Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for PLYMPTON-ST. MARY

PLYMPTON-ST. MARY, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Devon. The parish lies on the river Plym and the South Devon railway, 4¼ miles E N E of Plymouth; has a head post-office‡ and a railway station with telegraph, both of the name of Plympton; contains the village of Ridgeway, with three good inns and manygood shops; and contains also the villages of Colebrook and Underwood, and the hamlets of Hemerdon, Spark-well, Venton, and part of Leemill-Bridge. Acres, 9, 983. Real property, £16, 743; of which £63 are in quarries, and £20 in the railway . Pop. in 1851, 2, 815; in 1861, 3,026. Houses, 510. The property is much subdivided. Saltram, said to be the largest mansion in the county, and situated in a finely wooded park with rich features and splendid views, is the seat of the Earl of Morley; Beechwood, of Lady Seaton; Goodamoor, of Miss Treby; Chaddlewood, of G. S. Symons, Esq.; Hemerdon House, of Mrs. Woollcombe; Elfordleigh, of S. J. Elliot, Esq.; and Newnham Park, of G. Sidney Strode, Esq. Acollege was founded in the parish by some one of the Saxon kings; and an Angustinian priory was foundedon its site, in 1121, by Bishop Warlewast; went, at the dissolution, to the Champernownes; and has leftsome remains. A tract of 175 acres, called Chelsonmeadow, was recovered from the sea by means of anembankment 2, 910 feet long and 16 feet high; is theplace of Plymouth races; and has a grand stand. There are several tin mines, and a paper-mill. Aneminence called Hemerdon Ball was crowned with a largecamp, at the time of Bonaparte's threatened invasion. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Exeter. Value, £170. Patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church stands in the cemetery of the ancient priory; is a mixture of decorated and later English, from 1350till 1450; stands over the burial crypt of the Earl of Morley's family; was restored in 1860, at a cost of £3,000; has a fine memorial window put up in 1862 by H. H. Treby, Esq., and another put up in 1868 by the Earl of Morley; and contains monuments of the Strodes, the Parkers, and others. A chapel of ease at Sparkwell was built in 1859, at a cost of £1, 250; a national school at Plympton, St. Mary was built in 1866, at a cost of £4,000; and there are two Wesleyan chapels, and charities £39.

The sub-district contains also the parishes of Plympton-Earls, Cornwood, Harford, Shaugh-Prior, Bickleigh, Tamerton-Foliott, St. Budeaux, and Egg-Buckland, the chapelry of Pennycross, the tything of Compton-Gifford, and the extra-parochial tract of Laira-Green. Acres, 47, 809. Pop., 11, 293. Houses, 2,044. The districtcomprehends also the sub-district of Yealmpton, containing the parishes of Yealmpton, Ermington, Brixton, Plymstock, Wembury, Newton-Ferrers, Revelstoke, and Holbeton. Acres of the district, 75, 569. Poor-rates in 1863, £8, 547. Pop. in 1851, 19, 723; in 1861, 20, 502. Houses, 3, 875. Marriages in 1863, 83; births, 643, of which 25 were illegitimate; deaths, 440, of which 147were at ages under 5 years, and 16 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 817; births, 5, 938; deaths, 3, 737. The places of worship, in 1581, were 24of the Church of England, with 6, 984 sittings; 7 of Independents, with 563 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 160 s.; 14of Wesleyans, with 1, 651 s.; 2 of Bible Christians, with68 attendants; 1 of the Wesleyan Association, with 69s.; 2 of Brethren, with 150 s.; and 4 undefined, with160 s. The schools were 21 public day-schools, with1, 263 scholars; 33 private day-schools, with 656 s.; 24 Sunday schools, with 1, 472 s.; and 4 evening schoolsfor adults, with 53 s. The workhouse stands at Under-wood; is in the Tudor style, with imposing appearance; and has accommodation for upwards of 200 inmates.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 3rd order divisions")
Administrative units: Sparkwell CP/Ch       Plympton St Mary RegD/PLU       Devon AncC
Place: Plympton

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