Drake Circus

Drake Circus is a sub-district of North Hill, Plymouth and has been for over 180 years. The postcode for the majority of the area is PL4; part of the area is in PL1. It includes parts of the University of Plymouth and a group of Edwardian traditional shops opposite the university which although badly damaged during the Blitz still remain there today. Nearby there is an unfinished shopping mall officially called "Drake Circus Shopping Centre".

The current Drake Circus as recognized on maps and by the UK post office includes a series of old Edwardian buildings inhabited by a series of solicitors, bars, cafés and jewellery shops which is popular with students from the nearby university. It also includes the library, city museum, and art gallery.

The Drake Circus district extends to Armada Street in the north and the corner of Tavistock Place and Regent Street in the south. It previously extended to an island of Edwardian shops that were demolished and absorbed into a 1970s shopping complex that adopted the same name as the area.

The Bomb Shelter Tragedy
On the night of 22 April 1941, during the the blitz, over 70 civilians were killed, including a mother and her six children, when a bomb fell on the shelter near the Planetarium. The bomb shelter consisted of a series of underground tunnels which many had long-presumed lost but were rediscovered in 2006. The bomb blast was so big that human remains were found in the tops of trees. In 2006 an appeal was made to raise money for a public sculpture to honour those who lost their lives.

Drake Reservoir
The first reservoir was built in 1825 and a second one added in 1828. Drake’s Reservoir was a source of domestic and fire water supply. In 1891 the two reservoirs at Drake’s Place were deepened and made into one. Ornamental fountains were installed. The reservoirs were fed by a conduit that had been in place since the 16th century. In the wall above the conduit, which was rebuilt in 1671, is the inscription “Made in the Maioraltie of John Trelawnye 1598”.

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