Sir John Hawkins Square controversy has dragged on since 2020
Sir John Hawkins Square(Image: William Telford)
Plans to change Plymouth’s most controversial place name are still on hold six years after controversy erupted.
In 2020, a petition was started to rename Sir John Hawkins Square, near the magistrates court in Plymouth City Centre.
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests which gripped the UK and USA that summer, some people called for a name change due to Hawkins’ position as one of the most prominent slave traders in British history.
Shortly after that street signs were removed by Plymouth City Council , which claimed it was concerned they would be vandalised.
The council began working on plans to rename the square but a series of legal challenges followed, spearheaded by Plymouth entrepreneur Danny Bamping, and dragged on for years.
In 2023 the council announced it had decided to rename the location “Justice Square” and said that if anyone opposed the name change they should lodge an appeal at Plymouth Magistrates Court.
Again there was a legal challenge and the council decided to start the process from scratch.
Then the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 came into force at the start of 2024 and replaced laws around renaming streets.
The council said it is now looking at how the law change affects its policies on naming and numbering streets.
A council spokesperson told PlymouthLive: “Regarding the square’s name – the proposal to rename it is on hold.
“We are reviewing our street naming and numbering policy and procedures to ensure they align with the new legislative requirements of S81 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, which came into force in January 2024, replacing the previous legal framework governing street renaming. “
Hawkins was an Elizabethan seafarer from Plymouth, widely considered to be the first English slave trader.
He transported captured Africans to work on plantations in the Americas in the 16th Century.
In 2008, The Herald reported on a row when the Breton Arms pub, at Bretonside, was renamed the Hawkins Meeting House.
Plymouth’s Racial Equality Council objected to the name change, but it remained until the pub closed down and later became an Arts University Plymouth campus building.
Meanwhile, campaigners are raising cash in a bid to save a beloved tree in Sir John Hawkins Square and place a bench around it.
The group Plymouth Tree People wants to protect the large maple tree and says the tarmac that replaced paving a few years ago goes right up to the tree’s trunk and restricts the tree’s ability to access water.
The campaigners say two other maple trees have previously died in the square. Plymouth Tree People started a campaign on the Gofundme platform and the appeal has already raised more than £1,560 at the time of writing, from 58 donations and is very close to hitting its target.
The appeal can be found at www.gofundme.com/f/lets-help-the-maple-in-the-square
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