Photographer Highton Ridley has selected this gallery of images of Plymouth for the BBC Devon website. "There's something raw about well-executed black and white photography that has always reached in and touched me deeply," he says.
"These once-graceful ladies of the sea, now rotting in Pomphlett Creek, are a tie to Plymouth's great merchant navy trading history."
"This dock-workers' pub in the heart of Cattedown Wharves has been around since the 1300s with the current building dating from 1904."
"At Cattedown is the old Conoco fuel terminal with its local dock railway. It was connected to the wider rail network but has fallen into disuse as lorry fleets now carry the bitumen freight to its destination across the country instead."
"Gasometers are a feature of the skyline in many areas, rising and falling silently with demand in domineering ugliness. (This one has been demolished.)"
"Some parts of Plymouth, notably the older areas close to Sutton Harbour and in Devonport, still have pre-war cobbled lanes. Shepherds Lane pictured here dates to pre-1860."
"Artisans and merchants since Plymouth began have had their main premises close to the docks. The entrance security of this yard emphasises the value of trade to the city."
"Back Lanes have always been used as somewhere for rubbish to be placed ready for collection. An unknown and accidental artist made this arrangement in Sutton. Hopefully the bin men appreciated it, albeit if briefly."
"Once a borough prison, a magistrates court and a police HQ, this beautiful, old building stands as though in a firing squad, praying for a last minute reprieve. Such architectural beauty deserves to be restored."
"Transit sheds in Victoria Wharf, carrying dry goods such as china clay, ball clay and timber, show the continued importance of Plymouth as a merchant navy port."
"Countless pairs of feet over the centuries have worn down the granite treads of these steps. Connecting the Barbican to Lambhay Hill, they form a poignant tie to the historic past, having been around since before the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to the US."
"Recently demolished, this building with its curved facade was a railway goods transfer shed. A rail track ran through the building, hence its shape, and the wagons would pass through, either unloading cargo or loading it for its onward journey."
"A temporarily derelict space, sometimes used by the homeless and the nefarious, overlooks the by-contrast-opulence of the ferry. In the far background the Grain Silo, just starting to be torn down, reminds us of endings and new beginnings for Plymouth."
All Highton Ridley's work can be seen on www.highton-ridley.co.uk
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