Bull’s Head

In old Plymouth there was a Bull Hill at the top of High Street not that far from the old meat market but, more likely named, according to Whitfeld, because it was here in more ancient times when Papal Bulls (edicts) were burned, in the wake of the Reformation. There is also a suggestion that Bull Hill was synonymous with the old Market Street, again, according to Whitfeld (writing in 1899), this was the ‘scene of bull-baits’.

Nothing in Devonport quite matches that antiquity, as that town (originally Plymouth Dock) did not start to develop until work began on the Dockyard in the 1690s. There is little doubt though that Queen Street was among the earlier thoroughfares in the ‘new town’ and that the eighteenth century Bull’s Head would have been one of Devonport’s older hostelries, however it closed before the last war and the property was subsequently destroyed during the Devonport Blitz three years later.

Licensees

1798 - Gracie Meally
1844 - Mary Ann Wyatt
1850 - George Radford
1857 - Frederick Bennicke
1867 - Richard Rosekilly
1875 - B Jessop
1880 - EF Finnemore
1882 - Charles Thompson
1885 - T Collins
1888 - Mrs E Waterfield
1890 - Frederick Dawe
1895 - William Pengelly
1896 - John Denley
1920 - Albert Pengelly
1922 - Francis Warder