PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
||
 |
|||
|
Over a century ago Plymstock was described as 'a parish and large straggling village in a pleasant valley, near Catwater Harbour and Plymouth Sound, 3 miles East by South of Plymouth.' The parish consisted of several hamlets: Billacombe, Elburton, Goosewell, Mount Batten, Oreston, Pomphlet, Staddiscombe, Turnchapel, and West Hooe. Within the parish have been found many prehistoric artefacts, preserved, no doubt, by the general lack of development of the area over the centuries. Turnchapel, being placed on the Cattewater, grew and prospered from the shipbuilding yards and ancillary trades that became established on the river bank. In 1677 there was a yard for breaming and repairing the King's ships and during the following century a Mr John Cater and a Mr Silas Frost both established shipbuilding and repair yards in the village. It even boasted a wet dock in 1797 and a dry dock a few years afterwards. Even warships were built here for the Royal Navy. Mr Cater built the terrace of houses that line Boringdon Road. At the time of the census on Sunday March 31st 1851, the population of the Parish of Plymstock was 3,302, comprising 1,596 males and 1,706 females. The Parish had grown by 330 people since 1841. There were 500 inhabited properties in the Parish, along with 13 uninhabited and two under construction, making Plymstock the largest of the rural parishes that now makes up Plymouth. Although there was some expansion in Plymstock following the arrival of the railway lines to Yealmpton and Turnchapel, it was the advent of the motor bus in the 1920s that brought the greatest increase in housing and population. When speaking at the luncheon held after he had laid the foundation stone of the new Plymstock shopping centre, Sir George Hater-Hames, chairman of Devon County Council declared that the scheme would make Plymstock: 'an individual place that will not be absorbed by that place over the river'. That was on Friday June 3rd 1960. On April 1st 1967 the parish of Plymstock was absorbed by 'that place across the river', into the City of Plymouth. Parish Charities
Below is a quick index to webpages in PLYMOUTH DATA
referring to items within Plymstock.
Sources:
|
|||