Nursery Company. Mr William Gray’s quote of £9 for 60 Horse Chestnuts was accepted. The Admiralty was consulted about giving up ground on the north side of the Reservoir so the avenue might be straight (32).

 

1898

A photograph in the Francis Frith Collection (figure 13)  shows the memorial garden with cast iron and wooden slat park benches, a light gravel path surface, the Lower Lodge and an open view of Brickfields

and Mount Wise in the distance.

 

1899

Alderman Ryder J.P. was presented with the freedom of the Borough of Devonport by the Town Council. It was in the form of a scroll contained in an ornate metal casket, decorated with enamel miniatures of Devonport. These scenes include a charming view of the Lower Lodge depicting the

Napier Fountain, Lower Lodge, and Tamar Terrace (figure 12 and cover).

 

1900

The Park Committee discussed a proposal for inclosing of all the flower beds and shrubs in the Park with ornamental railings of 2 feet 6 inches in height (36).

 

1900 -10  

A range of postcards and photographs of the park from Higher Lodge, focussing on the bandstand and the fountain (figures 20 and 21) show slight variations in the view and include the erection of a hoop-top

fence around the Higher Lodge fountain enclosure; the subsequent planting of a hedge alongside this fence, in a young, semi-mature and mature state; slight variations in the fountain flower bed design

including a patriotic red cross at one stage; the addition of planted vases on pedestals amongst the flower beds on the four sides of the fountain; the planting of yuccas in the lawn on four sides of the fountain; and the construction of a fenced, asphalt enclosure around the bandstand. Other features of note include the bushy, evergreen, informal shrubbery planting; a bench around the trunk of a tree at a principal path junction; the old bandstand; possibly grazing sheep dotted in the distance; the Victorian carriage lamps; and, possibly, an information board in the Valentine Series view visible in the shrubbery to the right of the bandstand.   

 

Photographs were also taken of the Lower Lodge after 1901(the construction date of the Fore Street tramway) (figure 13) when Fore Street and the Park entrance had a granite cobble surface.

 

1904

The Doris Memorial Gun was unveiled by Admiral Sir E. H. Seymour. It was designed by Harry Hems to commemorate the crew of HMS Doris who had died fighting alongside the army at the Battle of Paardeberg in 1900 (26). The opening was reported and illustrated (figure 22) in two articles in the Western Daily Mercury. The gun was considered to be one of the chief ornamentations of the ground which would add to the value and interest of the park as well as being a trophy of valour. During the

unveiling ceremony a laurel wreath was laid by two inmates of the Orphan Asylum whose fathers had been killed in the Boer War (27). The gun was also illustrated in a Francis Frith postcard, and appears in an area of open lawn, enclosed with a low hoop-top railing.

 

1904

The Admiralty proposed the erection of an unclimable iron fence on land belonging to the Corporation adjoining the Admiralty Devonport Park Reservoir (figure 23), presumably to reduce trespass into the area around the reservoir.  This was an additional fence to the existing line of railings with a length of chevaux de frise (13).

 

1907

The Ordnance Survey second edition 25” map  (figure 24) records the many changes to the park as a result of the works proposed in the mid 1890s and illustrated on the Improvement Plan.  Apart from a number of isolated shrubberies and detailing around the Higher Park Lodge, the complex network of sinuous paths, the new bandstand, fountain, lodge and the proposed additional planting had all been implemented by this stage.  The old bandstand was plotted as a shelter.

 

1908

Requests were noted and approved in the minutes for a Bowling Green.  An asphalt enclosure around the bandstand was also recommended, and according to Gerald Barker, laid out for parties and performances in the bandstand, lit by electricity supplied from the Tamar Terrace tramway (35,51).

 

A view of the park from Higher Lodge looking northwest (figure 21) shows the newly installed Doris Memorial gun with its surrounding planting scheme consisting of a number of a large informal shrubberies, divided by lawn, with the area around the gun enclosed by a hoop-top railing fence.  Also revealed is the sheltered seat shown as a substantial roofed structure with the upper half opened up by vertical bars.

 

1909

A plan and estimate was proposed for a shelter near Stopford Place, off Tamar Terrace (36).

