Shoppers hurrying through Drake Circus rarely look up, but those who do will find a piece of art that has quietly outlasted the shopping centre it was originally built for.
The ceramic map mural, titled “The City of Plymouth & surrounding country in the reign of Henry VIII” as inscribed in its cartouche, depicts the city as it stood in the 16th century. It shows familiar landmarks including St Andrew’s Church, Plymouth Hoe, Sutton Harbour, and the early coastal fortifications that once guarded the port, alongside period sailing vessels and decorative sea monsters that give the piece its storybook character.
The work was created by ceramic artist Philippa Threlfall, who signed and dated it “Threlfall 1971.” It was originally commissioned for the former Drake Circus Shopping Centre and was formally unveiled by HRH Princess Anne in November 1971, a moment that would have drawn crowds of shoppers and locals proud to see their city’s history rendered in tile and glaze.
When the old centre gave way to the Drake Circus complex Plymouth knows today, the mural could easily have been lost. Instead, Threlfall herself returned to restore it, and the piece was reinstalled for the new building’s opening. It was formally reopened by Council Leader Tudor Evans on 5 October 2006, giving the artwork a second life for a new generation of shoppers.
More than fifty years after it was first unveiled, the mural remains a small but striking reminder that Plymouth’s story runs far deeper than its modern shopfronts, a piece of Tudor imagination fired into ceramic and quietly watching over the city centre.
Photographs © Wayne Perry / Plymouth Post