Plymouth, Plymouth Sound, Anchorages and Central Marinas

Early history
Upper Palaeolithic deposits, including bones of Homo sapiens, have been found in local caves, and artifacts dating from the Bronze Age to the Middle Iron Age have been found at Mount Batten showing that it was one of the main trading ports of the country at that time. The settlement of Plympton, further up the River Plym than the current Plymouth, was also an early trading port, but the river soon silted up and forced the mariners and merchants to settle at the current day Barbican near the river mouth. At the time this village was called Sutton, meaning south town in Saxon.The name Plymouth, a back-formation from Plympton ("Plum-tree town"), was first mentioned in a Pipe Roll of 1211.

Early defence and Renaissance

During the Hundred Years' War a French attack (1340) burned a manor house and took some prisoners, but failed to get into the town. In 1403 the town was burned by Breton raiders. A series of fortifications were built in the Tudor and Elizabethan era, which include the four round towers featured on the city coat of arms; the remains of two of these can still be found at Mount Batten and at Sutton Pool below the Royal Citadel.

During the 16th century, Plymouth was the home port for successful maritime traders, among them Sir John Hawkins, who led England's first foray into the Atlantic slave trade, as well as Sir Francis Drake, who, according to legend, insisted on completing his game of bowls on the Hoe before engaging the Spanish Armada in 1588. During their time locally produced wool was the major export commodity. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World from Plymouth, establishing the first colony of the United States of America.

During the English Civil War Plymouth sided with the Parliamentarians and was besieged for almost four years by the Royalists. Construction of the Royal Citadel began in 1665, after the Restoration; it was armed with cannon facing both out to sea and into the town, rumoured to be a reminder to residents not to oppose the Crown.

Rise of naval power

Throughout the 17th century Plymouth had gradually lost its pre-eminence as a trading port. By the mid-1600s commodities manufactured elsewhere in England cost too much to transport to Plymouth and the city had no means of processing sugar or tobacco imports, although it played a relatively small part in the Atlantic slave trade during the early 1700s. In 1690 the first Royal Dockyard opened on the banks of the Tamar and further docks were built in 1727, 1762 and 1793. In the 18th century new houses were built near the dock, called Plymouth Dock at the time, and a new town grew up. In 1712 there were 318 men employed and by 1733 it had grown to a population of 3,000 people.

Prior to the latter half of the 18th century grain, timber and then coal were the greatest imports. During this time the real source of wealth and the major employer in the region became the dockyard. The Three Towns enjoyed some prosperity during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and were enriched by a series of neo-classical urban developments designed by London architect John Foulston. Foulston was important for the town and was responsible for several grand public buildings, many now destroyed, including the Athenaeum, the Theatre Royal and Royal Hotel, and much of Union Street. Some of the greatest imports to Plymouth from the Americas and Europe during the latter half of the 19th cenury included maize, wheat, barley, sugar cane, guano, sodium nitrate and phosphate. Aside from the dockyard, other industries such as the gasworks, the railways and tramways and a number of small chemical works had begun to develop in the 19th century continuing into the 20th century.

Twentieth Century
The city was heavily bombed by the Germans during World War II in a series of 59 raids known as the Plymouth Blitz. Although the dockyards were the principal targets, much of the city centre and over 3,700 houses were completely destroyed and more than 1,000 civilians lost their lives. The redevelopment of the city was planned by Sir Patrick Abercrombie and by 1964 over 20,000 new homes had been built, but, despite this, in 1971 over ten percent of the houses in Plymouth were still occupied by more than one family. Devonport Dockyard was kept busy refitting aircraft carriers such as the Ark Royal. By the time this work ended in the late 1970s the nuclear submarine base was operational. The army had substantially left the city by 1971, with barracks pulled down in the 1960s, however the city has become home to more Royal Marines.

Stonehouse

East Stonehouse is one of three towns that were amalgamated into modern-day Plymouth.
West Stonehouse was a village that is within the current Mount Edgcumbe Country Park in Cornwall. It was destroyed by the French in 1350. The terminology used in this article refers to the settlement of East Stonehouse which is on the Devon side of the mouth of the Tamar estuary, and will be referred to as Stonehouse.

Settlement in the area goes back to Roman times and a house made of stone was believed to have stood near to Stonehouse Creek. However other stories relate to land owned in the 13th century by Robert the Bastard. This land subsequently passed to the Durnford family through marriage to the Edgecombe family in the 14th and 15th centuries.

During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries the areas of Emma Place and Caroline Place were home to many of the west country's top-ranking admirals, doctors and clergy. Those streets together with Millbay Road are the heart of Plymouth's residual red light district. Union Street, originally built across marshland, was for almost a century the centre of the city's night life with about a hundred pubs, a music hall and many other attractions. Much of it was destroyed by bombing in World War II. After the war the area between Union Street and the dock has been used by small factories, storage, car dealers and repairers. Since 2002 many of those buildings and yards have been cleared and are being replaced by high density residential building.

Notable Buildings
Significant buildings include the Royal William Victualling Yard, the Royal Naval Hospital, Stonehouse and the Royal Marine Barracks. Of these three defence complexes only the Barracks remains in Naval possession, the other two were sold and are now converted to predominantly residential use.

During the reign of Henry VII defences at the mouth of the Tamar were strengthened by the building of cannon bearing towers. One of these, the Artillery Tower at the sea end of Durnford Street, has been preserved as a restaurant.

Two of the surviving buildings close to the dock at Millbay are the red brick Portland stone-faced Georgian assembly room that is still called the Long Room, and the exquisite late Georgian or early Victorian Globe Theatre 300m north within the RMB. These were built largely for the pleasures of the officer class and their gentry friends.