 

c.1910  

A photograph of Higher Lodge (figure 22) shows how the building and its decorative veranda formed the backdrop to the rose garden and fountain.  The lodge has decorative ironwork along the pitch of the roof and the veranda appears to be painted in more mixed colours that the current black and white, with a dark balustrade, and light columns.  

 

1911

A description in Doidge’s Annual concluded that Devonport Park was beautifully situated and that the pretty Swiss Cottage at the entrance gates made a charming picture. It went on to state that the Lodge

was surrounded by flower gardens and that on the opposite side was a handsome terracotta fountain (74). The text was accompanied by a sketch of the Lower Lodge entrance showing the fountain in full

working order and members of the public entering the park only from the right hand pedestrian gate (figure 13).

 

1914

The townships of Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse merged to form Plymouth City (41).

 

The Park keeper was assisted by local labourers for maintenance of order in the daytime (77).

 

The Ordnance Survey third edition 25” map showed that few developments had occurred since 1907 (figure 25). A wider enclosure was shown around the bandstand and a lavatory was marked to the rear

of Higher Park Lodge.  The loss of some trees west of the oval walk may reflect the creation of a new playing field.

 

1921

Boys and girls from the Morice Town Council School were recorded as having open-air lessons in Devonport Park. It was referred to by the Board of Education as a novel experiment which was only to be approved if proper hygienic seating accommodation should be supplied, and there should be an effective movable screen to shelter the scholars from the bad winds. The matter was referred to the Local Education Authority (19).

 

1923

A War Memorial, designed by Mr C Cheverton and built by Mr J Hunt, was unveiled by Lord Methuen on 14 March (3).  The committee responsible for the memorial was led by Lord St Levan who proposed

that it would serve to point out the path of duty to those who come afterwards should they receive a call similar to that which brothers and sisters have so nobly responded (5). An undated photograph (figure

9) shows the memorial adorned with a large number of wreaths and flowers, either at its opening or at a subsequent Remembrance Sunday.

 

1930

Gerald Barker in his reminiscences of Devonport recalled two tigers escaping from a circus marquee in Brickfields, one of which was reported roaming in Devonport Park (51).

 

The Maternity and Child Welfare Clinic set into the north boundary of the park was opened by the Mayor and Mayoress (54). The purpose was to monitor children from birth, guide parents, provide vaccinations, and nutritional supplements (5).  Council minutes recorded the proposal of an iron fence around the clinic, and that the proposed sale of refreshments at the Lodge in Devonport Park was accepted (54).

 

1931

The proposed expenditure on the Park for this year included £30 for plants and flowers, £150 for repairing and tar spraying paths, £250 for illuminations and £40 for New Swings and Giant Stride (56).

 

1933

The Ordnance Survey map (figure 26) recorded the additions to the park of the bowling green, war memorial, child welfare centre, putting green and two tennis courts with a small pavilion. Mature planting was shown north of the Admiralty Reservoir and slight alterations had been made to the field boundaries behind the Higher Lodge and in the gardens west of the Lower Lodge, steps at the Fore Street southwest entrance had also been removed.

 

Throughout the 1930s the ground floor of the Higher Lodge was let to refreshment caterers and in 1933 H. Mardon was granted a twelve month tenancy. Also this year, the minutes recorded a request by the Devonport Mercantile Association requesting the decoration of ornaments in Devonport Park  and Mr H. Whiddon, the Devonport Park Head Gardener, died after 34 years service (57).

 

1934

The City Surveyor was asked to submit an estimate for the costs of renovating and redecorating the Lodge, and the replacement of sheds with a new storage and mess room (55).

 

1935

The Park and Recreation Committee minuted proposals to improve the barren area of Devonport Park.  A month later the committee recommended that £2,400 be used to renovate existing paths and make

repairs to the shelter of that portion of the park.  Plans were also made to convert the old bandstand into a closed shelter (58).

 

1936

W. Dudley Coles’s tender of £91.5s.10d was accepted for the Erection of Shelter in Devonport Park and the Lower Park Lodge roof was renewed (59).

 

1937

In November, plans were submitted and approved for the west end of Devonport Park which included additional paths, a shelter and the extension of the children’s playground equipment.  £2,400 was to be

borrowed from the Ministry of Health (62).

 

Photographs of the Napier fountain and garden (figure 14)  show the flower beds planted with tulips, wallflowers and other bedding plants, progression in the railing design from a more ornate pattern around the entrance to simple vertical rails either side, clipped shrubs and trees, and the floodlighting of the fountain with gas lamps on stands.

