THE HISTORY OF NONCONFORMITY IN PLYMOUTH. 75 
and opened in 1807; and it was not until the Cathedral was 
erected (the foundation-stone was laid by the present bishop in 
1856) that Plymouth again possessed a Roman Catholic public place 
of worship. A century and a quarter after Plymouth gave shelter 
to the persecuted Huguenots, it afforded a resting-place to a com- 
munity of persecuted Catholics. A sisterhood of the order of Poor 
Clares, who had been compelled to flee from France, occupied the 
premises at Coxside now used by Messrs. James as offices, from 
1813 to 1835. Recently part of the old Carmelite property of the 
White Eriars has been acquired by the Roman Catholics, who re- 
established their worship on the site whence it had been driven at 
the dissolution of the monasteries. Plymouth was created a 
bishopric in 1851. Dr. Errington was the first bishop, and was 
succeeded by the present prelate, Dr. Yaughan, in 1850. 
Concerning the other religious bodies represented in the town a 
few dates will suffice. A few families of Jews settled here about 
1740, and in 1764 built their synagogue. The TJniversalists, who 
now meet in Henry Street, worshipped previously in chapels in 
Richmond, Park, and Ebrington Streets. They have had an exist- 
ence here for nearly a century. The Plymouth meeting of the 
Brethren dates from 1831. They erected what is now the 
Temperance Hall in Raleigh Street, and the large chapel in 
Ebrington Street, and have divided into several sections. The 
Catholic Apostolic body established themselves here in 1836. The 
Bible Christians, who date from 1818, erected their chapel in Zion 
Street in 1847. The Wesley an Association body, another off-shoot 
from the Wesleyans, for nearly twenty years occupied the Old 
Tabernacle. Now, united with other dissidents under the name 
of the United Methodist Eree Church, they occupy the large chapel 
in Ebrington Street, already mentioned. The Primitive Methodists 
have a little chapel in the same street. The Presbyterian con- 
gregation originally formed at Devonport in 1857 removed to Eldad 
in 1862. The Moravians are no longer represented in the town. 
They were active workers in the last century. Their chapel at 
Devonport, built in 1771, is now the only one west of Bristol. 
And here, without further detail, my retrospect must close. 
This century does not present many salient features in the history 
of our local Nonconformity. But it has seen the gradual removal 
of the pains and penalties attached to the exercise of private judg- 
ment, and obedience to the voice of conscience, in the sixteenth and 
