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I was born in a small street just off Plymouth Hoe that overlooked the sea. Now the house is a solicitor's office and there is a big hotel built in front of it.
This is the view as you walk towards the Hoe from the town. The hotel is on the left and my street is out of view! In the background of the photo is Plymouth Sound, a natural harbour sheltered by the Breakwater. In the Sound is Drake's Island, which used to be called St. Nicholas Island until it was renamed as a tribute to Sir Francis Drake in the 17th century. Just to the right of the circular monument is a greener patch of lawn. It was here that Drake was supposedly playing bowls when the Spanish Armada was spotted in the English Channel in 1588, and famously finished his game before sailing out to thrash them. Of course with the tide being out he couldn't have set sail immediately anyway but that spoils the story. Drake was married in the St.Budeaux Parish church and I was raised in St.Budeaux.
Walking up from the City Centre to the Hoe you pass a small fountain with the anchor of the Ark Royal in a small garden area. This is a very popular, but quiet, area to sit and contemplate life.
The Hoe itself has several monuments to various events including a huge war memorial with the names of all the Plymouth men who died in both world wars. It was originally built just after the 1st war but extended in 1948. There is also a statue of Sir Francis Drake, this is only a replica with the original being in Tavistock. The newest memorial was erected in 1989 to the Royal Air Force and was paid for entirely from donations.
The most famous site of Plymouth Hoe has to be the lighthouse, Smeaton's Tower. This lighthouse, built in 1759, once stood on the Eddystone Rocks 14 miles out to sea, but when the base started to crumble was brought ashore block by block and reassembled in its present location in 1884. It is possible to walk several stairs to the top and the view from there is really quite amazing. The steps are steep and winding and there are a lot of them, I find it no problem to get to the top but getting me down is a hard job due to a fear of falling.
In 1666 work was started on the Royal Citadel and this fortress dominates the left side of the Hoe. when I was younger there would often be military tattoos and displays held in there. I remember visiting with a school party and teasing hell out of the soldiers on guard duty. This barracks is still used today by the commando regiment but visitors are still allowed in on guided tours, the next time we go to Plymouth we are going to do one of those. Nothing like being a tourist in your own hometown!
My favourite place in the whole of Plymouth has to be sitting on the rocks next to the sea below the Hoe. I first started to enjoy being here when I was about 8 years old and my parents brought me here after school to swim in the free pools. A couple of years later I was making my own way here during the holidays, being kept an eye on by some of the regular sunbathers and fetched by my dad after work. By the age of 13 I had met several boys on holiday romances and used it as a great 'pulling place'. Everybody congregates on the Hoe, it is somewhere that all visitors want to see and the locals know the best spots to be seen.
On my photo album pages there will be some more pictures of this lovely place. Some of my happiest memories come from here especially from the long hot summer of 1976. I was working part time on a pleasure boat, cruising up and down the Tamar River weekdays and on Sundays we would do the Cawsands run. This was a longer trip and when we put ashore it would take a while to get land legs back! I would take Jenny with me and she would sit, all well behaved, waiting for the passengers to spoil her with crisps and soft drinks.
