PLYMOUTH, a municipal county (1888, extended 1896) and seaport of Devonshire, England, 231 m. W.S.W. of London. Pop. (1931) 208,166.
Plymouth, the Suton of Domesday, was afterwards divided into the town of Sutton Prior, the hamlet of Sutton Valletort and the tithing of Sutton Ralph. The market, established about 1253, became in 1311 town property. In 1292 the town first returned members to parliament. In the 14th century it was often used for armies to and from France and it suffered from French at tacks. In 1412 the inhabitants petitioned for a charter, which was granted in 1439. In the discovery of the New World it played an important part. Sir John Hawkins was port admiral and (in 1571) M.P. From Plymouth in 1577 Drake set out on his voyage round the world; in 1581 he became mayor and represented the borough in parliament during 1592-1593. Sir Humphrey Gilbert (M.P. 1571) sailed on his second colonizing expedition to America in 1583 from the port. Plymouth supplied seven ships against the Armada, and it was in the Sound that the English fleet awaited the Spaniards. A stone on a quay at the Barbican records the fact that this was the last port touched by the Pilgrim Fathers on their voyage to America.
During the Civil War Plymouth was closely invested by the Royalists. It was the only town in the west that never fell into their hands. It early declared for William of Orange.
It lies at the head of Plymouth Sound, stretching westward from the river Plym towards the mouth of the Tamar, from which it is separated by the township of East Stonehouse and the borough of Devonport, the two latter constituting with it the "Three Towns." The water frontage of the Three Towns con sists of Plymouth Sound, with its inlets. The Cattewater and Hamoaze are flanked on the east and west respectively by high ground, on which are built forts. On the western side of the entrance to Cattewater is the Citadel, founded in the reign of Henry VIII. and rebuilt by Charles II. The adjacent Hoe extends along the northern edge of the Sound. To the north is seen the town of Plymouth. Adjacent to the Citadel, at its south-west angle, is the Marine Biological Station. In the Sound is Drake's (formerly St. Nicholas's) Island. There is a contemporary por trait of Sir Francis Drake in the modern Guildhall. Near the Guildhall is the church of St. Andrews erected on the site of a chapel; it is a perpendicular church of 1480-152o, restored A new parish was formed in 1640 under the Gothic Charles church, known as the New Church. The Citadel (now used as army headquarters and barracks) is a specimen of 17th century military architecture, an irregular bastioned pentagon in trace, Plymouth is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishopric founded in 1851, the cathedral, in Wyndham Street, being completed in 1858. The building is in the Early English style, and adjoining
are the bishop's house and the convent of Notre Dame.
The "Port of Plymouth" in 1311 embraced Plympton, Mod bury and Newton Ferrers, and received a customs grant from Richard II. In 1435 sixty-five cargoes were imported, and in the reign of Elizabeth it rose to be the foremost port in England. The 18th century saw a great development of trade with Virginia and the West Indies, and this resulted in the establishment of a sugar-refining industry that was maintained until a recent date.
In 1749 the "town's water" was carried to the Barbican to sup ply shipping. The port of Plymouth as at present constituted, embraces the waters of the Plymouth Sound and the Hamoaze.
The chief water area within the limits of the port is the Sound with its inlets, the Cattewater, Sutton Pool, Mill Bay, Stonehouse Pool and the Hamoaze. The Sound itself covers an area of 4,500 ac., and is sheltered from the south-west gales by a breakwater a mile long with a lighthouse at its eastern end. It was constructed in 1841. Cattewater, Sutton Pool, and Mill Bay constitute the three mercantile harbours of Cattewater harbour, Sutton harbour, and the Great Western Docks, whilst Hamoaze has been set aside for H. M. Navy. Cattewater harbour has an area of 200 ac. and 2,200 ft. of quayage space. Sutton harbour entered from Catte water has a quayage space of 4,500 ft. Great Western Docks at Mill Bay has an outer basin of 35 acres, an inner one of 13.
Steamers sail regularly from Plymouth for Australia, New Zealand, the Cape, and North America. It has productive fish eries. It has also a considerable export and import trade. As a naval station it is second only to Portsmouth.
The town is served by the G.W.R. and S. railways. The G.W.R. company has a main line entering from the west through Devon port and going east to Exeter, having Dartmoor on the west ; the S.R. company has a terminal station in the eastern quarter of the town, and its route to Exeter is by way of the Tamar valley, and the western and northern moorland districts.
The industries of Plymouth include soap making, manufacture of chemicals, artificial manure and paper staining. There is some electrical engineering, and a clothing factory. Plymouth has returned three members to parliament, from the Drake, Devon port and Sutton divisions, since 1918. Lady Astor, the first woman elected to the House of Commons. was returned in 1919.