PRAISE FOR CITY’S NEW MUSEUM
Plymouth has turned around the presentation of its history, says Neill Mitchell
IN New York’s ‘ Sleepy Hollow’ cemetery lies the late billionaire Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), who, back in 1906, gifted to Plymouth its former Central Library building on North Hill. Reporting upon the civic opening by the-then Town Mayor, John Yeo, the Western Morning News commented in a fullpage spread on October 26, 1910: “To put it plainly, Mr Andrew Carnegie, the most “multi” of millionaires and sagest philanthropist, responded to the call from the West for the erection of a Free Library and laid the foundation of the scheme embodied in the noble pile of buildings in Tavistock Road.”
Happily, despite being damaged by war-time bombing, Carnegie’s “noble” Edwardian building remains prominent on North Hill today. And now, 110 years later, behind its facades Plymouth City Council has delivered a truly spectacular new cultural treasure chest branded as “The Box”, which opened to the public this week.
We should not beat about the bush. Plymouth’s presentation of its heritage assets had previously been dismal. Take, for example, the miserable corrugated iron shed on Coxside in which the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office was formerly housed.
Light years behind the excellent Devon Heritage Centre in Exeter, the Somerset Heritage Centre in Taunton, Wiltshire Heritage Centre in Swindon and, most recent, “Kresen Kernow” in Cornwall. All a pleasure to visit and within which to research family histories and other material, etc.
Then the Plymouth City Museum, parts of which had been declared unfit for human habitation. The road to the rear, Tavistock Place, being a ramshackle collection of ‘backs’, and historic St. Lukes Chapel boarded up.
The largely forgotten maritime collection in Devonport only rarely open to visitors, its surviving ships’ figure heads rotting in dark corners.
The important Merchant’s House and Elizabethan House museum outreaches were both suffering neglect.
Thus, Andrew Carnegie would surely be delighted by what has now been achieved, in no small measure due to the City Council’s dogged resolve to see its new £47 million heritage vision through, despite the financial hurdles to be overcome.
So, visiting Tavistock Place today, we immediately enter an elegant new piazza to the right of which St. Lukes Church is fully restored for exhibitions.
On the left, the towering stone and glazed structure of ‘The Box’ itself, into whose lofty and light reception hall we enter with expectations immediately raised.
There is no disappointment, as the beautifully restored flight of the figureheads above look down upon the spacious cafe and shop areas, thence leading to the many galleries – some containing permanent exhibits, others earmarked for exhibitions.
An easy set of stairs to the balcony brings you up close and personal with the figureheads, some of which are mesmerising, such as that from HMS Calcutta. What a gem!
From there on you are taken through a myriad of displays, ranging from a woolly mammoth – quite a cuddly-looking creature which would make a pleasing pet, if the species were no longer extinct! Then the rich history of the Port of Plymouth, great collections of china and glass, the story of the Blitz day by day, photographic images, the SW Film & Television Archive, the exquisite representative room of the Cottonian Collection (worth exploring on the web), and of course the Plymouth & West Devon “Active Archives” centre.
There are hours of resources to peruse on a first visit, not least the current Mayflower 400 exhibition, and for repeat visits thereafter all within a spacious and comfortable environment.
Soon, the refurnished Merchant’s and Elizabeth Houses will be reopening to further enhance the city’s transformed heritage offering.
It was slow coming, but Plymouth has now leapfrogged into being a veritable heritage showcase – ‘The Box’ surely being unequalled as a regional centre of excellence and certainly worthy of Andrew Carnegie’s benevolence.
All credit to Plymouth City Council, its funding partners and its development team. Some cheer amid the Covid-19 pandemic gloom.
Neill Mitchell is an Independent Regional Heritage Analyst in Plymouth
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