PLYMOUTH, Devonshire, a market-town, seaport, and municipal and parliamentary borough, is situated on the south coast, at the mouth of the river Plym, in 50° 22' N. lat., 4° 9' W. long., distant 42 miles S.W. from Exeter, 216 miles W.S.W. from Landonby read, and 216 miles by the Great Western, Bristol and Exeter, and South Devon railways. The population of the borough of Plymouth in 1851 was 52,221. The population of the municipal borough of Devolved, consisting of the parish of Stoke Damerel, was 38,180 In 1851 ; that at Deronport parliamentary borough, which includes also the pariah of East Stonese, was 50,159. Deronport and Stonehonse are con- , tignotts to and usually regarded as forming one town with Plymouth. l'lymonth is governed by 12 aldermen and 36 councillors, of whom 0124 is mayor ; and returns two members to the Imperial Parliament., The borough of Devonport also returns two members to Parliament. The livings are in the areheleaconry of Totten and diocese of Exeter. Fur Poor-Law purposes, the two parishes of which the borough of Plymouth is composed, aro governed under the provisions of a local act. Stoke Dunerel is likewise under a local act, and East Stonehouse pariah is governed by a board of guardians.
Plymouth was originally inhabited by fishermen. By the Saxons it was called Tameorworth : after the Conquest it was called Sutton (that is, South-Town); in the reign of Henry VL It received the name of Plymouth. In the reign of henry IV. the town was attacked and partly burnt, but the castle and the highest part of the town were not taken. In 143:3, in the reign of henry VI. Plymouth was incor porated by charter. The town was then walled in. In the civil war of Charles I. the town, which had embraced the parliamentary side, was besieged by the Royalists tinder Prince Maurice, and was soon after attacked by the king in his march into Cornwall, and enbse quently blockaded by Sir Richard Grenville, but in each case without success.
The town of Plymouth is on the north side of Plymouth Sound, between the two great arms of that harbour, Catwater on the east, and Hamoaze on the west. The email inlet of Sutton Pool is close
to the town on the east side, and Mill Ray, another inlet, not far from it on the west. The older streets are narrow and ill-built, and some of them steep. The town is well lighted with gas ; the supply of water is under the direction of the corporation, and is still furnished by Sir F. Drake's channel, or 'halt,' from Dartmoor, which has a course of about 30 miles. The water is received in three large reservoirs, and distributed by iron-pipes.
St. Andrew'a church is a spacious structure of ancient foundation, with a square embattled tower. Charles church was begun just before the civil war of Charles I., but was not completed until after the Restoration, when it was dedicated to King Charles the Martyr. It is a neat building, with a square tower and well-proportioned spire. There are two chapels of ease, besides six other Episcopal places of worship; chapels for Baptists, Independents, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Quakers, Wesleyan Methodists, and other Dissenters, and a Jews' syna gogue—numbering in all 38 places of worship, containing 23,805 sittings. The Grammar school, founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1572, had 60 scholars in 1651. The New Grammar school, founded in 1822, had 70 scholars in 1554. The Western College, instituted in 1752, for the education Of young men for the minister! amongst Protestant Dis senters, is in connection with the University of London. It had 21 students in 1854. There are National and British schools, Charity schools, a savings bank, and various benevolent institutions. The Royal betel, with an assembly-room and a theatre adjacent to it, erected in 1511 by the corporation at a heavy expense, form a very extensive range of building. The custom-house, the royal baths, the new hospital, the athenaeum or building of the Plymouth Institution, the publics library, the freemasons' hell, the Natural History Society's hall, and the mechanics institute, are worthy of notice. The guild hall is an irregular structure, comprehended in which are, besides the town-hall, the central wateh-house, and the town prison.