The changing Plymouth Markets
Nearly 100 years ago the city of Plymouth consisted of 3 separate towns and 750 years before that it was just a fishing village, owned by one man the prior of Plympton. A collection of few timber built shops with thatched roofs where merchants would visit to sell their goods and the Plymouth accommodation let much to be desired.
Then in 1254 Plymouth grew to a point where it was officially granted a town charter giving the local people certain rights and the town began to prosper. More people, more trade and money changing hands meant religion would soon find its way to Plymouth in the guise of Black Friars who themselves had competition from the White and the Grey Friars.
Plymouth evolved into a busy trading port attracting wine from France and Spain. Within 250 years trading links had developed to such a point that new imports of fruit, sugar and paper arrived together with hops from Holland and coal from Newcastle. Goods leaving Plymouth included wool and tin from Devon and Cornwall.
However, the dominant sector was fish in Plymouth. With the discovery of rich fishing grounds off the coast of Newfoundland by John Cabot in 1497 meant that the Plymouth fish market would thrive for centuries to come. Fishing would become the main source of jobs in Plymouth.
It was the fishing industry that saved Plymouth when during the English Civil War the Royalists tried to starve the Roundheads of Plymouth by blockading the town. The people of Plymouth for over two years must have been sick of the sight of fish for supper but they survived and in early 1646 the departure of the Cavaliers saw the beginning of the end of the Civil war, for the time being at least.
The next market to develop was the yarn market (1653) and five years later a new meat and leather market was built. With the colonisation of North America and the West Indies brought new trading links seeing imports of tobacco and sugar and the further exportation of wool.
The Devonport dockyard was built in 1689 and became the largest source of jobs in Plymouth area by far. A job in Plymouth was most likely to be involved with the sea in some capacity. Whether it be a job in Devonport dockyard, a fishing job in Plymouth or a market trader you would be selling the goods coming into Plymouth docks on a daily basis.
The sea was all important to Plymouth and the same could be said today. Where fish in Plymouth were once key, it is now the tourist that feeds the city of Plymouth. Tourism in Plymouth and Devon as a whole is vital to their survival. Devon and Cornwall together are the most important tourism destination outside London and they receive a fraction of government financial help in comparison. While London has many historical buildings, Devon and Cornwall have the pure beauty of their surroundings with some historical buildings thrown in.
London has noise and pollution; Devon and Cornwall however have quiet and fresh air. That is why Londoners flock to the South West of England and the ill-informed foreign tourist heads for the smoke of the big city of London.
Plymouth is unique in that it has the fresh sea air of Devon and yet it is a large city with theatres, restaurants, businesses, University Plymouth and lots of hotels in Plymouth city centre and outlying districts. Many tourists come to Plymouth Pavilion gigs, Plymouth Vue cinema, Plymouth Theatre Royal pantomime and various top stage shows.
Plymouth markets still exist today in the Plymouth pannier market and the Plymouth fish market on the Barbican, but it is the tourism market in Plymouth that dominates and concentrates the minds of the Plymouth councillors deep within the Plymouth Council chambers.
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