PLYMOUTH. 135 PLYMOUTH. tlie west is Stonehouse, a township and coast- guard station, and still I'aitlier west is Devon- port (q.v. ), the great naval and military station. United by continuous lines of houses, they form an aggregation known as 'The Three Towns,' which constitutes one of the most important ports in England. Plymouth proper, which cov- ers an area of one square mile, may be called the city, and Devonport the west end; while Ktonchouse is an intermediate district, contain- ing chiefly factories, barracks, victualing yards, hospitals, and other institutions. Plymouth e.- tends from Mill Bay on the west to the mouth of the Plym on the east. Its site is somewhat rugged and uneven; an eminence forming the suburbs runs along its northern side, and another eminence, partly occupied by the citadel, fronts the Sound. The chief buildings ai'e the Royal Hotel, comprising an immense inn, assembly- rooms, a theatre, and the athenfeum ; the public library, containing in its Cottonian collection 300 sketches by the old Italian masters; Saint Andrew's Church, the tower of which dates from 1490: and Charles Church (1646-.58), dedicated to "Saint Charles the ilartyr.' There are several important educational establishments, some of which are endowed, and many charitable insti- tutions. The Guildhall and municipal 1)uildings form a group of handsome Gothic buildings. Tlie city contains an arsenal, a dock-yard, and other Government buildings, and a marine biological laboratory. Mill Bay and Sutton Pool are two small inlets of the Sound, in which lie all the merchant vessels bound for Plymouth proper. Between these inlets, and running along the shore, is the eminence or high plateau of land called the Hoe, embellished with interesting nion- niiicnts. From this ridge, whence the approach of the Spanish Armada is said to have been first descried, magnificent shore and sea views may be obtained. Its eastern end is occupied by the citadel, which commands the entrance of the Cutwater (the lower estuary of the Plym) and of Sutton Pool. Mill Bay on the west is so deep that vessels of 3000 tons can lie at the pier at low water. The principal industries are ship- building and fisheries : the manufactures are un- important, the chief being of chemicals; but as a naval station, the centre of the Devonshire and Cornwall trade, and as a holiday and health resort. Plymouth holds a prominent position. It carries on a considerable trade with the West Indies. South America. Australia, the Cape, the Baltic, and the ilediterranean. It has fine docks, harbors, and extensive quayage, and a magnifi- cent breakwater completed in 1841 protects the Sound with its spacious inner anchorage. The Iiriiuipal exports are lead. tin. copper, and gran- ite; imports, agricultural products and timber. Plymouth was the first English town incorpo- rated by Act of Parliament, its charter dating from November 12, 1439. It owns the oldest municipal water-works in England, originated in IriHr, by Sir Francis Drake, the navigator, then Mayor of the town. It owns also profitable real estate, the Royal Hotel already mentioned, abat- toirs, markets, a refuse destructor, the heat of which is utilized to generate electric light and power, electric tramways, suburban artisans' dwellings connected by tramways which carry workmen to any part of the town for a penny, baths, and wash-houses, and maintains free libra- Ties, technical school, museum and art gallerv. the Hoe Park and pleasure grounds, a hospital ship, a borough hospital, and a lunatic asylum. The population of 'The Three Towns' in 1001 was 182,971, having tripled since 1821; that of Ply- mouth proper was 107,509. Plymouth, described by Leland as being, in the reign of Henry II., "a mene thing, an inhabita- tion of fishars," was called by the Saxons Tame- orworth (town on the Tamar) ; after the Con- quest it was called Sutton ( south town ) ; and it was not till the reign of Henry VI. that it re- ceived the name of Plymouth (mouth of the Plym). Duriug the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- turies it was frequently attacked, and set on fire by the French, and in 1.512 an act was passed for the strengthening of its defenses, which since then have been greatly increased, until now the entire shore of the Sound is well defended by cannon, while a cordon of inland forts, construct- ed at immense cost, surrounds the Three T<nms at a distance of from two to three miles. Ply- mouth witnessed the departure of Drake's noted expedition to circumnavigate the world in the reign of Elizabeth, and her fleet went forth from here to encounter the Spanish Armada. The Mai/ftoirer, when she sailed for America, landed at Plymouth, whence she finally set sail on Sep- tember 6, 1620. During the Civil War the tow-n successfully sustained a siege of four years for the Parliamentary cause, and was the first large town to proclaim William of Orange King. Consult : Worth, Hi-stoii/ of Ph/mouth, from the EfifUest Period to the Present Time (Plvmuuth, 1871); Williams, Plymouth (ib., 189.8). PLYMOUTH. A to™. port of entry, and the county-seat of Plymouth County, Mass., 37 miles southeast of Boston; extending for 18 miles along Plymouth Harbor, an arm of Massachusetts Bay, and along Cape Cod Bav, and on the Xew York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (Map; Mas- sachusetts, F 4 ) . It is the oldest town in New England, having been the landing-place of the Pilgrims. Among the features of interest are the so-called Plymouth Rock, now covered by an open granite structure: Burial Hill and Cole's Hill, where many early settlers were buried ; Pilgrim Hall, with its collection of paintings and relics; and the National Monu- ment to the Pilgrims, dedicated in 1889. A statue of "Faith." 36 feet in height, is mounted on a granite base. 45 feet high, and is surrounded by massive tributary figures of 'Morality.' 'Law,' 'Freedom,' and 'Education.' Morton Park is the chief pleasure ground ; and there is a public li- brary with over 13.000 volumes. Pl.vmouth is a well-known summer resort, and is of consider- able industrial importance. The principal msinu- factures include cordage, tacks, rivets, woolen and knit goods, duck, stoves, foundry products, rubber goods, wire, etc. Plymouth Harbor is large hut shallow, and there is little commerce other than coastwise trade. A number of vessels are employed in the fisheries. The government is administered by town meetings. There are municipal water-works. Population, in 1890, 7314: in 1900, 9592. Consult: Davis. Bistorii of the Toini of Pli/mouth (Philadelphia. 1885) ; Rernrd^s of the Toini of Ph/mouth (Plymouth, 1889-92) ; and. especially for early history. Brad- ford, nistory of PUmouth Plantation, last ed. (Boston, 1898). See ^Massachusetts.
