The Elizabethen House is a rare surviving example of Plymouth's history. By the late 1500s the city was a bustling port, bursting at the seams with ships and crew, merchants and craftsmen. More housing was needed and around 1584 New Street was developed, providing homes for sea captains and middle merchants whose livelihoods were based around the waterfront.
Although the first owner is not known records of ownership from 1613 are complete to the present.
By 1850 the prosperous merchants had moved out and New Street was full of slums and hovels. The 1851 census records 47 occupants of this house which by 1891 had risen to 58. The 1920s saw major slum clearance projects clear virtually all the houses in the area but in 1926 the Borough of Plymouth bought the freehold and restoration work began.
Come back tomorrow and we'll look in side.
Wow, this house is lovely ! And it must not have been easy to catch those reflections on the windows, considerating the narrowness of the street...
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