Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• (ecclesia de) Pleymundistowe c.1129–48 StRO l13 Harl. 14

• (ecclesia de) Pleymundestowe c.1161–82 StRO l13 Tax 1291 ChRR 1466

• Plegemundusham l12 Gerv

• ecclesia de Pleimindestowe 1280 Shrews l13

• Playmestowe 1348 Eyre

• Pleymstowe 1512 ChRR

• Plemistowe 1656 Orm2

• Plemstow(e) 1535 VE

• Plemstou 1546 Dugd

• Plymstou(e) 1539–47 Dugd 1671 Sheaf

• Plimstow(e) 1579 Dugd 1620 Orm2 1662 Sheaf

• Plimstou(e) 1670,1699,1784 ib

• Plumstow 1646 ib

• Plumstoue 1677 ib

• Plawstowe 1560 Sheaf

• Plemonstall 1573 Sheaf

• Plemondstall 1684 ib

• Plemondstall or Plemstow 1724 NotCestr 1819 Orm2

• Plemondstall Bridge 1831 Bry

• Plimstall 1599 Chol 1691 Sheaf

• Plymstall 1600 Chol

• Plemstall 1620 Sheaf 1724 NotCestr 1842 OS

• Ploverstowe c.1662 Surv

• Blimstone 1670 Sheaf

• Plimstine 1686 Sheaf

Etymology

The date of the original of the form from Harl . 3286 is that of a witness, Roger bishop of Chester, probably 1132, cf. Orm2 ii171, 172. Plemstall is the name of the ancient church here, dedicated to St. Peter, and is extended to the parish, cf. Wilmslow 1219–20.The p.n. is 'Plegmund's holy place' from stōw and the OE  pers.n. Plegmund . Nearby, on the opposite bank of R. Gowy, in Little Barrow, was Seint Pleymondes Well 1302 Plea, 'the well of the holy man Plegmund', cf. 3264. The two p.ns. must be associated in the tradition that Plemstall was the hermitage of Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury 890–914 and a literary associate of King Alfred, v. Orm2 ii808. The first record of this tradition is Gervase of Canterbury's observation of Plegemundus …qui in Cestria insula quae dicitur ab incolis Plegemundusham , per annos plures heremiticam duxerat vitam , 'Plegmund who had for several years led the life of a hermit in an island near Chester which is called by the inhabitants Plegemundusham ', Gerv ii 350. The religious and hagiological association of the rather rare pers.n. Plegmund with two neighbouring places in Ch, the location of Plemstall in the marshes beside R. Gowy at a site liable even now to isolation by floods (cf. Holme Ho infra ), and the ancient parochial status of Plemstall church (St. Peter's) suggest that Plemstall is the place to which Gervase alludes.Professor Whitelock suggests that Gervase has mistaken the p.n. form by confusing Plemstall with the Kentish place Pleguuiningham , Plegwingham BCS 407,408 (cf. KPN 170–171), written Plegimundham in GervI 45, which was a possession of Christ Church Canterbury.It is not certain whether the tradition originates with Gervase or is reported by him. On the one hand, he may have known archbishop Plegmund to have been a Mercian and then inferred a biographical connection between him and a Ch p.n. whose form he mistook but in which he observed the same pers.n. On the other, he may be reporting an already accepted tradition relating to some place in Ch with a name unfamiliar to him for which he substitutes the more familiar form of another p.n. appearing to contain the pers.n. Plegmund .The independent existence by c.1300 of a local tradition of a holy man Plegmund at Plemstall is indicated by the well-dedication, and this suggests that Gervase is reporting. The tradition may erroneously identify the known Plegmund archbishop with an unknown holy man whose name appears in the Ch p.ns., but in view of its age it would be interesting, perhaps also convenient, to suppose the two holy men identical in fact. There is no reason why they should not be. The garbled p.n. form given by Gervase provides the only ground upon which the tradition can be questioned, and Professor Whitelock's observation offers one answer to that question. Another might well be that Gervase could have had information before him which gave an alternative name for this obscure and lonely place beside the marshes of Gowy, such as 'Plegmund's hamm' which would suit the situation, but which, under the influence of the religious association, could well have been superseded in local usage by the -stow name.