Mutley Plain

Coordinates: 50°22′56″N 4°08′02″W / 50.382222°N 4.133889°W / 50.382222; -4.133889

Mutley Plain
View of Mutley Plain looking north from the junction with North Hill
Mutley Plain  Mutley Plain shown within Devon
District	Plymouth
Shire county	Devon
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PLYMOUTH
Postcode district	PL4 6xx
Dialling code	01752
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Devon and Somerset
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
List of places: UK • England • Devon

Mutley Plain is a street in Plymouth, Devon, England. Although Mutley Plain is the main street of the dense suburb called Mutley, the term is often applied to the whole area. The road is a busy dual-carriageway, the B3250, with eight sets of traffic lights/pelican crossings. It was built as a smart tree-lined avenue in late Victorian times and improved over the next half century as a local shopping place for its neighbourhood and the affluent area to the north.

History

Mutley Plain lies on the route of an ancient road linking Bilburgh, a Bronze Age settlement on the coast at Sutton Pool which later formed the nucleus of the city of Plymouth, to the north. Mutley was originally the name of two parishes to the west of this road in the valley of the Houndiscombe Brook, the land to the east being part of the parish of Lipson.^[1]

Before the Norman invasion in 1066, the parish of Higher Mutley was owned by a man Alwin of Tamerton, and Lower Mutley by another man called Goodwin^{[clarification needed]}, but at the time of the Domesday Book (1086) both were owned by Odo^{[clarification needed]}, whose feudal overlord was Juhel of Totnes. In the Domesday Book the two parishes were said to be worth five shillings each. Lower Mutley had two farms while Higher Mutley consisted of ten sheep, one farm and two smallholdings.

Railway

A tunnel was driven beneath Mutley Plain by the South Devon Railway Company and was opened to traffic on 2 April 1849. Formerly this was the site of Mutley Station, opened 1 August 1871 and known as the 'Station of the Gentry'.^[2] It was closed 2 March 1939, and has since been replaced by a car park.

Today

Due to its proximity to the expanding University of Plymouth and the city centre, large numbers of students now live in the area. There are many bars, takeaways and cafes as well as two small supermarkets.

Mutley Baptist church is a notable architectural feature. The area is mostly built up except for a small park on Moor View Terrace however Central Park and Ford Park Cemetery are nearby.

References

1. ^ Gill, Crispin (1993). Plymouth: A New History. Devon Books
2. ^ Moseley, Brian (2005-09-30). "Mutley Station (SDR)". Plymouth Data. http://www.plymouthdata.info/Railways-Mutley%20Station.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-23. ^{[dead link]}