Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for PLYMSTOCK

PLYMSTOCK, a village and a parish in Plympton, St. Mary district, Devon. The village stands in a valley, 1½ mile E of the mouth of Catwater harbour, 3 S S W of Plympton r. station, and 3 S E by E of Plymouth; and contains some good houses. The parish contains also the villages of Hooe, Elburton, Pomphlett, Staddiscombe, Turnchapel, and Oreston, the last of which has a post-office under Plymouth; and it includes parts of theshores of Catwater harbour and Plymouth sound. Acres, 3, 650; of which 100 are water. Real property, £10, 685; of which £1, 837 are in quarries, and £35 in fisheries. Pop. in 1851, 3, 302; in 1861, 2, 997. Houses, 553. The property is subdivided. The manor of P. belonged to Childe the Hunter, passed to Tavistock abbey, and belongs now to the Duke of Bedford. The manor of Staddiscombe belongs to E. R. P. Bastard, Esq. Goose-well estate belongs to Col. Harris; and much of the parish, to the Earl of Morley. The royalists made Plymstock their head-quarters during much of theiraction round Plymouth, in the wars of Charles I.; and had batteries at Oreston and Mount Batten, and a guard at Hooe. A watch-tower is now at Mount Batten; and a granite battery, a coastguard station, and a great reservoir for supplying water to the ships of the British navy, are at Bovisand. Vast quarries, which furnished much of the material for Plymouthbreakwater, are at Oreston; and beautiful veined marble, many curious fossils, and some interesting antiquitieshave been obtained there. Ship-building is carried onat Oreston and Turnchapel. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £188.* Patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church is later English, with a tower; and was restored in 1867, at a cost of more than £1, 700. The p. curacy of Hooe is a separate benefice. There are a chapel of ease and a Wesleyan chapel at Turnchapel; Independent and Wesleyan chapels, and a school-chapel, at Oreston; and Brethren's chapels at Pomphlett and Plymstock. There are also a national school, alms-houses with £10 a year, and other charities £71.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Plymstock AP/CP       Devon AncC
Place: Plymstock

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