Elephant and Castle (Bull Hill)

Time was when the junction of Looe Street, High Street and Whimple Street was the very heart of Plymouth: here the town crier would announce any news of major import, here too, in 1602, Plymouth’s first, purpose-built, Guildhall was erected, and here, two hundred years later its replacement appeared. Superseded in the 1870s by the current Guildhall, the earlier structure remained until it was gutted during the Second World War. Removed altogether after the war, the site was refashioned and the old street line was lost. Here, however, we see part of the old Guildhall, the pale building at the very end of the street, and, immediately to the left of it, part of the very top of Bull Hill, a short section of street that became part of High Street around 1870.

At No.1 Bull Hill, later, No.1 High Street, stood the Elephant and Castle public house – however its life as a licensed premises appears to have ended soon after the property was redesignated.

Licensees

1830 - John Wreford
1844 - Richard Dawson
1850 - John Mares
1852 - John Prout
1862 - A Hubbard
1867 - Samuel Way
1873 - H Blackler