Plymouth

Plymouth, city, England

Plymouth, city (1991 pop. 238,583) and district, Devon, SW England, on Plymouth Sound. The three towns that Plymouth has comprised since 1914 are Plymouth, Stonehouse, and Devonport. Modern Plymouth is well situated on a peninsula between the estuaries of the Plym and Tamar rivers. The southern waterfront and adjacent promenade are called the Hoe. The city is an important port and naval base. Foodstuffs and raw materials are imported, and manufactures such as machine tools, precision instruments, and chemicals are exported. Other items traded are granite, marble, kaolin, and fish. In Stonehouse is a Royal Naval Hospital (1762). The Royal Marine Barracks and Naval Dockyard (1691) are in Devonport. In 1588 the port was the rendezvous of the anti-Armada fleet. From there Sir Francis Drake, Sir Richard Hawkins, Sir Walter Raleigh, and several later explorers set forth. It was the last port touched by the Mayflower before its American voyage. Plymouth was held by the parliamentarians for four years during the civil war, when the rest of Devon and Cornwall were royalist. The first English factory to make Chinese porcelain was established in Plymouth in 1768. A tablet commemorates the arrival in 1919 of the first transatlantic airplane. Among the principal points of interest on the Hoe are the old Royal Citadel (17th cent.), the upper part of Smeaton's lighthouse brought from Eddystone, an Armada memorial, and a naval war memorial. Also noteworthy are the marine-biological laboratories, the aquarium, the City Museum and Art Gallery, the Gothic guildhall, several 15th-, 16th-, and 17th-century churches, and the Roman Catholic cathedral. The Royal Naval Engineering College is in Devonport, and technical and teacher-training schools are located in Plymouth.

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Plymouth, city, United States

Plymouth.

1 Uninc. town (1990 pop. 45,608), seat of Plymouth co., SE Mass., on Plymouth Bay; founded 1620. Diverse light manufacturing is important to the economy. The town, with summer resort facilities and major historic attractions, has a large tourist industry. Its harbor, now used by fishing boats and leisure craft, was the scene of the famous landing by the Pilgrims in 1620, and Plymouth was the first permanent European settlement in New England (see Pilgrims; Plymouth Colony

Founding

Previous attempts at colonization in America (1606, 1607–8) by the Plymouth Company, chartered in 1606 along with the London Company (see Virginia
..... ). Most famous of its many monuments is Plymouth Rock, returned to its original site in 1880; according to legend, the Pilgrims stepped on this boulder when disembarking from the Mayflower. The Mayflower II, a replica of the original ship, is moored there. The sites of the first houses are marked by tablets on Leyden St., the first street laid out by the Pilgrims. A number of 17th-century houses on nearby streets are maintained as museums. Cole's Hill and Burial Hill contain graves of many of the first settlers, and Pilgrim Hall has numerous valuable relics. Near the site of the original village is the 80-ft (24-m) granite National Monument to the Forefathers (1889). Nearby Plimoth Plantation is a re-creation of the early settlement. The town also has a wax museum and a marine museum and aquarium. Myles Standish State Forest is to the south.

Bibliography

See E. A. Stratton, Plymouth Colony (1987).

2 Village (1990 pop. 50,889), Hennepin co., SE Minn., NW of Minneapolis; inc. 1955. There is diversified manufacturing in Plymouth, which is a rapidly growing residential suburb of the twin cities of Minneapolis–St. Paul.

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Plymouth

City (pop., 2001: 243,795) in Devon, southwestern England. Located on Plymouth Sound southwest of London, the city was named Sudstone in Domesday Book (1086); its harbour is called Sutton Harbour. It was the port from which the English fleet sailed against the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1690 its dockyard was built on the western bank of the River Tamar. During World War II Plymouth suffered bomb damage from air raids. The rebuilt city has some of the finest commercial, shopping, and civic centres in Britain and new bridges over the Rivers Plym and Tamar.

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Plymouth

City (pop., 2000: 51,701), southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. Located on Plymouth Bay, it was the site of the first permanent European settlement in New England, the Colony of New Plymouth, founded by the Pilgrims in 1620 and governed under the Mayflower Compact until 1691, when it became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Its seaside location and historic associations make Plymouth an outstanding summer resort. A tourist-based economy is supplemented by light industry, fishing, and cranberry growing. Historical attractions include Plimoth Plantation (a recreation of the original Pilgrim village) and many restored early colonial houses.