North Corner
An Historic Area
For the first decade of the 1700s Devonport consisted only of the streets of North Corner. This new waterside village came into being to provide houses for dockyard workers - they'd been living aboard hulks on the river Tamar, and finally managed to obtain building permission from the Lord of the Manor.
The choice of North Corner as their building plot, and its naming, probably made perfect sense to them, as, at the end of a day's work they'd leave via the north corner of the dockyard, rowing out from the beach at this spot to their hulks.
This is where Devonport was born, and local residents have always been, and remain to this day, very proud of their history.
Local People
If you wander down this way you may bump into some of our friendly locals who know lots about the area - and if they're down by the beach wall at the time they may be willing to chat or describe our local history for you. Look out for Brenda Jago who's been here a long time - she would not live anywhere else; for Jackie Blight who knows lots about regeneration in Devonport; for Jackie's sister Joan who is very friendly and funny; for Sandy Borthwick or Dickie Damerel, neither were born at North Corner but both love it here and both are very friendly people - Sandy knows a LOT about our history. You must especially say hello to Phil Head. Phil was born here, (so was his mum) and he now owns the Steam Packet Inn, which is an historic building right on North Corner quayside. I've written a history of the Steam Packet and it contains information on Phil - you're welcome to download a free PDF copy from
this page.
Street Listing
List of the modern-day streets within the historic area known as North Corner (* but see notes below)
Cannon Street,
Cornwall Beach,
Cornwall Street,
Hamoaze Place
Holmans's Buildings
Queen street
Riverside
* Note: the true North Corner, at origin, was the very quayside itself, where the first row of housese were built, but based on the explosion of the quayside into a hillside village, during the first decade of the 1700s, all those streets leading downhill into the river became known thereafter as North Corner. Queen Street, running along the top of the hill, was not included - it was the dividing line. Now, at the second millennium, Queen Street itself could probably be included. Purists may not agree with this, but at the millennium rebuild of North Corner Queen Street properties were included, the entire plot was rebuilt together, now all properties share the same distinctive character. As it stands today, at 2009, its probably safe to say that all those streets running down to the river, plus Queen Street, is that area known as North Corner.
Postcard Views of North Corner
Below are some early 20th century views of North Corner quayside, as seen on postcards of that period. North Corner was noted through the centuries for the number of local 'Watermen' providing their services - some of these men together with their boats, can clearly be seen in the top two postcards. We had local waterwomen too, they're just not seen in these images.
(See our other pages with further information on these particular North Corner postcards, and for Devonport postcards in general.)
(page added August 2009 - Updated Jan 2010)