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Plymouth History, United Kingdom

Plymouth, UK - History: Tale of shattering destructions and rejuvenating developments

History of Plymouth reveals significant impressions of the Paleolithic age, Bronze Age and the middle Iron Age. The name of Plymouth was originated by Plympton, meaning the plum tree town.

But unfortunately, the town suffered an egregious shattering after the French 1340 AD attack during the hundred years of war, as it was burnt by the Breton raiders. Later during the Elizabeth era, extensive fortifications took place in Tudor, the remains can still be found at Sutton Pool and Mount batten. Later in the 16th century, several maritime traders created Plymouth as one of the home ports. During the time of Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins, wool was the most important exported product.

In 1665, the Royal Citadel was constructed. Parliamentarians inhabited Plymouth during the 17th century. Later, the importance of Plymouth as the major port home port began to decrease, though it did play a quite small part in the slave trade. But at the same time, Plymouth did not have any potential means to process tobacco and sugar products. The main imports of Plymouth were coal and timbre.

Later, the recently constructed dockyard in Plymouth became a major source of income for the inhabitants of Plymouth. During the later part of the century, John Foultson, the renowned architect from London designed several neo-urban developments in the town, enriching the prosperity value. Though most of his designed buildings are destroyed by now, they added to the architectural significance of the town. Some of the famous buildings of that time were The Theatre Royal, the Anthenaeum and other constructions on the Union street.

By the later 19th century, there were other industries apart from dockyard, which developed like the tramways, the railways and the gas works.

In the 20th century, the Plymouth Blitz introduced a period of massive destruction when the city was heavily bombed during the 2nd World War by the Germans. More than 3,700 houses were totally shattered during the destruction leading to the loss of 1000 lives.

Sir Patrick Abercrombie planned the redevelopment of Plymouth, which later led to the construction of 20,000 homes by 1964. Earlier, the dockyard was used for refitting the aircraft carriers. It was later transformed to the establishment of the nuclear submarine.

Thus, these incidents have left indelible imprints in the history of Plymouth making it rise from its devastation of the Second World War.

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