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This is the oldest area of Plymouth that is still standing.
There main trade of the Barbican used to be fish, fish and even more fish. On a hot day you could smell the remains of the days trade before you were anywhere near the fish market. There were shops selling all types of ships supplies and boating clothes but now it is the arty farty centre. There is now only one ships chandlers, art galleries and restaurants having taken the place over. Many's the time I can remember being told to wait in the car whilst my dad popped into one of the shops, emerging a long time later with boat paint and other assorted bits. If he was feeling particularly cruel he would insist on taking me to the fish market and see the catch arriving. Not only was this very early in the morning, but I hated fish, especially dead ones. I hated the way the dealers would pick them up and throw them to each other, but most of all I hated watching them being gutted. I still don't eat much fish today because of these early experiences.
The fish market has now been replaced by a glass making tourist exhibition, very popular so I'm told, and is now situated on the other side of the harbour. A huge marina has sprung up there and is catered for by ferry boats and chip shops. I know things have to change but why do they have to go so dramatically different. The ordinary working man's trade is ousted in preference to money grabbing business's dealing with tourism.
The Barbican is actually a very pleasant place to be these days except for the traffic driving through the centre of it. This is where the Pilgrim Fathers spent their last night in England, before leaving on the Mayflower for America. They slept in various rooms around the area, some of which are still there. There is a board outside one house with the names of all the passengers on and the other memorial is the Mayflower Steps, where they last stood on English soil. This is where Captain Cook and Charles Darwin left for their respective voyages. This is where I would eat ice cream after ice cream as a child, bored stiff with all the grown up things taking place. Summer though would bring the Sutton Harbour regatta, with childrens races and fun for all the family, from knobbly knees contests to talent shows. I can't remember ever winning anything but it was fun just to be there. There would be side shows like at the fair where you could win a goldfish or a china ornament, and then the real fair would arrive. The big wheel and the dodgem cars. The noise of the motors and the smell of candy floss and fish! There was also a boxing ring where men could fight against a champion to win a tenner. I tried to get my dad to take part, luckily he had more sense. Being so young I wasn't allowed inside the tent so it was all a mystery to me and that added to the thrill of the place, especially when young men would come out sporting a black eye or cut lip.
In the early 1970's a new artist moved in and painted a huge mural on the wall of a house. He was Robert Lenkiewicz and the painting is still there. He would pay local tramps and others to sit for him and all the faces on this mural are local people. It is an amazing work and well worth seeing. In fact this was only the beginning of the controversy that he was to cause, a few years later he 'bought' the body of a tramp and when he died wanted to have it stuffed and mounted as an artwork. Damien Hirst eat your heart out, this man was first with the strange ideas. Needless to say both the local council and the environmental health dept. had something to say about this and it never happened.
Other well known artists have had studios on the Barbican including my favourite artist Beryl Cook. Her work was based in Plymouth, in fact she ran a guest house on the Hoe, and took the mickey out of various situations with gentle humour and bright colours.
picture ©Beryl Cook-- www.berylcook.co.uk/bio.htm
This is the first picture of hers that I remember seeing.
