718 
PLYMOUTH. 
inherit it from fir William Morice, fecretary of ftate to 
Charles II. and mentioned by Clarendon as inftrumental 
to the reiteration. In this family refts the prefentation to 
the living of Stoke-Damerell. The ftreets are regular, 
interfering each other at right angles, and generally 
well built. The pavement is of limeftone, or a kind of mar¬ 
ble with which the neighbourhood abounds, and after a 
fhower its veins have a beautiful appearance. Though 
now of fuch confiderable magnitude, it is wholly of mo¬ 
dern date, and owes its origin and rapid increafe to the 
eftablifhment of the dock-yard and naval arfenals. It was 
made a king’s yard in the latter part of the reign of 
Wiliiam III. before which it was a mere hamlet of a few 
houfes. The greater part of the town has been ereifled fince 
1760. The number of inhabitants in Dock is about 
30,000. The houfes are erected by the inhabitants on 
leafes for ninety-nineyears, fubjefl to a fmall annual quit- 
rent. The town and the dock-yard are defended by 
lines, commenced in the reign of George II. but the 
works have been much improved under an adl made in 
the 21 ft of his late majefty, George III. On the north- 
eaft and fouth fides the town is bounded by a fod wall, 
about twelve feet high, which was built in 1787. The 
weftern fide is fkirted by the walls of the dock-yard and 
gun-wharf. Without the lines is a ditch from twelve 
to eighteen and twenty feet deep, excavated from the 
tolid flate and limeftone rock. In this line of fortification 
are three barrier gates; the North Barrier, the Stoke 
Barrier, and the Stonehoufe Barrier. Round the whole 
extent areplanted pieces of ordnance, at regular diftances. 
The other fortifications area battery on Mount Wife; 
another at the Obelifk-hill; and a redoubt or block-houfe 
on Mount Pleafant, without the lines which command 
the whole. The town, beingcircuml'cribed by this boun¬ 
dary of defence, does not admit of any increafe of build¬ 
ing within it. A new town without the lines, named 
Morice-town, is alfo the property of the St. Aubyn’s fa¬ 
mily. Devonport has two chapels, and feveral meeting- 
houfes for fedts of different denominations, which are 
very numerous. The parifh-church is fituated about 
a mile from the town. There are few charitable infti- 
tutions, perhaps in confequence of the recent growth 
of the town. The poor-houfe is extenfive, and will 
contain nearly 500 perfons : picking oakum for the 
dock-yard affords conftant employment to its inmates. 
The inhabitants are lupplied with water from thefprings 
on Dartmoor, by an aqueduct fimilar to that of Ply¬ 
mouth. Markets are held three days in the week in the 
new market-place, lately eredted by fir John St. Aubyn. 
The government-houfe is a handfome building, erected 
when lord Lennox commanded here; it is appropriated 
folely to the difpatch of military bufinefs, court-martials, 
&c. and has in front a grand parade. Here are eight 
different barrack-eftabliftiments, which afford conveni¬ 
ences for 3000 men. The naval department confifts of 
an admiral and rear-admiral, deputy judge-advocate, and 
commiffioner for the payment of feamen’s wages. Near 
the grand parade ftands the telegraph, by which a com¬ 
munication is kept up with the admiralty in London, 
through thirty-fix different ftations. Inftances have oc¬ 
curred of a ftiort meflage being tranfmitted to London, 
and an anfwer returned, in fifteen minutes. 
The dock-yard, even in its prefent unfiniffied ftate, is 
acknowledged to be one of the fineft in the w’orld. When 
it was firft ufed as a naval arfenal is uncertain; but, as 
the bafin and its dock are the moft ancient, and were not 
made till the reign of William III. it feems evident that 
this was a place of little confequence before that period. 
The wall which l'eparates the yard from the town is of 
flate and limeftone, and in fome places thirty feet high. 
