Plymstock, Devon
Historical Description
Plymstock, a village and a parish in Devonshire. The village stands in a valley, 1½ mile E of the mouth of Catwater Harbour, and has a station on the L. & S.W.R., 231 miles from London. It has a post office under Plymouth; money order and telegraph office, Oreston. The parish contains the villages of Hooe, Elburton, Pomphlett, Staddiscombe, Billacombe, and Oreston, and it includes parts of the shores of Catwater Harbour and Plymouth Sound. Acreage, 3559; population of the civil parish, 3158; of the ecclesiastical, 1794. There is a parish council consisting of fifteen members. It also returns four members to the rural district council. The manor of Plymstock belonged to Childe the Hunter, passed to Tavistock Abbey, and belongs now to the Duke of Bedford. The Royalists made Plymstock their headquarters during much of their action round Plymouth in the wars of Charles I., and had batteries at Oreston and Mount Batten, and a guard at Hooe. There are some extensive fortifications, called Fort Stamford and Fort Staddon, in the parish, and others at Bovisand, Mount Batten, and Turnchapel. Vast quarries, which furnished much of the material for Plymouth Breakwater, are at Oreston, and beautiful veined marble, many curious fossils, and some interesting antiquities have been obtained there. Shipbuilding is carried on at Oreston and Turnchapel. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter; net value, £225 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Canons of Windsor. The church is Later English, with a tower, and has been well restored. The vicarage of Hooe is a separate benefice. There are a chapel of ease and a Wesleyan chapel at Turnchapel, Congregational and Wesleyan chapels and a chapel of ease at Oreston, and Brethren chapels at Pomphlett and Plymstock.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Devon | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Plymstock St. Mary and All Saints | |
Hundred | Plympton | |
Poor Law union | Plympton St. Mary |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in association with the South West Heritage Trust, Parochial Church Council, and Devon Family History Society have the Baptisms, Banns, Marriages, and Burials online for Plymstock
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Plymstock from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Plymstock (St. Mary and All Saints))
Maps
Online maps of Plymstock are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Devon online:
Villages, Hamlets, &c
ElburtonOreston
Pomphlett
Staddiscombe
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of the County of Devon in the year 1564, with additions from the earlier visitation of 1531, is online.
The Visitations of the County of Devon, comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620, with additions by Lieutant-Colonel J.L. Vivian, published for the author by Henry S. Eland, Exeter 1895 is online.