DEVONPORT  , a municipal,

county and parliamentary borough of Devonshire, England, contiguous to East Stonehouse and Plymouth, the seat of one of the royal dockyards, and an important naval and military station . Pop . (Igor) 70,437 . It is situated immediately above the N.W. angle of Plymouth Sound, occupying a triangular peninsula formed by Stonehouse Pool on the E. and the Hamoaze on the W . It is served by the Great Western and the London & South Western railways . The town proper was formerly enclosed by a line of ramparts and a ditch excavated out of the limestone, but these are in great part demolished . Adjoining Devonport are East Stonehouse (an urban district, pop . 15,11 r), Stoke and Morice Town, the two last being suburbs of Devonport . The town hall, erected in 1821-1822 partly after the design of the Parthenon, is distinguished by a Doric portico; while near it are the public library, in Egyptian style, and a conspicuous Doric column built of Devonshire granite . This monument, which is zoo ft. high, was raised in commemoration of the naming of the town in 1824 . Other institutions are the Naval Engineering College, Keyham (188o); the municipal technical schools, opened in 1899, the majority of the students being connected with the dockyard; the naval barracks, Keyham (1885); the Raglan barracks and the naval and military hospitals . On Mount Wise, which was formerly defended by a battery (now a naval signalling station), stands the military residence, or Government House, occupied by the commander of the Plymouth Coast Defences; and near at hand is the principal naval residence, the naval commander-inchief's house .

The prospect from Mount Wise over the Hamoaze to Mount

Edgecumbe on the opposite shore is one of the finest in the south of England . The n'iost noteworthy feature of Devon-port, however, is the royal dockyard, originally established by William III. in 1689 and until 1824 known as Plymouth Dock . It is situated within the old town boundary and contains four docks . To this in 1853 was added Keyham steamyard, situated higher up the Hamoaze beyond the old boundary and connected with the Devonport yard by a tunnel . In 1896 further extensions were begun at the Keyham yard, which became known as Devonport North yard . Before these were begun the yard comprised two basins, the northern one being 9 acres and the southern 7 acres in area, and three docks, having floor-lengths of 295, 347 and 413 ft., together with iron and brass foundries, machinery shops, engineer students' shop, &c . The new ex-tensions, opened by the Prince of Wales on the 21st of February 1907, cover a total area of 118 acres lying to the northward in front of the Naval Barracks, and involved the reclamation of 77 acres of mudflats lying below high-water mark . The scheme presented three leading features-ra tidal basin, a group of three graving docks with entrance lock, and a large enclosed basin with a coaling depot at the north end . The tidal basin, close to the old Keyham north basin, is 740 ft. long with a mean width of 590 ft., and has an area of lc) acres, the depth being 32 ft. at low water of spring tides . It affords access to two graving docks, one with a floor-length of 745 ft. and 202 ft. of water over the, sill, and it the other with a length of 741 ft. and 32 ft. of water over the sill . Each of these can be subdivided by means of an intermediate caisson, and (when unoccupied) may serve as an entrance to the closed basin . The lock which leads from the tidal to the dosed basin is 730 ft. long, and if necessary can be used as a dock .

The closed basin, out of which opens a third graving dock, 66o ft. long,

measures 1550 ft. by l000 ft. and has an area of 351 acres, with a depth of 32 ft. at low-water springs; it has a direct entrance from the Hamoaze, closed by a caisson . The foundations of the walls are carried down to the rock, which in some places lies covered with mud too ft. or more below coping level . Compressed air is used to work the sliding caissons which close the entrances of the docks and closed basin . A ropery at Devonport produces half the hempen ropes used in the navy . By the Reform Act of 1832 Devonport was erected into a parliamentary borough including East Stonehouse and returning two members . The ground on which it stands is for the most part the property of the St Aubyn family (Barons St Levan), whose steward holds a court leet and a court baron annually . The town is governed by a mayor, sixteen aldermen and forty-eight councillors . Area, 3044 acres .