Stoke-Damerall

STOKE-DAMERALL, a parish, in the hundred of Roborough, Roborough and S. divisions of Devon; adjoining the borough of Plymouth, and containing 33,820 inhabitants. This parish, which includes Devonport and Morice-Town, is one of the most extensive in the county; the village occupies an elevated site, and comprises several rows of excellent houses, a crescent, and some private mansions of more than ordinary beauty. Among the important public structures in the parish are, the immense reservoir of the Devonport Water Company, which supplies the government establishments and the neighbourhood in general; the military hospital, a spacious edifice of grey marble, erected in 1797, on the west side of Stonehouse Creek, comprising four large square buildings, of similar size and form, connected by a piazza of forty-one arches; and the Blockhouse, occupying an eminence north of the village, surrounded by a fosse and drawbridge, and commanding a most magnificent prospect. On the eastern bank of the Hamoaze is Morice-Town, consisting principally of four streets, and so named from a former lord of the manor. A ferry was established here in 1800, to communicate with Cornwall, at Tor Point, on the opposite shore: a floating bridge, worked by steam, and held in its course by chains across the bed of the river, was subsequently completed. The sides of the harbour are lined with wharfs, and in the town is a large establishment called the Tamar Brewery, At a short distance is the powder-magazine, which, although it covers an area of five acres, was insufficient in time of war, when line-of-battle ships were fitted up as floating magazines. At Cross Hill is a very extensive quarry of durable slate. A fair is held on Whit-Monday. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £18. 18. 9., and in the gift of the family of St. Aubyn: the tithes have been commuted for £628, and the glebe contains 23½ acres. The church is a mean but spacious edifice, with a low tower. A second church has been erected, dedicated to St. Michael, which is in the gift of the Rector; and other churches are noticed under the head of Devonport.