Plympton - An Ancient Town Somewhere In Devon

Plympton is an ancient stannary town situated just east of Plymouth in South West England. In 2004 it celebrated 1100 years of recorded history, first recorded in 904 as Plymentun, from Old English Plymtun or Plymantun, "plum-tree-town."

The view through the castle walls.

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Plympton info on this site

The Eleven local pubs with a map and pictures included.
Local Sport and Leisure, including links to on the local cricket team, local Rugby team and info on the Mountain Biking in the area
Local Businesses on the web.
Many pictures of the town - Updated with many new pictures in June 2005.
A series of Aerial photos taken in the early 1980s, showing some of the town under development, and the road ending at Chaddlewood House!
A page of links to other sites of local interest including a Map, the two main schools, a local Health practise and various other links to local info.
The history of Plympton, but with a lot of interesting info
List of All the Accommodation within the Town
Some well known Local People
Local Events
- Sealed Knot Visit
Walks in and Around Plympton
A Map of the Town
A local Ghost? UPDATED

The new sign just before the entrance to Saltram House

Fore St in St Maurice

Colebrook Village

Ridgeway, The town centre

Plympton has a population of around 35,000, and is situated in two valleys with a central ridge running the length. It has several features of interest including a 1,000 year old castle, which is partly ruined, (and very small!).

Plympton Castle

The old part of the town, Plympton St Maurice, is very picturesque as it survives from the days when it was an important trading centre for locally mined Tin, and a bustling port, (before the river silted up and the sea trade moved to Plymouth).

The town has a lot of history, being the birthplace and residence of the world renowned artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and three of his proteges. Reynolds was lord mayor of Plympton, as well as being it's Member of Parliament, and the first president of the Royal Academy of Art.

Other well known MPs have been Sir Christopher Wren, the famous Architect, and Alan Clarke who represented the conservatives during the 1980s.

Radio and TV presenter Judy Spiers used to live in the town, whilst Saturday Morning TV vet Nigel Taylor had his practise in Chaddlewood!

It is ideally situated for the beaches of Devon and Cornwall and the Dartmoor National Park which is only a couple of miles north. Saltram House is on the western border, where the film Sense and Sensibilty was filmed in 1994.

Simon Le Bon also bought his ill-fated yacht drum there!

The Time Team have visited Plympton, and have excavated the area around the castle and Fore Street, finding some interesting results. The presenters were frequently seen in lots of the local pubs, and there was a great local interest and a good response. The programme was broadcast in 1998 on Channel 4.

In 1999, the town hosted a 6 day music festival at Newnham Park, which was in celebration of the Total Eclipse that occurred on August 11th. The turnout was disappointing, due to the adverse publicity around the country regarding over-crowding in the area for the eclipse, however 20,000 were there on the final day to see the headliners Orbital.

It is a friendly town, with many things to do, as you can find out below.

The Whitewash, real name Tory Brook, which runs through the Glen Road valley. It is white in colour due to the sediment fro China clay works on Dartmoor.

(click on picture for larger image)