Edgcumbe Street

Edgcumbe Street has had something of a chequered history. The original street was right in the middle of Stonehouse, and, in the eighteenth century, one of the many pubs in the area and in that street was known as the Edgcumbe Inn.

When, in 1812, plans to create a new road linking Stonehouse and Plymouth were realised, part of the old street had to be demolished – it ran at the wrong angle and the path of the new road cut right across it. Since then, there have been times when the western part of that new road has been known as Edgcumbe Street and times when it has simply been assimilated into Union Street. Currently, it is known as Edgcumbe Street again but, in line with the 1943 Plan for Plymouth, hardly any buildings front on to it.

The name itself derives from the family that in the 16^th century came to own all of Stonehouse (East Stonehouse as it was once called) – the Edgcumbes. They in turn had adopted (by the 13^th century or earlier still) the name of an estate in their possession in the parish of Milton Abbot – Eggcombe or Edgcumbe.