Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/235

Rh rLUMTKEE. 223 PLYMOUTH. to St. Mary, has a square tower containing 3 bella. The parochial charities produce about 2 per annum. TH Wesleyans have a place of worship. I'LUMTKEE, a hmlt. in the par. of Harworth, co. Notts, 1 mile S.W. of Bawtry. PLUNGAR, a par. in the hund. of Framland, co. Leicester, 10J miles N.E. of Melton-Mowbray, 6 S.E. of Birmingham, and 5 S.W. of Bottesford railway station. Granthamisitsposttown. The parish, which is of small extent, is situated on the Grantham and Notting- ham canal, and is wholly agricultural. The surface is level, and the soil a stiff clay. The impropriation belongs to the Duke of Rutland. The living is a vie.* in the dice, of Peterborough, val. 124. The church, dedicated to St. Helen, has a square embattled and pinnacled tower containing a clock. The church was restored in 1829. The parochial charities produce about ll per annum. This parish has the privilege of sending 14 children to Barkstono free school. There is an infant school. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. The Duke of Rutland is lord of the manor. PLUSCAKDINE, a priory in the co. of Elgin, Scot- land, 4 miles S.W. of Elgin. It was founded by Alexander II. in 1230 for Cistercian monks, and was subsequently made a cell to Dunfermline. The ruins, which comprise the cruciform church embellished with wall paintings, the octagonal chapterhouse, and tho cloisters, 114 feet long, now used as a chapel, are situated in a glen belonging to the Earl of Fife. PLUSH, a tythg. in the par. and hund. of Buckland- Newton, Cerne div. of co. Dorset, 3 miles S.E. of Buck- land-Ncwton, and 4 N.E. of Cerne- Abbas. The village, which is small, is chiefly agricultural. The living is a cur. annexed to the vie. of Buckland-Newton, in tho dioc. of Sarum. The church is a chapel-of-ease to the vicarage of Buckland. PLYil, a small river of the co. of Devon, rises near Sheepstor in Dartmoor, and falls into the Channel at Plymouth Sound. PLYMOUTH, a fortified seaport, market town, a garrison, sessions, and polling town, excise collection, coastguard station, and a municipal and parliamentary borough in tho hund. of Roborough, co. Devon, 42 miles S.W. of Exeter by road, or 53 by the South Devon rail- way, and 216 from London. It stands at the head of Plymouth Sound, between the Plym and tho Hamoaze. Before the Norman conquest there was but a small village called Tamertccorth, on the spot where Plymouth now stands. The name was afterwards changed to Sutton, and was at various times known as Sutton Priors, being held by Ply mpton Priory, and Sutton Valletort, when at a later period it was held by the family of that name. Its present name first occurs in the reign of Henry VI., who granted the town a charter, and walled it in, in 1438, in consequence of its having been attacked by tho French in 1336, 1350, 1377, and 1403, and in the first mentioned year totally destroyed and plundered. The Black Prince embarked here in 1355 on his way to France, and landed here with King John of France, whom he had taken prisoner at Poictiers. Many of the naval commanders in the reign of Elizabeth Haw- kins, Drake, Sir Richard Grenville, and others belonged to Devonshire, and, consequently, Plymouth was the starting point of many expeditions ; of that against tho Armada ; and later, of the attack on Cadiz. Charles I. visited the town in 1625 ; but at the commencement of the war it was garrisoned in the interest of the Parlia- ment, and the siege laid by Prince Maurice was raised by Essex. At a later time it was unsuccessfully attacked by the king, and by Sir Richard Grenville. Other sovereigns who have visited Plymouth are Charles II., (icnrgo III., and the present queen. Plymouth stands b'-tvvoen the Catwatcr and the Hamoaze, two arms of the soa which run from the corners of the Sound to tho mouths of the Plym and Tamar. There are also two smaller inlets, Sutton Pool and Mill Bay ; tho former on the W. and .the latter on the E. side of the town. Between the Sound and the larger portion of the town is tho Hoe, a promenade of a quarter of a mile long. Many of the streets in the older part of tho town are built on