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Plymouth is a port city in South West England. It is situated on the south coast of Devon, 311 kilometers (193 miles) southwest of London. It is home to a large facility, HMNB Devonport. (His Majesty’s Naval Base Devonport).

During the Bronze Age, there was a settlement called Mount Batten on a peninsula in Plymouth Sound. The settlement was a fishing as well as a tin trading port into the Early Medieval era. A Saxon settlement called Sutton and later renamed Plymouth was established. Sutton had a natural harbour and free access to the Atlantic and surpassed Mount Batten in short order.

Strategically, the location of Plymouth was a huge asset. In 1620, America’s pilgrims departed from Plymouth in order to establish a second English colony in America. For the duration of the Industrial Revolution, Plymouth enjoyed growing as a major player among the mercantile shipping industry, bringing both passengers and imports.

The adjacent Plymouth Dock, later named Devonport, was eventually merged, along with East Stonehouse, into one entity called the “Three Towns” during World War I.

During World War II, the Plymouth Blitz destroyed the city centre, which had to be rebuilt anew. The docks were, of course, targets, but so were two major shopping centres, the majority of the civic buildings and more than 3,700 houses which were totally destroyed. More than 1,000 civilians were killed during the Blitz. After the war, Sir Patrick Abercrombie published Plan for Plymouth, which addressed the rebuilding of Plymouth. The recommendations included removing the small number of pre-war buildings in the city centre, as well as prefabs and more than a thousand permanent council houses.

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