PLYMOUTH, England, an important sea port and commercial town of Devonshire, on Plymouth Sound, between the estuaries of the Plym and Tamar, 36 miles southwest of Exeter. Devonport on the west, Stonehouse in the mid dle, and Plymouth proper on the east, constitute the aggregate known as °The Three Towns." The area of Plymouth proper is four square miles; of the three towns eight square miles. Devonport has on the west the Hamoaze or lower part of the Tamar estuary, and is divided from Stonehouse and Plymouth proper by an inlet crossed by several brides. (See STONE HOUSE and DEVONPORT). Plymouth extends from Stonehouse on the west to the Plym or Catwater on the east. The site is uneven, con sisting of a central hollow and two considerable eminences, one on the north, and the other, called the Hoe, on the south, laid out as a prom enade and recreation ground, from which a magnificent view is obtained. On the Hoe has been re-erected (Smeaton's) old Eddystone lighthouse, and there are also here a statue of Sir Francis Drake, and a memorial of the Armada. At the east end of the Hoe, on a bold headland, stands the citadel erected in the time of Charles II. The older parts of the town con sist of narrow and irregular streets, devoid of architectural beauty, and often steep and wind ing. But in the newer parts and suburbs many handsome terraces and villas have been erected. The public buildings include the guildhall, a handsome Gothic building; the Royal Hotel and theatre, in the Grecian style; the post office; the custom-house, the exchange, the Athenaeum, the Mechanics' Institute, the Plymouth and Cot tonian public library, containing 10,000 volumes, and a collection of original drawings, prints, paintings and artistic articles, the grammar and other endowed schools, the Public Dispen sary, Female Penitentiary, Eye Infirmary, South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital, etc. The laboratory and headquarters of the Marine Biological Association are located here. Among ecclesiastical buildings are the two parish churches, Saint Andrew's Church, a fine Gothic building of the 15th century containing some fine monuments, and Charles' Church, of the 17th century, with an elegant spire; Sherwell Congregational Chapel and the Roman Catholic Cathedral.
The manufactures include soap, sail-cloth, brushes, Roman cement, earthenware. rope and twine, etc., and there are also ship-building yards, foundries, two sugar refineries, brew eries, starch-works and flax, saw and flour mills, together with limestone quarries. The fisheries, chiefly of whiting, hake and mackerel, are very productive. The trade also, both coast
ing and foreign, is very important. Steamers ply regularly to North America, the Cape, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, etc. The parts of the port chiefly appropriated for mercantile shipping are Sutton Pool and Mill Bay, particularly the latter, where there are extensive wet-docks, and the largest vessels lie in safety along its fine pier and pontoon at low water.
Plymouth owes its celebrity chiefly to its im portance as a great royal naval station, for which the spaciousness of its sound renders it admirably suited. It has been the scene of im mense activities during the World War. Originally, however, the sound, about three miles wide at its mouth, being open to the southwest winds, left vessels at anchor exposed to the greatest danger. With the view of pro tecting the anchorage from the heavy swell of the sea, the stupendous Plymouth breakwater was undertaken, and finally completed at an expense of about $10,000,000. On the west end of the breakwater a lighthouse, 68 feet above the platform, and visible at the distance of eight miles, except in foggy weather, has been erected, but the entrance into the sound is guided by the still more celebrated Eddystone lighthouse, which stands on a large cluster of rocks in the channel opposite to it. To defend the port an iron-cased fort was built near the breakwater, and Saint Nicholas, or Drake's Island, within the breakwater, has been fur nished with strong fortifications, mounted with heavy guns. Various other forts and batteries also defend the place. The chief naval estab lishments are in Devonnort and Stonehouse, the former having the royal dock-yard for building and repairing ships, the steam-yard for machin ery and boilers, etc.; while Stonehouse has the victualing yard, naval hospital, marine bar racks, etc. The Hamoaze is a favorite anchor age for men-of-war.
Plymouth, originally a fishing village, bore in very early times the name of Tamarworth, which, after the Conquest, was changed to that of Sutton, or South Town. It had become a considerable town under its present name in 1438, when a charter, confirming its old and granting many new privileges, was conferred upon it 'by Henry VI. From Elizabeth it ob tained a new charter through the solicitation of Sir Francis Drake, and on the threatened in vasion of the Armada the British fleet had its rendezvous here. Bonaparte arrived here in the Bellerophon in 1815. The total tonnage arrived and cleared in 1915 was 4,078 000. Pop. (1914) 113,134. Consult the histories of the town by Worth (1871) and Williams (1898).