320 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF OLD PLYMOUTH. 
BY J. BROOKING HOWE, F.L.S. 
(Read November 7th, 1872.) 
Note. — When the following Paper was written, I had no idea that it 
would have been thought worthy of publication. It is printed almost as 
it was read, a few alterations and additions only having been made. I hope 
to be able to deal more fully with the subject in my proposed " History of 
the Deanery of Plympton," having obtained much interesting material since 
the delivery of the lecture. I am indebted to Mr. J. Hine for the drawings 
from which the woodcuts were made. 
I must begin with an apology. I fear very much that, to those 
who have taken any interest in the history of our native town, I 
shall have nothing new to communicate. The scanty materials 
available will compel me to travel over much old ground, and to 
make my paper more popular than some of those that our members 
are accustomed to hear. 
Although there have been many contributions towards the history 
of Plymouth, I beHeve none have dealt exclusively with the subject 
I have selected ; and although I can only hope to gather up matter 
already available to those who search, yet I am convinced that 
there is much more information still to be obtained with regard to 
this, as well as to other matters connected with local history 
generally. In fact, I believe that, as is the case with general- 
history, the sources of information as to local history are to some 
extent only now being opened to us. Before the history of a town 
or county can now be written, it will be necessary to look into, not 
only such archives as may be preserved in the neighbourhood itself, 
and to collect such information as may be there obtained, but to go 
much further aheld, and to consult the documents preserved in the 
various record-offices of the metropolis, now so accessible, to ascer- 
tain what public men have been connected with the locality, and 
whether any correspondence, or papers of any kind belonging to 
them, have been handed down and can be examined. As far as 
