Of course this was a highlight of my trip. The pub where my great-great grandfather James Clogg was publican in the 1890s. Still there, at the end of Cremyll Street, bang next to the main entrance of the Victualling Yard (the stone wall at the right side of the picture).

The pub was small and bare, with a few locals drinking quietly, and wondering why I was there.

I’ve the print of this pub up above my desk.  It reminds me of this trip, and my past, and my family and all the different strands which brought me to here.

Cremyl Ferry, originally uploaded by Joanna Young.

I knew as soon as I read about Cremyll Street that I had to go and see it for myself: walk down the street, admire the Victualling Yard, take the boat across the water to the Cornish side.

The setting was just as stunning as I’d imagined. Perhaps prettier than I thought – though I was there on a spectacularly lovely day.

This is taken on the Plymouth side, waiting for the boat to take me to Cornwall.

18 Cremyll Street, originally uploaded by Joanna Young.

The house at Cremyll Street: home to James and Jane Clogg and their daughter Minnie at the time of the 1881 Census.

I’d love to be able to transport myself back to Cremyll Street in Victorian times… but being there ‘for rea’l, away from the net, away from the pages of a book, was a thrill even so.

Sea + Yard From 18 Cremyll Street, originally uploaded by Joanna Young.

Cremyll Street runs down the peninsula along the edge of Stonehouse Pool to the Victualling Yard. The houses on the west side of the street were directly overlooking the water.

Cremyll Streets was a ‘mixed use’ street. The street directory has listings for cabs, a coal and iron company, a grocer, a blacksmith, an oyster seller, stables and coach house and yacht builders.

Cremyll Street is dominated by the sea. Slipways run off it down to Stonehouse Pool. At very high tides the sea would flood up and over the street up to the front doors of the houses.

Here I am standing at the bottom of a slipway, just next to 18 Cremyll Street. James, Jane and Minnie Clogg were resident here at the time of the 1881 Census.

I’m looking across the Pool on a gorgeous spring morning to the Royal William Yard.

His parents were Robert Watt and Sarah Gourdie. He was the youngest of six: his siblings at the time of his birth were David (11), Jean (9), Robert (7), William (5) and Elizabeth (3)

He married Agnes Gardiner.

Plymouth Harbour, originally uploaded by Joanna Young.

I got the chance to walk round the Barbican and Sutton Hoe the first night I was in Plymouth.

Walking towards the harbour I got the strangest sense of having been here before. Of already knowing this place. Stronger than I’ve experienced in other places, including those that I love deeply. When I was walking I was thinking about Mary Gilbert who lived in Plymouth in the early years of the 19th Century.

She married Richard Burton on 24 May 1827 in St Andrews, Plymouth.

Her husband Richard was a master mariner: an experienced and skilled seaman who was certified to be competent to command a merchant vessel.

Mary Gilbert was the mother of Jane Clogg, widowed name Jane Pill, born Jane Emma Burton.

The 1881 census shows Richard and Mary Burton living near Fowey with their daughter Jane and family.

Mary died on 30 December 1882 in Liverpool.

Her husband Richard died 2 years later (8 August 1884, in Swansea)