View source for Laira

{{Short description|Suburb of Plymouth, Devon}}
{{about|the [[River Plym|Plym]] estuary|the [[DC Comics]] [[Green Lantern]] character|Laira (comics) }}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
|country              = England
|coordinates          = {{coord|50.38|-4.10|display=inline,title}}
|static_image         =
|static_image_caption =
|official_name        = Laira
|map_type             = Devon
|shire_district       = [[Plymouth]]
|region               = South West England
|shire_county         = [[Devon]]
|constituency_westminster = 
|post_town            = [[Plymouth|PLYMOUTH]]
|postcode_district    = PL3 6xx
|postcode_area        = PL 
|dial_code            = 01752
|os_grid_reference    = 
}}

'''Laira''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɛər|ə}} – previously recorded as '''Lare''' (1591),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/a/zoomify82820.html |title=Zoomify image: A coloured chart of Plymouth Harbour, and of the country up to Tavistock; drawn possibly by Robert Spry |website=www.webarchive.org.uk|accessdate=27 November 2022 |archive-date=26 June 2019|archive-url=https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20190626042607/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/a/zoomify82820.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> '''Lary poynte''' (1638), the '''Leerie''' (1643), and the '''Lairy''' (1802) – was originally the name given to that part of the estuary of the [[River Plym]] from the [[Cattewater]] up to Marsh Mills in [[Plymouth]], Devon, England. The name may derive from a [[Common Brittonic|Brythonic]] word corresponding to the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''llaeru'', meaning 'to ebb'.<ref name=GMS>{{cite journal |last1=Gover |first1=J.E.B. |last2=Mawer |first2=A. |last3=Stenton |first3=F. M. |journal=English Place-Name Society |volume=8 |title=The Place-Names of Devon |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1931 |page=20}}</ref>

The [[A379 road]] and the disused [[Plymouth to Yealmpton Branch|Plymouth to Yealmpton railway line]] cross the estuary just above the Plymouth suburb of [[Cattedown]] by two bridges both known as [[Laira Bridge]].

[[File:Two Bridges Cross The Laira - geograph.org.uk - 293055.jpg|thumb|left|The disused railway and more recent road crossings of the Laira at Cattedown]]

The name Laira now also refers to the area of Plymouth surrounding the [[Laira Traction Maintenance Depot]]. Much of the housing here was built around 1900 for employees of the depot. There is a memorial plaque to the men of Laira who died in the [[World War I|Great War]] along Old Laira Road. Also situated on Old Laira Road is the old Police / Fire Station which is currently used as a library. Laira Green Primary school is situated in the area, as well as a disused United Reformed Church.

{{anchor|Lairy Embankment (Plymouth) Act 1802}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Lairy Embankment (Plymouth) Act 1802
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An act to enable his Majesty to grant certain Parcels of Land, situate between Great Prince Rock and the Village of Crab Tree, called Tothill Bay, and Lipson Bay, near to the Borough of Plymouth in the County of Devon, to certain Persons therein named, for the Purpose of embanking and preferring the same from the Sea.
| year                  = 1802
| citation              = [[42 Geo. 3]]. c. 32
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 24 March 1802
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
Until the beginning of the 19th century, Old Laira Road had constituted the northern shore of Lipson Lake (or Bay), an extensive tidal inlet on the western side of the estuary. This area – on which the railway depot and [[Lipson Co-operative Academy]] now stand – was reclaimed from the estuary and drained, together with Tothill Bay on the south side of higher ground at Mount Gould, upon the completion in 1802 of an [[Levee|embankment]] along the whole western shore of the Laira.<ref>{{cite web |last=Moseley |first=Brian |title=The Embankment |url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Embankment.htm |website=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |accessdate=13 February 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928230325/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Embankment.htm |archivedate=28 September 2013 |date=September 2011}}</ref> A new road, laid along this embankment shortly afterwards, from Laira Green to Prince Rock, soon became the main highway into Plymouth from [[Plympton]], [[Exeter]], and beyond, avoiding the often steep and narrow way via Old Laira Road and [[Lipson]] – even though the new route was to remain a [[toll road]] until 1924.

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==References==
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[[Category:Suburbs of Plymouth, Devon]]


{{Devon-geo-stub}}