The area within the wall is feventy-one acres and thirty- 
fix poles ; includingthe projefting parts of the jetties. The 
entrance to the dock-yard from the land fide is from Fore- 
ftreet, by a large gate for carriages, &c. and a fmall one 
for foot-paflengers. No perfon is fuft’ered to enter, unlefs 
vyell known, or in uniform, without an order from the 
commiffioner. Immediately within the gates is the mas¬ 
ter porter’s houfe; and clofe by is the chapel, the tower 
and one aide of which are as old as 1700, the other aide 
is of much more recent date. In front of the chapel 
is the military guard office, and over that the navy pay- 
office. From the gates, a flat paved road, fkifted with 
elms, leads to the officers’ dwelling houfes, which are of 
brick, and thirteen in number. From hence to the lower 
part of the yard, which lias been levelled from the folid 
rock, is a defcent by a flight of fteps, leading to two hand¬ 
fome buildings, the northerrr.oft of which is the joiner’s 
fhop, the other is ufed as an office. Diredlly in front of 
thefe is the bafin and dock made in the reign of William 
III. The bafin is a large excavation, in which all the 
boats belonging to the yard, as well as the launches em¬ 
ployed in moving fhips, are kept; the water flows into it 
through an opening about feventy feet wide. Within the 
bafin is a dock, fufficiently capacious for a feventy-four 
gun fhip; its length is 197 feet 3 inches; its width, 65 feet 
10 inches; and its depth, 23 feet 1 inch. The bafin is 
bounded on each fide by jetty heads, which are platforms 
projecting over the fea, fupported by wooden pillars 
driven full of nails, to prevent the worms from perfora¬ 
ting them. Ships of all fizes lie alongfide thefe jetties 
without grounding, and here all veflels are brought to be; 
fitted out. On the fouth jetty is a landing place, called 
the mafter attendant’s flairs, where all ftores returned from 
fhips are landed, and thofe to be lent to them (hipped off. 
Adjoining this jetty is the rigging houfe, a handfome 
building, 480 feet long, and three (lories high, forming 
one fide of a quadrangle. This fabric is of lime-ftone, with 
the quoins and cornices of Portland-ftone. Withinjt the 
rigging for the fhips of war is kept in fuch a ftate of for- 
wardnefs, as to be fit for ufe at a very fhort notice. Over 
the rigging is the fail-loft, where all the fails are cut out 
and made. The remaining three fides of the quadrangle 
are ftore-houfes, in which the various articles neceflary to 
equip the fleets are kept. 
Advancing fouthward is a flip for hauling up and gra¬ 
ving the bottom of fmall veflels, fuch as floops of war, 
cutters, &c. Beyond this is the Camber, along canal, 
about lewenty-feet wide, terminating at the upper end in 
a bafin, where boats lie; on the north fide of which is the 
boat-houfe, where boats are built and repaired. Here, be¬ 
fore the year 1768, were the bounds of the yard; all 
thence to the fouthward, is (till called the new ground. 
The blackfmith’s fhop is fituated fouth of the canal, it is a 
fpacious building, about 210 feet fquare, and contains 
forty-eight forges. The largeft anchors made here weigh 
five tons ; they are made of iron bars forged together, and 
are moved in and out of the fire by the aid of cranes. 
The quantity of coals burnt in 1802 was 876 chaldrons 
and 23 bufhels. The anchor-wharf fronts the blackfmith’s 
fhop. Near this wharf are three flips, whereon large fhips 
are built; and adjoining them is a boiling-houfe, in which 
the planks that are to receive a particular curve are boiled 
in water for a confiderable time, and, being afterwards ap¬ 
plied hot to their places,are immediately faftened. North¬ 
ward of the flips are the mafl-houfe and pond ; in the 
former the different malls and yards are made of many 
pieces of balk, formed to fit into each other, then round¬ 
ed and prefied together with iron hoops driven on red hot. 
The pond is a large piece of water, inclofed from the fea 
by a very ftrong wall, of at leall 10 feet in thicknefs, and 
about 380 feet long; the top of which is laid flat with 
large flags of coarfe granite. The water flows in through 
two openings about forty feet wide, over which are light 
wooden bridges. An immenfe number of mails, yards, 
&c. are always kept in this pond, to prevent their crack¬ 
ing, from expofure to the fun. Near the fouth end of the 
mafl-houfe is a fmall mount, generally called Bunker’s 
Hill, on the fummit of which is a watch-houfe and a 
final! battery. Under this hill is a fmall powder-maga¬ 
zine, and near it a flip for building cutters and fmall 
veflels. 
Returning from the interior of the yard, the rope-houfes 
firft 