a, declivity, and are narrow and irregular at its extremity. Tho more modern part, however, con- sists of commodious houses. Tho guildhall contains, besides the rooms necessary for the town business, the central watchhousc and a prison*, which is now disused, as a new one has been erected outside the town. Other buildings worthy of notice are tho custom-house, the exchange, built in 1813, and the chamber of commerce. Tho market-place is in the centre of the town, and con- sists of covered markets for butter, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and ranges of stalls for other provisions and manufactured goods, with an open space occupied by hawkers of earthenware, &e., covering in all about three acres. There are entrances from Cornwall-street, East-street, and Drake- street, near tho former of which tho corn-market is held. Cattle markets are held on Tuesday and Thursday in the Tavistock-road, and wholesale fish markets d-.tily at Suttoii Pool, Southside, and tho Barbican. The post-office is in Whimple- street, and tho electric telegraph otlice in tho Union- road. Plymouth harbour is formed by the Hamoaze, or estuary of the Tamar, and the Cat water, or estuary of the Plym, which, with other smaller arms, unite to form Plymouth Sound, which is about 3 miles in length, and 3 miles across at tho opening. Tho Hamoaze is a station for ships of war, and has moorings Cor 100 sail, while tho Catwater is used for merchant vessels, of which it will accommodate at least 1,000 sail, and is provided with wet and dry docks. Sutton Pool is also used for merchant ships, and Mill Bay, on the other side of tho town, for steam vessels. There is a pier in Sutton Pool. The port includes, besides the above harbours, the coast as far as Yealm Mouth with pilotage to Stoke Point on the E., and Love Bay on the W. The interior of tho harbour is protected from the S. winds, to which it was much exposed, by the Breakwater which lies in tho centre oi the Sound, between Cawsand Bay and Staddon Point. This construction was planned in imitation of a coral reef by Ronnie, a well-known engineer, and Whidbey, a master in tho royal navy. It consists of a straight bar of 1,000 yards, with ends inclining towards the shore at an angle of 120, of about 350 yards each. Tho base is about 70 yards in width, and the top about 10 yards. The height above highwater mark, is 2 feet at the ends and 3 at the centre. It contains 3,670,440 tons of loose limestone, and is faced with 2| millions of cubic feet of granite and other stone, much of which has come from Orestono quarry. It was commenced in August, 1812, and has been only recently finished. A lighthouse, 63 feet in height, was added in 1841 at tho W. end, with a lantern visible for 9 miles, and at the other end is a stone, in long. 4" 8' 21"W., for rating chronometers by. Tho cost of the work has been about 1,700,000. Ita success has been completely proved in many violent storms. The chief points, &c., round tho Sound are as follows : On the E. side Renny, Mewstone, and Shag- stone rocks, off Wembury Point ; Tinker, or Shovel Shoals in the Sedley Channel ; Staddon Point and pier in Bovisand Bay, where there is a reservoir of water for the supply of shipping containing 12,000 tons; tho Duke and Leek shoals ; Mount Batten Tower ; the Winter Cobbler, and Mallard shoals ; and the Asia rock, under the Hoe, where the Diitton was wrecked. On the W. side, past tho Hamoazo, are Devil's Point ; Redding Point; Mount Edgcumbo, with a dangerous passage called the Bridge, between it and Drake's Island ; the New and Scotch shoals off Ravenness ; Cawsand Bay pilot station ; the Knap and Panther shoals, opposite the breakwater ; Dragstone Rock, off Penleo Point ; and Rame Head, 9 miles S.S.W. of which are the Hand Deeps and Eddystone lighthouse. Tho harbour ia defended by a battery on St. Nicholas, or Drake's island; by the citadel; and on Staddon Heights, tho highlands on tho E. of tho Sound, are being erected very extensive fortifications, which extend thence round the whole of tho three towns, at an average distance of about 3 milea, ending at Trcgarth, on the eastern extremity. The cita- del was built in 1670, on the site of a more ancient fortress,