Secret Plymouth – Plumtown

Part of the #SecretCities series of route guide, from WillCycle.com. This #SecretPlymouth route explores in and around Plympton, showing you parts of the city you probably never even knew existed.
While this video can be freestanding, it’s meant as part of the Secret Plymouth – Plumtown route guide, available on https://www.WillCycle.com. From the website you can also download the bingo card for the route.

[Music] Hello there. Allow me to take you along on a secret Plymouth ride. This one is called Plumtown. And if you’re confused by that name, it’ll soon be cleared up. Secret Plymouth roots are part of a new series of routes I’m doing, collectively called Secret City Rides. So, what’s the secret? Well, there isn’t an actual secret on any of these routes, but I expect even most locals will end up saying, “I lived here all my life, and I never knew this was here.” Any secret city ride, including this one, is simply an excuse to get out on your bike and explore places you’re likely to have never explored. It’s a ride not to a destination, but simply to explore, to see what there is to see. While this video can be used as a standalone video, I’d really suggest you head on over to wilcycle.com and have a look at the route guide for this route. Each secret city’s route, starting with this one, will have a bingo card that you can print out and take along. The bingo card is simply there to add a bit of fun and turn the ride into something more like a treasure hunt. As for the name of this route, Plumtown, well, that’s easy. You see, the city of Plymouth got its name from the river Plum. Literally, Plum Mouth or mouth of the river Plum. But where did the Plum get its name from? That’s also easy. There are a bunch of plum trees growing on the river bank, and it became known as the Plum River. Over a long time, Plum simply became Plum. That’s the plum part of Plumtown sorted. But where’s the town part from? That’s even easier. Most of this ride is through Plimpmpton, which today is a suburb of Plymouth. Plumpton literally means Plum Town, though there are scholars who claim it actually means plum tree farm. Plumpton was a very important town back when Plumouth was almost an unknown fishing village. And Plumpton is, of course, one of the Stannery towns, though not one of the very first. Plumpton is very rich with history, and you’ll have a chance to visit some of that for yourself. The earliest mention of Plimpmpton dates back to around 900 AD, meaning the town is over a thousand years old as a settlement. In the 1300s, Plimpmpton joined Tavistock, Ashton, and Chagford as a Stanner town. This was smackbang in the in the Middle Ages, a time you and I would likely have been serves for all intents and purposes, just about slaves. Serves were tied to a lord and weren’t permitted to leave the manor without the lord’s permission. But the stunner system offered a way out. There was a shortage of tin, you see. So any man or woman who announced they were becoming a tin miner on Dartmore were immediately outside of the controls of surfom. In fact, the special laws for tenners, that’s a phrase that include included more than just t miners predate any other English laws. Stannery towns were where the tin was weighed and miners paid. But even in the middle ages there was a stenery parliament which was democratic and held sessions outdoors on croen tour on Dartmore. The word stenery comes from the Latin for tun stannam. Now we’ve established just how important plumpton once was. Let’s fast forward to today. Plimpmptons change enormously over the past thousand years. Where once ships sailed up to near Plimpmpton Castle, the village has long been silted in or filled in. You’ll be cycling where a thousand years ago you would have needed a boat. You will skirt the China Clay drying works very early on the ride and then pass quite close to the Boring Triumphal Arch. Hands up, all of you have never heard of that or don’t know where it is. You’ll ride on a few lanes that very few people in Plymouth even know exist. And you’ll get a chance to visit Plimpmpton Castle. What do you mean you’ve never heard of Plimpmpton Castle? It’s been there for the best part of a thousand years. The ride through Sultram will be familiar to many. And you might wonder why a read focus on Plumpton diverts through Sultram. There are two reasons. Firstly, the same family who owned Borington Hall later owned Salt. and then built a few follies. The first one you already know, the amphitheater at Sultram right by the borders site. By the way, a folly was ornamental, not functional. Think of them as ridiculously oversized and expensive garden ornaments for very rich people. The second folly was built for Sultram, but not on the Sultum estate. And you can see that as you cycle back towards Marshmallows along the embankment up on the hill behind and above the Marshmall’s fly over on a clear day you can see the triumphal arch which was built on land of the Boring Hall estate. Embankment road didn’t exist back then but even earlier during the English civil war Plymouth was on the side of the parliamentarians. Plymouth was holding out against the royalists who were commanded by Prince Morris using Plimpmpton Castle as a base until a traitor showed the royalist the secret path through the Marshall where embankment road is today. He led the royalist all the way up the hill. By the time the alarm was raised, it was almost too late. Following a fierce battle at what today is Freedom Fields Park, the Royalists retreated, but much of their rear guard was cut off by the incoming tide. You will have crossed the route of that original secret path as you cycle along embankment road. Also along the embankment, you’ll have crossed the tracks long since removed of course of the Dartmore tramway. That was a horserawn tramway all the way from Princetown into Plymouth. And much of the route survives intact today, though not along the embankment. This route is not meant to be a history lesson, and there’s no need to remember dates and names. But I find knowing at least an overview of Plimpmpton’s rich history gives a far better experience when cycling this route. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you have a great adventure. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]