 

1938

The Committee reported securing the loan for the purpose of the layout of the Western end of Devonport Park, the City Architect submitted a report and estimate in connection with the provision of a new Bowling Green Pavilion, the City Surveyor submitted a quotation of £34. 5s from Wicksteed & Co. for the supply of playground equipment, and that contracts be extended with W.A. Parker (Workington), Hollamby’s Nursery Ltd. and Conway’s Ltd. (Halifax) for the supply of fencing, trees and shrubs, and turf respectively (49).

 

1939

The City of Plymouth Emergency Committee minutes for September proposed the construction of a Trench Shelter for 450 people in Devonport Park (18).

 

1940

The Government approved an air raid shelter for 600 people, at a cost of £2,250, referred to as opposite Milne Place (18).  Devonport Park was a Balloon Barrage Site and the park’s refreshment pavilion was used as the personnel office, while the tennis courts were utilised by the A.T.S. In

September, a recommendation was made to the Committee to use Park railings as scrap (41,63).  Roy Pattison, a Devonport Resident, remembers the park being closed to the public, although he was

allowed to collect clothes from the servicemen for his mother to wash (77).

 

1941

The Emergency Committee Minutes refer to five Cleansing Stations that were under construction in Plymouth including one in Devonport Park (60). These were decontamination units erected in case gas or other toxic weapons were used (5).

 

1942

Glasshouses in the Park Nursery were packed with tomato plants, as part of the war effort (figure 13).

 

1943

The Admiralty and War Department conveyed the Devonport Park reservoir and water mains to the City of Plymouth (12).  

 

1944

Gerald Barker recalls that American troops were stationed in the park for the greater part of the hostilities, erecting billets (51).

 

1945

The Gas Cleansing Station in Devonport Park was converted for use as a Scabies Clinic (61).

 

1946

An aerial photograph shows Devonport Park littered with war-related activities (figure 27).  Small square patches, the sites of huts for the American troops run along the main walks, with larger huts at the centre. A large circular reflective surface on the Putting Green may be a temporary reservoir; the turf marks along the northern boundary plot the air-raid shelter; and the Gas Cleansing Centre is also visible.  Other changes included the play area west of Higher Park Lodge, with the consequent rearrangement of paths in this area including the diversion of the Jubilee Avenue; and an extended bowling pavilion.

 

1950

The Doris Gun Memorial was restored by the Ordnance workshops of the RNB (71).

The 1:1250 Ordnance Survey map (figure 28) of the eastern park records an additional shelter at the Stopford Place entrance, relocation of the putting green to the south of the tennis courts, a drinking fountain near the Higher Lodge, and extensions to the Higher Lodge, including a lavatory block.

 

1955

A scheme of illumination included the floodlighting of Devonport Park, Fore Street Gardens, and fairy lighting of the trees along the main avenue from the Fore Street Gardens, the main entrance facing

Brickfields and the Devonport Park Fountain (52).

 

An aerial photograph (figure 29) reveals the removal of both bandstands since 1950.  Sections of newly surfaced paths stand out; the Napier and Sicilian Fountain Gardens consist of neatly finished flower beds; New Passage Hill has a revised layout with a new path and shelter; a new piece of play equipment, possibly a paddling pool, has been added to the play area.

 

1956

The Western Independent reported on a proposal to incorporate the disused reservoir adjoining Granby Barracks, but not as a swimming pool or boating lake. The Mayor, Alderman H. Damerell, stated that the future of Devonport Park was very uncertain because of the road which it was proposed to make across the centre of it. The Old Moat was also discussed, as it was considered to be a nuisance, dangerous and full of rubbish.  Alderman Damerell stated that it would probably be filled in, as it was no longer used by the Devonport Rifle Club (42).

 

The Health Committee proposed to demolish the Scabies Clinic and former Gas Cleansing Centre, at an estimated cost of £315 (53).  

 

1957

Park Avenue was built, subdividing the park (6). This was a costly scheme to redevelop the Albert Road area, and provoked much discontent amongst Devonport inhabitants still living in the substandard

conditions of the heavily bombed area (43).    

