A relaxing day - back to the Barbican

Plymouth
Tuesday May 15, 2012

 

I walked back to the Barbican. 



 

You can always get ice cream from these vans parked along Madeira Road on the waterfront. I rarely did though; I saved my stomach space for scones.

This must have been the walkway that connects to the other side of the harbour known as Coxside.

It goes right by the large National Marine Aquarium over there which, oddly, I never visited even though I was later given a free pass. Marine life isn't a big draw for me but, in retrospect, I should have gone. It is the largest aquarium in the UK.

The large building is the aquarium

In between is a lock to Sutton Harbour. I understood that it is privately owned but there is a pedestrian footway which the public is allowed to use. Push a button, wait for an alarm to ring and the gates to open, then rush through - usually in a herd. The distinctive alarm is heard frequently so for me it was a cheery part of being in the Barbican.

I have no idea where I took this picture but no doubt ship disasters were a part of life in Plymouth, particularly before the breakwater was finished in 1841. 2½ miles out, it supposedly weighs nearly as much as the Great Pyramid.

Just a boat I liked.

A couple of pictures taken on my way back to the hotel.

 

The bowling green was just across and down the street a little from my hotel.



A relaxing day - in the Barbican

Plymouth
Tuesday May 15, 2012

 

Ancestry
I was glad to see it wasn't raining.

I went over to Barbican to talk to a local historian in a book store. He is only in on Wednesdays but I had a chat with a very nice and interesting man in there who adds colour in watercolour to the historian's drawings. I must have talked to him for a good hour.

 

According to the plymouthdata website Robert White Stevens (younger brother of my great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Stevens, the mayor) was born in 1806 to John Stevens, landlord of the Maritime Inn on the Barbican, and the former Miss Sarah Lee. Is the current Maritime Inn the same one? Over the door is a date that doesn't match, something like the mid 1800's. When I later asked the historian about it, he didn't know anything; only said the date on the building could be wrong. The inn goes from the Parade side through to Southside Street.

I wonder if anywhere other than Plymouth has Opes.

I went down a charming street and smelled food. Got a Cornish pasty and ate it out of the bag. Two women sat beside me - only two tables in the place - and one turned out to be Canadian so I got talking to them. Most of the day was spent chatting to people, not getting much done. But I was starved for company and getting to like the slower pace.

Next, I went into a used book store where two people were behind the counter. The woman said:
'Can we help you?'
'Well, um, I'm looking for a book but don't quite know the name... something like 'The seven men of Plymouth.'
'The twelve men of Plymouth', she said, 'By Gerald Hamilton...'
'Edwards,' I added.

I was amazed she knew this. Then she said she knew him! Not personally but wherever it was that she worked, she would chat with him when he came in. She said he lived in Oxford (!) but didn't know where. (Gerald Hamilton Edwards was the son of Robert White Stevens mentioned above.)

Unfortunately their copy was sold last year but they ordered one in for me. I don't really expect there to be anyfamily info that we don't have already but would like to see it to be sure. It's a thin book apparently.

A picture of the Beatles at the Hoe can be found in several stores in Plymouth.

Quick tour of Plymouth - Barbican

Saturday May 12, 2012

This was my first visit to the Barbican and I was pretty excited. Some of my ancestors lived and worked in several buildings around here - at 3 Parade, 2 Barbican Quay, the Maritime Inn....  Luckily, this area was spared the worst of the bombing in WWII.



I was interested to see something on the railway. Thomas Stevens (my great-great-great grandfather, born in 1799) became a captain of merchant ships and later, like his father, became a shipowner and coal merchant. I had wondered how a shipping family became involved in selling coal. Well, it may have had to do, at least partially, with the arrival of the railway, if it reduced the number of sailing vessel trips needed to transport fruit from place to place.

Walking around the Barbican I smelled vinegar and beer. There are lots of drinking and eating places.

From the far side of the harbour I believe we'd be looking back at Quay Road. Follow it to the right and it becomes the Parade.

A different Co-op store in town was where I did most of my grocery shopping.

Towards the back of Sutton Harbour is more modern.