Swilly

North Prospect, previously officially named and still colloquially known as Swilly, was the name given to the first council estate built in Plymouth during the 1920s, primarily to accommodate officers settling back in Britain following the devastation of the First World War. The housing act of 1919 promised “Homes for Heroes” and an improvement on the overcrowded and inadequate living conditions that existed in early twentieth century Britain. Swilly was Plymouth’s response to this Act.

Swilly House had been at the centre of a prosperous country estate. Much of the former mansion was transferred from Swilly, being reconstructed at a site known as Woodtown on the edge of Dartmoor. The original word may have derived from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning “farmland”, but also it may have a Celtic derivation associated to water (refer to the Irish "Lough Swilly" and "River Swilly") as the earliest reference in Plymouth to "Swilly creek" in 1578 pre-dates the subsequent farm. Before the Second World War much of the locality of what is now North Prospect and the western edge of Beacon Park was known as Swilly. Swilly Post Office was at the corner of South Down Road and West Down Road.

Swilly Hospital (later renamed Scott Hospital after Robert Falcon Scott, who lived at the nearby Outland House and was later leader of ill-fated Antarctic Expedition in 1912) was first a sanatorium and later an isolation hospital and was situated at the heart of the estate (the junction of Swilly Road, renamed North Prospect Road, and Beacon Park). Not far from here (at 142 Swilly Road) the first bombs of the Blitz fell. For a time, Ron Goodwin, whose orchestral compositions include 633 Squadron, lived at Swilly Crescent which, having been later renamed North Prospect Crescent, is now known as Goodwin Crescent.

The council estate, designed with plenty of open space and trees, was prosperous up until the 1950s when the area began to get a reputation due to the economic and social problems of its residents. The officer class who originally lived in the area began to be superseded by poorer families from the most deprived areas of Plymouth, particularly Devonport, in the 1930s. Due to severe underinvestment by subsequent council administrations, Swilly, its housing stock and the community at large became increasingly vulnerable to criticism and even contempt.

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Wikipedia