Streets of Plymouth in 1991. Credit: Ross Barclay.
Plymouth
‘Funny no?
how I can’t remember you
in colour
how my memories of you
are classic…black and white;
I do not recall
the cobwebs on your windows,
ash your streets.
I see the swinging arms of Miss Goosie,
hear the roar of John Bull,
the fife and drums of masquerades
all classic
Quick take a photograph
let my children paint on that
let it be the foundation
on which they build the next…..
I miss the spirit
I do
I wish they..
the children would
look back;
not across; but just back
see what was left behind
then take it
and run.’
– 'Plymouth', poem by Chadd Cumberbatch. Extract from 'Ya Ya Surfeit' (Fabwan, Montserrat, 2010)
The War Memorial in Plymouth prior to the eruption in 1991. Credit: Ross Barclay.
The public market, that the vendors would go in and sell their food, on weekdays and on weekends some on Friday, some on Saturdays and some during the week, so it was just one big public market and they had vendors who had little stalls we call them, in the public market, and we also had butchers that sell meat such as beef, mutton, pork, etc!
– Montserrat Resident, 2019
The partly buried War Memorial after the first pyroclastic flows reached Plymouth. Credit: MVO Archive. Date: ca. 2001
Plymouth in July 2003. Credit: Jenni Barclay. Location: Plymouth. Date: 07/2003
A buried car in Plymouth in May 2005. Credit: UWI Seismic Research Centre / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Location: Plymouth. Date: 19/05/2005
In February 2010, ash once again showers the abondened city of Plymouth. Credit: Richard Roscoe / Stocktrek Images / Alamy. Date: 01/02/2010
View of Plymouth and Soufrière Hills Volcano in 2013. Credit: Chuck Stanley / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. 15/01/2013
Soufrière Hills looming over the remains of Plymouth. Credit: cocoabiscuit / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Date: 01/05/2018
Nature is reclaiming some of Plymouth's abandoned buildings. Credit: cocoabiscuit / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Date: 01/05/2018
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