Plympton.-- (or Plympton Earls or Maurice), small market town with ry. sta., Devon, near the river Plym, 1 mile SE. of the sta. and 4½ E. of Plymouth, 232 ac., pop. 1146; P.O., T.O., 1 Bank. Market-day, Friday. Plympton is an ancient place, and was long a borough by prescription, sending 2 members to Parliament from Edward I. until 1832. At the E. end of the town are the relics of a castle said to have been demolished in the reign of King Stephen. At the grammar school, a well-endowed institution founded in 1658, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), a native of Plympton, received his education. In addition to the weekly markets there are markets on the first Monday of every month for horses, cattle, and sheep, and several fairs are held annually. Plympton House, once the seat of the Treby family, is now a lunatic asylum.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))