An open grass headland runs along a stone sea wall past a red and white striped lighthouse tower and a granite naval memorial, with Victorian terraces set back along the promenade.
What The Hoe looks like
A wide grass headland runs along the top of low limestone cliffs on Plymouth's south side, open on every side to the sky and the water. A stone sea wall follows the clifftop above Plymouth Sound, with a paved promenade running its length and a row of flagpoles set along one stretch of it.
stands near the middle of the headland, a granite lighthouse tower banded red and white, with ninety three steps inside climbing to the lantern room. The tower itself dates from 1759 and has stood on this spot since 1882.
A pale stone naval memorial stands close by, a tapered obelisk on a base of dark bronze panels and a low curved wall. It dates from 1924, with the surrounding wall added in the 1950s. A granite column topped with a bronze figure of Britannia marks the on the same stretch of lawn. A separate bronze statue of Drake stands on its own pedestal nearby, dating from the 1880s like the column beside it.
Rows of Victorian terraced houses and hotels face the headland along Hoe Road to the west, cream and white stucco fronts rising three and four storeys above the lawns. , among them, dates from 1860. , a tiered stone shelter at the cliff edge, dates from 1891. Below it, the white curved frontage of steps down from the sea wall toward the water, its art deco form built in the 1930s. , a smaller Victorian drinking fountain, stands among trees at the headland's eastern end.
Shot in The Hoe
The Marine Biological Association is based at the Hoe's eastern end. It assisted the BBC's Blue Planet II crew with information, resources and facilities for filming a phytoplankton sequence. The clip appears near the end of the series' fifth episode, Green Seas.
Blue Planet II, 2017
The Marine Biological Association assisted the production crew with information, resources and facilities for filming this clip. The phytoplankton in it was caught in Plymouth Sound that day. It plays near the end of the series' fifth episode, Green Seas. Street View
What The Hoe can double for
Southsea in Portsmouth, Hampshire
Southsea's own war memorial is Robert Lorimer's identical design to the Hoe's, built by the same sculptor in the same year, 1924. A shot square on the obelisk could pass for the same monument, and Southsea Common runs along the seafront in a similar open scale. The common here is flat rather than clifftop, so a wide shot that includes the shoreline below will give the difference away. Portsmouth's own postwar wall extension is a different design from Plymouth's, so keep later period dressing off that side of the memorial. Try searching Southsea Common war memorial now.
Tynemouth in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear
The Collingwood Monument stands on open grass at the Spanish Battery, a headland above the mouth of the Tyne, a stone column and statue on a pedestal in much the same relationship to open parkland as the Hoe's own monuments. Four historic guns flank its steps, a different foreground than Plymouth's open lawns. The monument faces the river mouth rather than open sea, so a wide shot toward the horizon looks different. The guns at its base need dressing out of frame for an earlier period match. Try searching grass headland stone monument now.
Calton Hill is a hilltop version of the same open ground and standalone monuments, including the Nelson Monument, a tower open to climb with views over the city and the Firth of Forth. The unfinished colonnade of the National Monument gives a more overtly classical foreground than Plymouth's obelisk. The hill looks down over tenements and a city skyline rather than open water, so a wide shot needs careful framing to keep Edinburgh's roofline out of it. The National Monument's columns look classical Greek rather than a war memorial's plainer lines. Try searching hilltop monuments and tower now.
