Quay to the world
In 1789, the King (George III) was making a tour of the west country and chose to stay at Saltram House. By this time, both John Parker II and Theresa had passed away, and the state was not yet in the hands of their son ‘Jack’, then a minor at 17 years of age.
The family vacated the house, and the King and his household used it as a base from which to tour and inspect the naval dockyard and other grand houses such as Mount Edgcumbe. They chose to travel by water on their tours, likely arriving and departing from the quay down here at Point, since road travel was slower and less comfortable than water.
After Jack the 1st Earl of Morley came of age he took control of Saltram and began a series of ambitious capital investments in the local area – including the embankment of Chelson Meadow. The Earl had prior experience in reclaiming land – he had led a scheme to embank the opposite bank of the river Plym at Tothill Bay and Lipson Lake.
The 175 acres of reclaimed land created by the Chelson embankment was intended for use as arable land – growing grain crops for harvest. The land proved to be too damp and salty for that, and so the Earl led the conversion of the land into a horse racecourse in 1828.
A grandstand followed in 1829, along with a pub to host racegoers – the Morley Arms, known today as the 1887. On race days, the Morley Arms’ proprietors had a license to sell drinks at the course, and to stable the competing horses, grooms and jockeys.
The racecourse was popular with Plymothians for many years, however in the early 1930s, a combination of overdue maintenance, bad weather, a drop in attendance, resulted in the end of racing at the site. During World War II the Plymouth Blitz took its toll on the ground, and Chelson Meadow’s racing days were over.
In 1961, The Earl of Morley sold the site to Plymouth Corporation. A planning application was then made by the Council for controlled tipping of quarry waste. Chelson Meadow then became a Council landfill site until 2011, when tipping finally stopped. Now the site is home to a recycling centre and will soon host a solar farm supplying electricity to Plymouth.
Emma Philip