On the higher ground towards North Road are two major churches. Firstly the Anglican St Peter's with its tall spire in the centre of Georgian style Wyndham Square. A few hundred metres east is the late Victorian catholic cathedral. Both buildings have recently been restored with reordered interiors to meet modern liturgical preferences.

Regeneration
Gradually affluent residents are moving back into the district which has been comparatively poor since the Great War. Durnford Street is being regentrified. The walled enclosures of the Royal William Yard and the old Naval Hospital (known as the Millfields) are gated communities with security guards. The government's pressure to develop mixed quality high density dwellings on brownfield sites in inner cities has led to new residential blocks having been built throughout the area. Planned post war as a primarily commercial/industrial area it is now perceptibly changing its character. What was a dozen or so years ago viewed as one of the poorest and most deprived areas in north west Europe is fast losing that image.

On Stonehouse Creek, a branch of the Tamar, off the estuary known as the Hamoaze are the modern shipbuilding sheds occupied by the luxury motor-yacht firm Princess Yachts who employ hundreds of local tradesmen to construct and fit out expensive vessels. The creek now ends at Stonehouse Bridge (for many years a toll bridge) and to the north east the wide river bed which led up past Millbridge to Pennycomequick and beyond to the bottom of Ford Park Cemetery, has been reclaimed and infilled to provide the playing fields of Victoria Park, rugby pitches for Devonport High School for Boys, and nearest the bridge a large hardstanding used several days a week for Plymouth's biggest car boot sales. To the north is the main campus of what was Plymouth College of Further Education, now called City College.

Stonehouse is the site of Plymouth's international ferry port at Millbay Docks with at least daily sailings to Roscoff in Brittany and frequent ferries to Santander in northern Spain. Until the 1950s transatlantic liners would offload passengers who wished to catch a fast train to London rather than spend another day onboard going up Channel.

There is a regular passenger ferry from the tidal landing Admiral's Hard to Cremyll in Cornwall which is used for visitors to the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, and commuters to Plymouth.

The Eddystone Lighthouse

Eddystone Lighthouse is on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, 9 statute miles (14 kilometres) south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon.

The current structure is the fourth lighthouse to be built on the site. The first and second were destroyed. The third, also known as Smeaton's Tower, is the best known because of its influence on lighthouse design and its importance in the development of concrete for building . Its upper portions have been re-erected in Plymouth as a monument.

Winstanley's lighthouse

Winstanley's lighthouseThe first lighthouse on Eddystone Rocks was an octagonal wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley. Construction started in 1696 and the light was lit on 14 November 1698. During construction, a French privateer took Winstanley prisoner, causing Louis XIV to order his release with the words "France is at war with England, not with humanity".

The lighthouse survived its first winter but was in need of repair. The top was replaced, which causes some sources to state there have been five lighthouses on Eddystone Rock. Winstanley's tower lasted until the Great Storm of 1703 erased almost all trace on 27 November. Winstanley was on the lighthouse, completing additions to the structure. No trace was found of him.

The cost of construction and five years' maintenance totalled £7,814 7s.6d, during which time dues totalling £4,721 19s.3d had been collected at 1d per ton from passing vessels.

Rudyard's lighthouse

Following the destruction of the first lighthouse, a Captain Lovett acquired the lease of the rock, and by Act of Parliament was allowed to charge passing ships a toll of 1d per ton. He commissioned John Rudyard (or Rudyerd) to design the new lighthouse, built as a conical wooden structure around a core of brick and concrete and first lit in 1709. This proved more durable, surviving nearly 50 years.

On the night of December 2, 1755, the top of the lantern caught fire, probably through a spark from one of the candles used to illuminate the light. The three keepers threw water upwards from a bucket but were driven on to the rock as the tower burnt down. They were rescued by boat. Henry Hall, who was 84 or 94 at the time, died from lead poisoning because of the molten lead from the lantern roof he had ingested fighting the fire. A report on this case of lead poisoning was submitted to the Royal Society by the physician Dr Edmund Spry, and the piece of lead is now in the collections of the National Museums of Scotland.

Smeaton's Lighthouse

The third lighthouse marked a major step forward in the design of such structures.
Recommended by the Royal Society, civil engineer John Smeaton modelled the shape on an oak tree, built of granite blocks. He pioneered 'hydraulic lime', a concrete that will set under water, and developed a technique of securing the granite blocks using dovetail joints and marble dowels. Construction started in 1756 at Millbay and the light was first lit on 16 October 1759.

Smeaton's lighthouse was 59 feet (18 m) high and had a diameter at the base of 26 feet (8 m) and at the top of 17 feet (5 m). It remained in use until 1877 when it was discovered that the rocks upon which it stood were eroded—each time a large wave hit the lighthouse it would shake from side to side. Smeaton's lighthouse was rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe, in Plymouth, as a memorial.

The foundations and stub of the tower remain, close to the new and more solid foundations of the current lighthouse - the foundations proved too strong to be dismantled so the Victorians left them where they stood.

Douglass's lighthouse

The current, fourth, lighthouse was designed by James Douglass, using Robert Stevenson's developments of Smeaton's techniques. The light was lit in 1882 and is still in use. It is operated by Trinity House. It was automated in 1982, the first Trinity House lighthouse to be converted. The tower has been changed by construction of a helipad above the lantern, to allow maintenance crews access.

The tower is 49 metres(161 ft) high, and its white light flashes twice every 10 seconds. The light is visible to 22 nautical miles (41 kilometres), and is supplemented by a fog signal of 3 blasts every 60 seconds.

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