Commercial Wharf finds Archaeological finds relate to Plymouth life in the mid-17th century
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ore than 1,400 significant archaeological finds have been discovered in Plymouth thanks to a rescue and recovery project run by Plymouth Archaeology Society. The project, which began in January this year and ended in March, has taken place at Commercial Wharf, Lambhay, Plymouth. The site is located just outside the Stuart town. The area known as ‘The Barbican’, the medieval and Tudor heart of the town, extended south to the armed quay, at the entrance to Sutton Pool, which was replaced in the late 18th century by the much larger Barbican West Pier (now incorporating the Mayflower memorial). Just south of the West Pier, part of the stone quay wall of Commercial Wharf was failing - bulging, with cracks appearing in the tarmac surface - leading to emergency conservation work needing to be carried out to prevent the wall collapsing into the sea. As part of this, the ground behind the wall was being removed by a mechanical digger when it was noticed that it contained early clay pipes and ceramics, identified as coming from the Mediterranean. Since mid-January 2022, volunteers from Plymouth Archaeology Society under the direction of Martin Read, have been carrying out rescue work to recover as much archaeological information as possible from the site, given the difficult circumstances and timeline necessitated by the emergency work.
Historical Background
There is no evidence of any development on the site prior to the English Civil War and Civil War maps also show no development. However, there are few maps of the area until ca.1660. The Strode family, of Newnham Park near Plymouth, had tried to develop the waterfront on their land in the Lambhay from the late 16thc, but there is no certain evidence of any actual development prior to the building of Phoenix Wharf as a Victualling Office on land leased from the Strode family in 1654. [A victualling yard is described as a public establishment for the collection and 48
Early photographs of the wharf show a 3-storey warehouse on the site, with the remains of a wooden landing stage. Almost all the buildings on the wharf, including the warehouse, were demolished in the 1930s when the road behind was widened, during the building of Madeira Road around the Citadel.
supply of provisions to the navy]. It is likely that the original wharf on the Commercial Wharf site was built c1650 by the Strode family as a commercial development. The earliest map showing building development on the site, in 1665, shows a star-shaped proposed design for the Citadel as well as the medieval Castle Quadrate and part of the town. To the east of the Castle, the wharf is shown running south from the Barbican armed quay, with six buildings at the southern end and a road heading south towards the existing Victualling Office and the lower defences at the front of Plymouth Hoe.
Lambhay Victualling Yard
Plymouth has been used as a base by the Navy for centuries, but there were no dedicated facilities in the town for supplying the fleet. This changed during the Commonwealth when part of the Lambhay, the steep valley to the south of the Barbican and east of Plymouth Hoe, was chosen as the site for the earliest Victualling Yard. In 1654 Captain Henry Hatsell was appointed as Captain Commissioner of the Navy and Victualling in Plymouth. He leased land from the Strode family to build storehouses and had an office on Lambhay Hill. Phoenix Wharf was built at this time, towards the southern end of the present Commercial Wharf. The Victualling Yard expanded to the north over time, eventually including a quay connecting the Phoenix Wharf development with the Strode wharf, probably in the late 18th century (though further research is needed on this). After the opening of the Dockyard on the Hamoaze in 1693, the Lambhay Yard was in the wrong place to easily supply the Navy and was eventually moved to the more convenient Royal William Yard in the 1830s. The old yard was then sold for commercial uses and in the 1830
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