Editing Plymouth (section)

=== Plymouth Dock, naval power and Foulston ===
[[File:John Foulston's Town Hall, Column and Library in Devonport.jpg|thumb|right|[[John Foulston]]'s Town Hall, Column and Library in [[Devonport, Devon|Devonport]]]]
[[File:Black-eyed Sue and Sweet Poll of Plymouth taking leave of their lovers who are going to Botany Bay.jpeg|thumb|right|Black-eyed Sue and Sweet Poll of Plymouth mourning their lovers, who are soon to be transported to [[Botany Bay]], 1792]]
[[File:Unloading mail by hand from the Sir Francis Drake, March 1926.png|thumb|right|Unloading mail by hand from the ''Sir Francis Drake'' at [[Millbay Docks]], March 1926]]
Throughout the 17th century, Plymouth had gradually lost its pre-eminence as a trading port. By the mid-17th century, commodities manufactured elsewhere in England cost too much to transport to Plymouth, and the city had no means of processing sugar or tobacco imports, major products from the colonies. Local sailors turning to piracy such as [[Henry Every]] became infamous, celebrated in the London play [[The Successful Pyrate]]. It played a part in the [[Atlantic slave trade]] during the early 18th century, although it was relatively small.<ref name="slaves" />

In the nearby parish of [[Stoke Damerel]] the first dockyard, [[HMNB Devonport]], opened in 1690 on the eastern bank of the [[River Tamar]]. Further docks were built here in 1727, 1762 and 1793.<ref name="brief history">{{cite web |title=Brief history of Plymouth |url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/creativityandculture/heritageandhistory/lns/plymouthhistory.htm |access-date=20 July 2008 |publisher=Plymouth City Council |archive-date=26 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726140047/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/creativityandculture/heritageandhistory/lns/plymouthhistory.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The settlement that developed here was called "Dock" or "Plymouth Dock" at the time,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carrington |first=Henry Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ve4GAAAAQAAJ |title=The Plymouth and Devonport guide |publisher=Oxford University |year=1828 |page=1 |access-date=5 July 2008 |archive-date=1 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801223244/https://books.google.com/books?id=vE4GAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> and a new town, separate from Plymouth, grew up. In 1712 there were 318 men employed and by 1733 the population had grown to 3,000 people.<ref name="early history" />

Before the latter half of the 18th century, grain, timber and then coal were Plymouth's main imports.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cargo and Trade, Ocean Landing Pier |url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/millbay_docks_20-24.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611025507/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/millbay_docks_20-24.pdf |archive-date=11 June 2008 |access-date=26 July 2008 |publisher=Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery}}</ref> During this time the real source of wealth was from the neighbouring town of Plymouth Dock (renamed in 1824 to Devonport) and the major employer in the entire region was the dockyard.<ref name="early history" /> The ''[[Three Towns]]'' conurbation of Plymouth, [[Stonehouse, Plymouth|Stonehouse]] and [[Devonport, Devon|Devonport]] enjoyed some prosperity during the late 18th and early 19th century and were enriched by a series of [[neoclassical architecture|neo-classical]] urban developments designed by London architect [[John Foulston]].<ref name="pdfoul">{{cite web |last=Moseley |first=Brian |date=3 December 2011 |title=John Foulston (1772–1842) |url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/PP-Foulston.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515165809/http://www.plymouthdata.info/PP-Foulston.htm |archive-date=15 May 2012 |access-date=13 February 2015 |website=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |publisher=Plymouth Data}}</ref> Foulston was important for both Devonport and Plymouth and was responsible for several grand public buildings, many now destroyed,<ref>{{cite web |title=Devonport, Devon |url=http://www.architecture.com/HowWeBuiltBritain/HistoricalPeriods/GeorgianWestAndIreland/GeorgianEclecticism/DevonportDevon.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518052806/http://www.architecture.com/HowWeBuiltBritain/HistoricalPeriods/GeorgianWestAndIreland/GeorgianEclecticism/DevonportDevon.aspx |archive-date=18 May 2013 |access-date=17 September 2012 |publisher=Architecture.com}}</ref> including the Athenaeum, the [[Theatre Royal, Plymouth|Theatre Royal]] and Royal Hotel, and much of [[Union Street, Plymouth|Union Street]].<ref name="pdfoul" />

Local chemist [[William Cookworthy]] established his short-lived [[Plymouth Porcelain]] venture in 1768 to exploit the deposits of [[china clay]] that he had discovered in Cornwall. He was acquainted with engineer [[John Smeaton]], the builder of the third [[Smeaton's Tower|Eddystone Lighthouse]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Information Sheet: Cookworthy's Plymouth Porcelain |url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/an_introduction_to_cookworthy_and_plymouth_porcelain.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192832/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/an_introduction_to_cookworthy_and_plymouth_porcelain.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=23 April 2016 |publisher=Plymouth City Council }}</ref>
[[File:A. R. Quinton, Plymouth the Hoe.jpg|thumb|Plymouth the Hoe (postcard c. 1920) by [[A. R. Quinton|A.R. Quinton]] ]]
[[File:A. R. Quinton, Plymouth the Promenade Pier.jpg|thumb|Plymouth the Promenade Pier (postcard c. 1925) by [[A. R. Quinton]] ]]
The {{convert|1|mi|km|adj=mid|-long|0}} Breakwater in Plymouth Sound was designed by [[John Rennie the Elder|John Rennie]] to protect the fleet moving in and out of Devonport; work started in 1812. Numerous technical difficulties and repeated storm damage meant that it was not completed until 1841, twenty years after Rennie's death.<ref>{{cite web |last=Moseley |first=Brian |date=26 February 2013 |title=Breakwater |url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Breakwater.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517174429/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Breakwater.htm |archive-date=17 May 2013 |access-date=13 February 2015 |website=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |publisher=Plymouth Data}}</ref> In the 1860s, a ring of [[Palmerston forts]] was constructed around the outskirts of Devonport, to protect the dockyard from attack from any direction.<ref>{{cite web |last=Moseley |first=Brian |date=21 January 2011 |title=Palmerston's Forts and Batteries |url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Palmerstons%20Forts.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517164335/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Palmerstons%20Forts.htm |archive-date=17 May 2013 |access-date=13 February 2015 |website=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |publisher=Plymouth Data}}</ref>
[[File:Frith Plymouth.jpg|thumb|Plymouth (1860s–1880s) by [[Francis Frith]]]]
Some of the most significant imports to Plymouth from the Americas and Europe during the latter half of the 19th century included maize, wheat, barley, sugar cane, [[guano]], [[sodium nitrate]] and [[phosphate]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Moseley |first=Brian |date=25 August 2012 |title=Imports (Port of Plymouth) |url=http://www.plymouthdata.info/Imports.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928230526/http://www.plymouthdata.info/Imports.htm |archive-date=28 September 2013 |access-date=13 February 2015 |website=The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |publisher=Plymouth Data}}</ref> Aside from the dockyard in the town of Devonport, industries in Plymouth 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.<ref name="legacy">{{cite web|url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/characteristicsplymouth|title=Characteristics of the City of Plymouth (Historical and industrial legacy)|publisher=Plymouth City Council|access-date=24 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609115821/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/characteristicsplymouth <!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date=9 June 2008}}</ref>