Elizabethan House Little Courtyard Behind A Row Of 16th Century Merchants' Houses In The Heart Of Plymouth Uk Stock Photography

The area around New Street was inhabited by well-to-do merchants in the 16th century. The houses lining the street had pleasant gardens extending to the rear. As time went by the merchants and tradesmen of New Street built small cottages on their back gardens to house workmen. Plymouth grew so much over time that the merchants of New Street left for more pleasant surroundings on the edge of town, leaving the area around the Barbican to decay into a dreadful slum.