 

1961

It was resolved to convert the Scabies Clinic into changing rooms to serve the park’s playing pitches at an estimated cost of £300 (64).

 

1962

The Parks and Recreation Committee proposed to erect a shelter in Park Avenue, at the junction with Exmouth Road (65).

 

1964

The Southern railway line underneath Devonport Park was closed (22).

 

1966

The Ordnance Survey map (figure 30) shows the addition of a variety of new structures in the nursery Compound.

 

1970

The Ordnance Survey map (figure 31) for the majority of the park, except for the Lower Lodge area, plots the impact of Park Avenue; football grounds, including one on the site of the Admiralty Reservoir; and a miniature cycle track adjacent to the play area.

 

1977

The Ordnance Survey map for the western end of the park (figure 31) shows a widening of the Ferry Road and Park Avenue junction, resulting in the rearrangement of the adjacent footpath, moving the entrance from Park Avenue further to the south.

 

1980s

A number of pieces of demolished stonework from City Centre buildings bombed during the war were placed in the park (77).

 

1982

Two sisters aged 11 and 12 sent a petition to the Council asking them to improve the poor condition of Devonport Park (38).

 

1984

Due to a clerical error, the tennis pavilion was demolished instead of the Gas Cleansing Centre (77).

 

1989

Plymouth City Council leased the land, buildings and premises situated at Higher Park Lodge to Higher Park Lodge Limited (69).  The last park keeper was removed and the team of ten dedicated gardeners reduced to two.  Shortly afterwards the parks service’s training centre in the old nursery was transferred to social services, and the lodge vacated (77).

 

1992

A training centre was established to train students with disabilities to work in horticulture, woodwork and retail, through the garden shop. The centre is responsible for conserving part of the National Collection of Camellias (5).

 

The Ordnance Survey map for the northeast section of the park (figure 32) records the extension to Higher Lodge, the removal of the tennis pavilion, and the rearrangement of the Stopford Place entrance with the removal of the park boundary, breaking up of the boundary shrubbery and the creation of a pedestrianised area closing Exmouth Road to through traffic.

 

1994

A fountain was said to have been restored (68).

 

1995

An article in the Evening Herald included recollections of Devonport Park, and commented on how it was used by the dockyardies during their lunch break and how children used to play football on a cinder pitch (38).

 

1997

The South and West Devon Health Authority launched a new Healthy Parks Initiative focusing on Devonport Park. An information leaflet was produced summarising the history of the park (38).  

 

2000

Lower Lodge was listed as Grade II (40).

 

2001

The Evening Herald reported on a proposal to sell off Devonport Park Lodge, having stood empty for five years and subject to vandalism (38).

 

2002

The Devonport Regeneration Company purchased the right to have first refusal over the use of Lower Lodge, although it remained in the ownership of Plymouth City Council (77).

 

The Doris Memorial Gun was listed as Grade II(71).

 

2003

Devonport Development Framework was prepared for the Devonport Regeneration Company by Matrix Partnership(83).

 

An examination of the Doris Gun paintwork, commissioned by Plymouth Museum, discovered that the original colour of the gun was a dark grey, but when it became a memorial in 1904, every part of the gun was painted a warm buff/grey as, it is thought, was the low iron railing. Between 1904 and 1950 the gun was painted seven times in various shades of ‘stone’ colour. As the paint was based on lead white, it suggests that these repainting jobs took place before the Second World War, and therefore took place approximately every five years. In 1950 the ironwork was stripped, primed with chrome yellow, and painted black with a grey undercoat. The gun has since continued to be repainted in black

approximately every thirteen years, apart from the third post-war repainting, which was in a dark green. During the last repainting (circa 2002), it appears that the wooden wheels of the gun were replaced (71).

 

A public consultation exercise sought views on how the community wanted to use Devonport Park; 272 people completed the questionnaire (72).

 

2003-05

Twenty-eight criminal offences were reported as taking place in Devonport Park (77).

 

2004

The Green Space Strategy for Devonport Park was produced by the Parks Service and the Devonport Regeneration Company. Bailey Partnership updated a 2001 condition survey of the Lower Lodge, and

the first Devonport Lodge steering group meeting was held to discuss its development (72).

 

2005

Parkside Community Technology College use the park pitches for football and rugby, and the paths for cross-country running (68).

