Hidden Plymouth
Plymouth's street names and the dark history behind them
Slave trader Sir John Hawkins' name will be removed from a public square, but other streets in the city also have a few shocking stories to tell
Get the latest nostalgia features and photo stories straight to your inbox
There's been a lot of controversy as of late surrounding landmarks in Plymouth and where they got their names.
Last week we reported that Plymouth City Council has taken the decision remove the name of slave trader Sir John Hawkins from a public square.
An online petition was set up to rename Sir John Hawkins Square in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests around the world and here in Devon in the wake of the George Floyd tragedy.
But this isn't the only place in Plymouth with a dark past - streets and roads we walk up everyday are haunted with Devon's dubious history.
Here's a walk down some of our city's mysterious streets.
Howeson Lane
Howeson Lane in Derriford has since been renamed (Image: Penny Cross)
Much like John Hawkins Square, this street was named after a well-known Plymothian - former Royal Navy Commander and prominent businessman Charles Howeson.
The road in Derriford was given its name after Howeson, known as "Mr Plymouth", gifted the land to the council in 2004.
However, in 2018 the businessman was found guilty of sexually abusing eight young men.
The decision was taken by the council, two years after Howeson's conviction, to change the controversial road to Bracken Lane.
Castle Street
Castle Street, jokingly called Damnation Alley (Image: Erin Black/Plymouth Live)
This cobbled alley is home to reputable venues like the Barbican theatre, and surrounded by cosy tearooms and galleries.
But 200 years ago the story was very different, and this was a street of sins.
Jokingly called Damnation Alley by a local vicar, this narrow Plymouth street was infamous for its dense population of brothels and would see thousands of soldiers and sailors pass through on their way to serve the Empire.
Damnation Alley: Plymouth's forgotten street of brothels and sin
History author Felicity Goodall describes Damnation Alley in her book Lost Plymouth as a place "a man could spend his pay, find female company and wake up in a strange bed with a hangover but without his wallet."
Although Plymouth's military history is definitely something to be proud of, it's worth remembering the city was described as 'STI city'.
This is partly thanks to the military personnel passing through streets such as Castle Street hundreds of years ago.
So next time you're enjoying a cream tea on Castle Street, try not to think too much about what happened in that very spot 200 years ago.
Castle Dyke Lane
Right next to Castle Street is a passageway with a more pungent past.
The alley is approximately 1.7m at its narrowest point and in the 1840s housed 146 people, sometimes ten confined to one room.
This doesn't sound that dark until you realise there was no sewerage.
This means human waste was dumped into this slender street, and planks had to be laid out on the ground to prevent people from getting stuck in the sludge.
Human waste, destitution and slaughterhouses: The dark past of Plymouth's narrowest street
Dyke was another word for ditch or toilet, an apt name for this once foul-smelling alley.
The lane was also reportedly home to a slaughterhouse, adding animal waste to the list of ingredients which contributed to the overall cocktail of filth.
Today Castle Dyke Lane is a quiet residential area with little reminder of its rather disgusting past.
Blackfriars Ope
Robert Lenkiewicz attempted to rename Blackfriars Ope "Piss and Puke Lane" (Image: Chris Kelly)
Similarly to Castle Dyke Lane, this street also has a disgusting past.
We've all seen someone throw up in an alley after a bit too much to drink, or use the street as a loo after a few pints.
But in the 1980s, one man was so outraged that drunk people were using the alley as a public toilet that he renamed it "Piss and Puke Lane".
Plymouth artist Robert Lenkiewicz even erected a sign in the alleyway, which was next to his studio, to protest those who were painting the streets with their urine and vomit.
Chris Robinson, Plymouth historian, said: "It was a publicity stunt that Lenkiewicz pulled and it was quite an effective one, but it wasn't an official name change even though he had an official looking sign."
Although intended to be playful and light-hearted, the council deemed the sign 'offensive' and it was taken down.
However this didn't stop the artist, who proceeded to put up additional signs in 13 different languages.
Chris Robinson explains the real name of the street, Blackfriars Ope, is a misnomer. Plymouth has in fact never had a group of blackfriars in the city, only greyfriars and whitefriars.