155 



THE PERAMBULATOR, No. IX. 



HISTORY OF THE PLYMOUTH LEAT. 



Having, in the report of a former perambulation, 

 giving a description of the Leat and its course, pro- 

 mised a sketch of its history ; I herewith hand you 

 my notes thereon, and if your readers should find 

 them less amusing than the former ones, I must beg 

 them to allow for the difference of wandering abroad 

 in the mountain air, beside the splashing stream ; 

 and perambulating (if the term is admissible) dusty 

 rolls and musty parchments. If they will not excuse 

 a dull story, on this account ; they must pass it over ; 

 if it be the first, or last article in your Museum which 

 has the luck of being unread, your said Museum 

 fares very differently from most other books. But, 

 if they do not read it how are they to know that it is 

 dull ? And after they shall have read it, and found it 

 so ; they will be in possession of information con- 

 nected with the history of our old town, in old times, 

 which they could not obtain elsewhere without some 

 trouble. 



What was the population of the town in the year 

 1580, I have not seen recorded. In 1740 there were 

 about 1,400 houses, and 8,400 inhabitants ; and since, 

 in 1831, the houses amount to 4,108, and the people 

 to 31,098, that is, it had more than tripled, in 90 

 years ; we can hardly suppose it to have exceeded in 

 1580, one half of what it was 160 years afterward, 

 in 1740 : which would give us a population, in 1580, 

 of 4,200, with 700 houses. Whether they were so 

 many or not, they were at a considerable loss for fresh 

 water, for shipping, and also in cases of fire, the 

 houses being then generally constructed of wood ; 

 as appears in the act of parliament quoted below. 

 The common supply seems to have been from 

 wells ; several of which gave names to the streets 

 in which they were situate, as Finewell Street, Buck- 

 well Street, Westwell Street, &:c. 



