Cross Oars

It was redeveloped between the two World Wars, it is being redeveloped now and it was doubtless redeveloped on more than one occasion between its birth at the end of the seventeenth century and twentieth century. Here, at a date sometime around the end of the Napoleonic Wars – 1815 – we see the bottom of North Corner (or Cornwall Street as it later became). Built parallel to the north wall of the original Dockyard site (South Yard) this is one of Devonport’s earliest streets, it was also, for well over a century, the route into and out of the Dockyard for anyone living in a hulk in the Hamoaze or on the other side of the Tamar in Torpoint. Consequently it was lined with pubs and beerhouses, only one of which survives (as a pub) today – the Steampacket. Across the road from it, the Swan closed to drinkers some years ago, while no trace survives of the others. The Cross Oars, like many of its peers, appears to have been a victim of the slump that hit Devonport in the 1820s and 1830s when the lack of war meant no work for so many sailors and related businesses.

Licensees

1791 - Phillis Pink
1798 - John Pollard
1812 - Stephen Burnett
1830 - Jeffery Hocking