Crabtree, Plymouth

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Crabtree is a suburb of Plymouth in the English county of Devon.

Originally, it was a small village beside the coaching route around the top of the Plym Estuary where travellers stopped before or after crossing the marshland known as Marsh Mills and the road to Plympton then Exeter and London. Now it is part of the city of Plymouth has been substantially overbuilt by a superstore, one of the largest roundabouts in the west of England and a huge flyover carrying the A38 as it metamorphoses from Devon Expressway to Plymouth Parkway. The noisy collision of modern communications is completed by the presence of the last fast strench of the main railway line into the city. There is now a travel lodge and small housing estate. The delightful and popular coaching inn has long since been demolished. 'Suburb' is a misnomer and is real estate agents' jargon for an area now barely more than a junction.

Various other hamlets also formerly stood on or near the site including 'Longbridge'. The city museum and art gallery collection, the National Trust at nearby Saltram House and various private collections own paintings and water colours of the old Crabtree at the head of the estuary which was once evidently one of the most attractive views in the area.