 

Devonport Park: historical overview

 

Early History

From 1539 onwards, there is no evidence that the early use of the site of Devonport Park was other than as low grade agricultural land, stoney small fields with gorse, partly tenanted glebe land, but partly owned by the Wise family of Sydenham and, later, Sir William Morice.  Sir William may have recognised the strategic potential; it was his great-nephew who eventually benefited when he procured this Dock to be built on his estate (23).

 

 

Dock Glacis

The advent of the Seven Years War in 1756 increased the importance of Dock as an Admiralty port, and resulted in the erection of the Devonport Lines, massive stone fortifications and trenches, enclosing the dockyard and defending it from landward attack. The farmland acquired by the Admiralty formed open ground or a glacis for these fortifications.  The straight Ordnance boundary lines, unrelated to the historic field pattern, continue to define some of the boundaries of Devonport Park to this day.

 

Portsmouth and Chatham were the other major Admiralty dockyards of the period; Chatham enclosed with a perimeter wall but more for general security than serious defence, as Fort Amherst with its associated ‘lines’ protected the yard from landward attack. Portsmouth dockyard, being on an island, was in part defended by its natural topography, although additional protection came with the Hilsea Lines, high earth banks and a moat, started in the early 1750s and strengthened in the mid-nineteenth century. The design of the Devonport Lines and glacis were, therefore, a particular response to the siting of Plymouth dockyard; sporadically improved and altered at the outset of various conflicts, they were never actually tested, and were criticised by Wellington, resulting in their abandonment in the mid nineteenth century.

 

The Dock glacis underwent a number of modifications during its 120 year military life.  The perceived military role remained even when a park lodge was proposed in 1856 as this had to be easily demolished for purposes of defence. Meanwhile, the Admiralty and army barracks used the glacis as a training ground for military evolutions, drills and sports. Activities such as these probably account for the various minor structures evident on late eighteenth and early nineteenth century maps of the area.  

 

From 1827 onwards footpaths across the glacis were being identified by contemporary cartographers, footways most clearly visible in the 1834 survey. This, along with a view of New Passage Hill from 1828, suggest the growing pressure on the increasingly- isolated patch of green space by civilians living in the rapidly expanding towns of Devonport and Stoke.  With a population of 38,180 in 1851, Devonport was the second largest town in Devon (79). By 1856, trespass over Ordnance land reached a peak, with the Council reporting five footpaths that were considered to be public rights of way, designated through sheer frequency of use.   

    

Devonport Public Park – 1857-1890

The upshot of this public access and population pressure was the request by the Devonport Borough Council for a lease of the northern section of the glacis for public recreation, establishing Devonport Park.  With various conditions, and presumably bearing in mind criticism by the Duke of Wellington, the Admiralty and the War Department agreed.

 

It was not only trespassing and a burgeoning Devonport population, however, that influenced the decision of the Council.  The comments recorded in the minutes for 1856 are evidence of the start of a Victorian town planning strategy that was sweeping the country, that of the Public Parks Movement.  As Harding and Lambert have pointed out, until the middle of the nineteenth century, pleasure grounds were the domain of the wealthy. The creation of public parks for the masses was a consequence of the phenomenal growth in the population that accompanied the Industrial Revolution.  The squalid urban conditions that arose as a consequence of this unplanned growth and the reaction to, in particular, the cholera epidemics of the 1840s, led to the beginnings of the Public Health Movement (80). However, concern for the welfare of the poorer members of society was not entirely altruistic; fear of a proletarian revolution and the preservation of property rights were equally potent factors (81).

Official recognition of the need to create public parks dates from a report of the Select Committee on Public Walks in 1833, which advocated public parks  because they would provide contact with nature, opportunities for passive recreation and, most importantly, opportunities for financial investment where they were developed with new housing. Coincidentally, the first of the great municipal parks was created in the same year, when Moor Park was enclosed by the local council at Preston. Another early act of park creation was undertaken by the ubiquitous and indefatigable John Claudius Loudon. In 1835, he laid out a public garden of three acres for the Corporation of Gravesend, a pioneering event in municipal patronage. The way he approached the design is of interest. He set out to transform a dull, flat site by making the ground more uneven, by laying out winding walks whose views continually changed, by concealing the boundary, and above all by planting trees and shrubs whose variety was unequalled outside any botanical garden (82).

