'Upon that loftie place at Plimmouth called the Hoe, Those mightie Wrastlers met, with many an irefull looke Who threatned, as the one hold of the other tooke: But, grappled, glowing fire shines in their sparkling eyes. And whilst at length of arme one from the other lyes, Their lusty sinewes swell like cables, as they strive: Their feet such trampling make, as though they forc't to drive A thunder out of earth; which staggered with the weight: Thus, either sat most force urg'd to the greatest height.'
A memorial of this terrific conflict, 'the portraiture of two men of the largest volume,' was cut in the turf on the Hoe at an early date, and was only destroyed when the Citadel was built about 1671.
In the Domesday Book Plymouth appears as the Manor of Sutton, and this was later on divided into three separate portions--Sutton Valletort or Vautier, Sutton Prior, and Sutton Raf. The village of Sutton Valletort was 'the germ of ancient Plymouth.' Sutton was given by Henry I to Reginald de Valletort, who bestowed lavish gifts on the monastery at Plympton; and as his example was followed by his successors, the title of the second portion of the manor is easily accounted for. The whole place was dominated by the Valletorts and the Priors, but the power of the monks increased steadily, till, at an inquisition held in 1281, 'it was presented that the Ville of Sutton belonged to the Prior of Plympton, with assize of bread and beer, and this right was allowed.' Sutton was now becoming a flourishing town, and some years later the King made inquiries about his property in it, for the burgesses had petitioned that some waste land might be granted them at a yearly rent. To this 'the Prior and the Valletorts declared that the town was wholly theirs, and none of the King's,' and the dispute was followed by a series of efforts, on the part of the townspeople, to free themselves from the rule of the Priors--efforts which succeeded each other, at no long intervals, through the next hundred and twenty years.
As time went on, the Crown gradually granted rights to the burgesses, and increased their responsibilities, till in 1439 an Act of Parliament was passed incorporating the three Suttons as a free borough, with one Mayor, and the manorial rights of the Priory were ceded to the Mayor and Corporation, who paid to the Priory a fixed yearly sum in compensation. The name Plymouth, which had been used in speaking of the port, was now formally adopted for the whole town.
