A FEW NOTES ON OLD PLYMOUTH. : 413 
A FEW NOTES ON OLD PLYMOUTH. 
BY MR. J. HINE, F.R.I.B.A. 
(Read at the Anniversary Meeting, May Ist, 1877.) 
Tue last of the old almshouses of Plymouth, ‘‘the Twelves,” at 
Coxside, founded by Colonel Jory in 1708, will shortly be taken 
down; and before the building becomes a thing of the past I have 
made a measured drawing of it. There is nothing very remarkable 
about it; but, like a piece of old china, it was yearly acquiring a 
certain value from an antiquarian point of view. Anything, too, 
erected in the reign of Queen Anne has just now an interest to 
those who are curious in ‘‘style.’’ The building consists of twelve 
small residences, forming a row 180 feet long, each cottage having 
a room on the ground-floor, and a bedroom over, with its dormer- 
window in the roof. The walls are of limestone, with granite 
dressings to the square-headed doorways and windows, each of the 
latter being of two lights, divided by a granite mullion. In front 
of the row are small gardens, bounded by a granite-coped wall 
against the road; and in the centre of this wall is a picturesque 
granite doorway, with this inscription on the pediment: ‘These 
twelve charity hovses, with an Endowment for Ever for the svport 
of twelve Widdowes, are the sole gift of Joseph Jory, Esqvire, native 
of Plym® Anno Domini, 1703.” Altogether this almshouse group 
which we are about to lose is a quaint and interesting structure. 
Along with the building will be taken down a row of fine old 
elms, probably almost as old as the almshouses. Their removal 
is probably quite necessary for the railway extension, but we should 
not be the less sorry to lose them. However much we may differ 
about this or that building, there are few, it may be hoped, who 
do not look upon a fine old tree, which perhaps has taught us the 
lessons of the seasons from our infancy, as 
‘‘A thing of beauty, and a joy”’ 
as long as it lasts. A great many trees have of late years been 