 

In 1840, the Select Committee on the Health of Towns issued a report recommending an Act of Parliament to facilitate improvements to the sanitary conditions to all towns above a certain population. In the same year, John Claudius Loudon designed the Derby Arboretum, a private park which was to be opened to the general public at certain times. In 1842 Prince’s Park (Paxton Park) Liverpool, a project undertaken in conjunction with housing development, was commissioned from Joseph Paxton. In 1846 Victoria Park, Bethnal Green, was opened, funded partly by the sale of government property and partly from sales of building plots around the periphery of the park. Also in 1846, an Act of Parliament was passed to purchase land for Battersea Park. From this period onward the number of new parks increased rapidly, at the initiative of private patrons, local authorities and central government. In 1849, for example, Hansard reported that £10000 had been voted for establishing public parks between 1841 and 1849. Dundee, Arbroath, Manchester, Portsmouth and Preston had all made use of this scheme.

 

The pace of park creation was not everywhere the same. In Bristol, for example, the lack of open space provision led to popular agitation and an anonymous pamphlet of 1871 entitled ‘A cry from the poor’ demanded people’s parks in poorer areas.

 

Interestingly, a public park in Birmingham was cited by councillors in Devonport as a comparative example to their proposed public open space. This was presumably the Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Garden laid out in 1831 and considered by John Loudon to be a model of a scientific public garden, but in execution, a miserable failure. Although it is unlikely that Devonport was ever proposed to be a botanic garden, a Devonport councillor may have been familiar with Birmingham simply because it was one of the more southerly examples of an urban public park. With the exception of London, most of the major mid-nineteenth century public parks were to be found in the towns and cities of northern England, and consequently Devonport Park was an early example, if not the first example, of such a park in the south west.

 

As well as the Public Parks Movement, the creation of Devonport Park must also be seen in the context of mid-nineteenth century Devonport. White describes a fashionable town growing around the dockyard comprised of fine terraces of neat villas, as well as some large mansions, of more than ordinary character (76). Meanwhile grand statements of urban design in the neo-classical style had been realised in central Devonport, with work by the architects John Foulston and George Wightwick. The monumental Doric column commemorating the establishment of Devonport suggests the extent of the corporation’s pride and ambition. A public park, considered to be at the forefront of contemporary urban design, was presumably seen as an essential addition to this fashionable and busy town with links, through the Navy and trade, to the whole British Empire.

 

Devonport Park’s initial phase of development was a relatively modest affair, despite its forward-thinking beginnings, and this was probably largely due to the continued overriding control and conditions enforced by the War Department.  However, what was constructed in the initial years, and the various sporadic additions over the following thirty years, was thoughtfully designed and laid out in line with the approach to the wider town. The Swiss Cottage-style architecture of the Lower Lodge, for instance, was typical of early Victorian park and garden design, appropriately aesthetic with Alpine overtones symbolising health and fresh air. Furthermore, the record of purchasing products from the Coalbrookdale Company, exhibitors at the Great Exhibition, shows a desire to acquire top-of-the-range, fashionable park features.

 

The introduction of park facilities that followed over the next thirty years, such as the urinal, bandstand and seating, the development of the gardens around Lower Lodge, and the popularity of the park suggested in contemporary reports, point towards an increasing sense of civic involvement, enjoyment and, above all, pride in what was termed in 1893 as the People’s Park, Devonport.   

 

Devonport Public Park 1890-1940

With the demolition of large sections of the Devonport Lines, the War Department felt secure enough to sell the portion of glacis forming Devonport Park to the Borough Council, and it was duly conveyed in 1893. This finally gave the Council free reign to redesign the park and establish a greater range of public facilities.  The scale and character of this reworking is evident from the dating of the various paths (figure 34).

 

It has been generally accepted that F.W. Meyer was employed to re-design the park, principally because the Gardeners’ Chronicle, a national gardening magazine, reported on the new park layout in 1895, and attributes its design to Meyer working under Veitch & Son. However, in 1892, when the Park Committee are selecting plans for the new layout, it is another designer, Mr Upcher, who is paid £100 for his work and Meyer is not mentioned.  In 1893 the Devonport Mercantile Association commented on the proposed plan for the park, and suggest ‘shifting the oval’. This implies that Upcher’s design included the oval walk, was that illustrated and wrongly attributed in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, and that it is his lay out design that remains today. Furthermore, it is not Meyer, but a local nurseryman, T.J.R. Chalice, who is paid for a planting plan for the park in 1894.

