high, protected by a ditch of about 15 feet in depth, excavated out of the solid limestone. Three gates the Stonehouse gate, the Stoke barrier, and the North barrier afford communication respectively with East. Stonehouse, Stoke, and Morice Town, the last two being suburbs of Devonport. The streets are laid out with regularity, and are paved with a peculiarly white limestone that gives an air of great cleanliness to the town. A copious supply of water is provided by means of a conduit from Dartmoor. The public buildings are both handsome and numerous. The town hall, erected in 1821-22 partly after the design of the Parthenon, is distinguished by an elegant Doric portico ; while near it are the public library, in the Egyptian style of architecture, and a conspicuous column or Do r ic pillar built of Devonshire granite. This monument, which is 100 feet high, was raised in commemoration of the naming of the town in 1824. There are numerous churches belonging to the different religious denominations. Besides the parish church, which is small, several chapels of ease have within the present century been erected in various parts of the town. One of them, a handsome edifice built in 1814-15 at a cost of 24,000, is situated in the dockyards, and was erected for the special use of those employed there. Of the Government buildings the principal are a spacious hospital outside the barriers, the Raglan barracks, and the residences of the military and naval chief officers. On Mount Wise, which is defended by a battery, stands the military residence, or Government house, which is occupied by the commander of the western district ; and near at hand is the other residence, the port admiral s house. Mount Wise itself and the parade form interesting features of the place, and tend greatly to the amenity of the town the prospect from the former being one of the finest in the south of England. The most noteworthy object, however, in connection with Devonport is the royal dockyard, which extends along the shore of the Hamoaze from Mutton Cove to Keyham Lake, a distance of about If miles. The naval dockyard, which formed the nucleus of the town, is situated within the ramparts, and covers an area of 75 acres, with a wharfage of 1160 yards ; while beyond the ramparts, and higher up the Hamoaze, is the more recently constructed Keyham steam yard, connected with the former by means of a tunnel 900 yards long. Keyham steam yard occupies an area of 100 acres ; and its docks are built of granite. In connection with the dockyards are the gun wharf, and extensive store-houses and factories. The number of hands employed in the works is very large, varying from 3000 to 4000, according to circumstances ; and it may be said that, with the exception of a brewery in the suburb of Morice Town, the only manufactory of the place is that belonging to the Government. The history of Devonport is of comparatively recent date. After the outbreak of war with France in 1689 William III. established an arsenal there in connection with the neigh bouring naval station of Plymouth, and it received the name of Plymouth Dock. Its proportions were, however, somewhat limited until in 1761 and in 1771 extensive additions were made, and since then it has steadily in creased in importance. In 1824 it received its present distinctive name, and by the Reform Act of 1832 it was erected into an independent borough returning 2 members to Parliament. The municipal borough, which is co-exten sive with the parish of Stoke-Damerel, is subdivided into 6 wards, and covers an area of 1760 acres; while the area of the parliamentary borough, which includes East Stone- house, extends to 1950 acres. The town is governed by a mayor, 12 aldermen, and 35 councillors, and has a separ ate commission of the peace. The ground on which Devon- port stands is for the most part the property of the St Aubyn family, whose steward holds a court leet and a court baron annually. The population of the municipal borough was, in 1851, 38,180; in 1861, 50,440; and in 1871, 49,449 the males being slightly more numerous than the females. The population ot the parliamentary borough in 1871 was 64,034. See PLYMOUTH and DOCKYAKDS.
DEVONSHIRE, one of the south-western counties of England, the third in extent in the country, being exceeded only by York and Lincoln. According to the latest survey, it contains 1,594,852 acres—equal to about 2492 square miles. On the N. and N.W. the county is bounded by the Bristol Channel, on the S. by the English Channel ; on the W. it adjoins Cornwall, on the E. Dorset and Somerset. In form, Devonshire is very irregular; but it sends out one long promontory towards the S., and on the N. the coast line trends sharply southward near Ilfracombe, and is broken into the deep hollow of Bideford Bay.
Plate III.
General aspect.—Nearly the whole area of Devonshire is uneven and hilly. It contains the highest land in England, south of the Yorkshire Ingleborough ; and the scenery, much varied, is in most parts of the county very striking and picturesque.The great feature of Devonshire is the granitic district of Dartmoor, so named from the principal river which rises on it, the Dart, and occupying an area of about 130,000 acres. This great plateau, the mean height of which is about 1500 feet, rises in the southern division of the county, and is more or less conspicuous from all the lower tracts. It is the highest and easternmost in a broken chain of granite elevations, which extends to the Scilly Islands. Steep heights, crested with masses of broken granite, locally named tors, break up from the main table land in all directions, and are often singularly fantastic in outline. The highest of these is Yestor, 2050 feet, in the northern quarter; whilst one of the most conspicuous is Heytor, 1501 feet, in the south. Dartmoor is a region of heather, and the central portion has been a royal forest from a period before the Conquest. Its grand wastes contrast finely with the wild but wooded region which immediately surrounds the granite (and along which occurs the most picturesque scenery in Devonshire), and with the rich cultivated country lying beyond. It is this rich country which has given Devonshire the name of the Garden of England. The most noticeable districts are the so-called Vale of Exeter, covering an area of about 200 square miles, and including the meadows which surround Crediton, the richest in the county ; and the South Hams, the extent of which is not very clearly defined, but which covers the deep projection between the mouths of the Dart and the Erme. Another very picturesque division extends eastward of Exeter as far as the Dorsetshire border. The north and south coasts of the county differ much in character and climate, the north being by far the more bracing. Both have grand cliff and rock scenery, not exceeded by any in England or Wales ; and, as a rule, the country immediately inland is of great beauty. The general verdure of Devonshire, and its broken hilly character, are the features which everywhere most strongly assert themselves. The least picturesque part of the country is that toward the centre, which is occupied by some portions of the Carboniferous formation.
The principal rivers rise on Dartmoor, and are—the Teign, the Dart, the Plym, and the Tavy, falling into the English Channel, and the Taw and the Torridge, flowing north towards Bideford bay. The lesser Dartmoor streams are the Avon, the Erme, and the Yealm, all running south. The Exe rises on Exmoor in Somersetshire ; but the main part of its course is through Devonshire (where it gives name to Exeter), and it is joined on its way to the English channel by the lesser streams of the Culm, the Greedy, and the Clyst. The Otter, rising on the Blackdown hills, also runs S., and the Axe, for part of its course, divides the