 

It now appears that Meyer was not the only designer involved with refurbishing Devonport Park as previously thought. However, regular payments were being made to Veitch & Son and so it is quite possible that their landscape designer had some role to play in the location and arrangement of the plants supplied. It is possible that the Gardeners’ Chronicle may be recording a planting scheme inspired by Meyer, designed to improve Upcher’s layout.

 

By the late nineteenth century, public parks were increasingly subject to philanthropic gestures made by local wealthy citizens.  With Devonport Park, the 1890s improvements saw the donation of various gifts; the Sicilian Fountain by Mr and Mrs Bennett; a drinking fountain presented by Mr H Pile; and the proposed, but unaccepted, gift of a pheasantry in celebration of Victoria’s Jubilee. Also comparable to wider trends of public park development, was the increase in recreational facilities.  The Bank Holiday Act of 1871, and the increased trend of time off on Saturday afternoons, resulted in an increase in personal leisure time, and consequently organised sports and outdoor activities such as cycling rose in popularity.  The oval walk in Devonport Park was declared suitable for cycling in 1895, and by 1933 the park had been provided with a bowling green, tennis courts and putting green.

 

A further, minor phase of development of Devonport Park took place in the 1930s.  1933 saw the death of the Park’s head gardener, H. Whiddon, who had been in service since 1899.The flurry of suggestions for park improvements that followed from 1934 to 1938 are perhaps evidence that Whiddon had resisted change in the past.  Additional paths, a shelter and an extension of the children’s play area were all added during this pre-war period, and photographs reveal a formal garden laid out around the Napier Fountain. Interestingly, the Council minutes reveal a move away from local suppliers for the basic requirements of fencing, trees and turf to companies in Workington and Halifax, suggesting an increasingly competitive market for wholesale suppliers in the changing economy of the mid-twentieth century; with transport less of an issue the Council could afford to shop around, presumably to the detriment of local companies. The Devonport Park italianate shelter is very similar to a number of park shelters erected in Torquay, also in the late 1930s. These were supplied to Torquay Town Council by a local building company, T. Bouttens and Son.

 

Devonport Park in the Second World War

The Second World War was to have a severe impact on Devonport, the Plymouth Blitz devastating vast areas of the town and its dockyard in two successive air-raids in April 1941.  Devonport Park, like many of the Plymouth parks, played a considerable part in the war effort, housing American troops, air-raid shelters, a Gas Cleansing Centre in case of the anticipated gas bombs, a barrage balloon station, a water-tank, and its park railings were sawn off for scrap. While in use during the war, the park was closed for recreation, but in the desperate times it was still an essential space for the community, and its role is widely remembered by older residents of today’s city.  

 

Post War

Despite the evidence for a well-maintained, restored Devonport Park after the chaos of the war, there does not seem to be the fervent attention and vision for the park, typical of the pre-war era. The pressure on the Council, now Plymouth City Council, to rebuilld Devonport inevitably made public parks a lower priority. The objections to the expense of developing the Albert Road area and laying out Park Avenue reveal some of the tensions between the local communities and the Council.

 

With the exception of some investment in the 1960s on a new shelter and the conversion of the Scabies Clinic (formerly the Gas Cleansing Centre), there generally seems to have been a slow decline in the expenditure and consequently the condition of Devonport Park since the war, which accelerated markedly after the removal of the last park keeper and eight out of and ten gardeners in the late 1980s.  Significant elements of the 1890s park have been removed or leased, not to mention the loss of the park railings, crucial to the definition and identity of the park, never replaced after the war. This move away from the original design concept and function of the Victorian park, principally accentuated by economic factors, but also due to social change in the demands of twentieth century society, has resulted in an open space which has lost some direction, when contrasted to the once grand civic statement of Devonport town planning.

 

Appendices

Click on the buttons below to open files of the various appendices from the above timeline. Some of these files are quite large so may take some time to load.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figures

Click on the buttons below to open PDF files with the figures from the above timeline. Some of these files are quite large so may take some time to load - fig 17 is very poor quality and may not load on some pcs, our apologies..