Pleaseley - Plumpton, Wood

Pleaseley (St. Michael)

PLEASELEY (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Mansfield, hundred of Scarsdale, N. division of the county of Derby, 3½ miles (N. W. by N.) from Mansfield; containing, with the chapelry of Shirebrook and the hamlet of Stoney-Houghton, 679 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the road from Nottingham to Chesterfield, and comprises about 3000 acres of land, chiefly arable; 300 acres are woodland and plantation, consisting of oak, elm, larch, and ash. Limestone abounds; and here are some considerable manufactories for cotton-thread, hosiery, &c., principally for the Nottingham market. Pleaseley had anciently a market on Monday, granted in 1284 to Thomas Bec, Bishop of St. David's, with a fair for three days; the former has been long disused, but fairs are still held on May 6th and October 29th, for cattle, horses, and sheep. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 4. 7.; patron, W. P. Thornhill, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £643, and the glebe consists of 55 acres. The church is an ancient stone edifice, remarkably long and narrow: in the steeple is a large chasm, caused by the shock of an earthquake, which was felt over a great part of the midland counties, on March 17th, 1816. There is a chapel of ease at Shirebrook. In a park adjoining the cotton-mills is a large inclosure with a double vallum and intrenchments, two sides of which are secured by natural precipices; it is 250 feet in length by 195 in breadth, and is evidently a Saxon work.

Pleasington

PLEASINGTON, a township, in the parish, union, and Lower division of the hundred, of Blackburn, N. division of Lancashire, 2 miles (W. by S.) from Blackburn; containing 517 inhabitants. This was the seat of a family of the local name, whose heiress brought the estate to the Winkelys. It afterwards passed to the Ainsworths or Aynesworths; and Thomas Aynesworth, Esq., the last of this family, who died about forty years ago, sold Feniscowles, in Pleasington, to the Feilden family. The township is bounded on the south-east by the river Derwent or Darwen, and lies between two turnpike-roads, both leading from Preston to Blackburn. It comprises about 1600 acres, almost equally divided into arable, pasture, and woodland: coal is pretty general in the township, and there is an extensive quarry of very superior hard white freestone. Part of the population is employed in hand-loom weaving. Here is a station of the Blackburn and Preston railway. The house of Feniscowles, built by Sir William Feilden, Bart., is beautifully situated in a romantic valley on the banks of the Derwent. A church was built at Feniscowles in 1840, on a site given by Sir William Feilden, who also supplied the stone for its erection; it is dedicated to Emmanuel, is a neat stone structure with a spire, and cost £2000. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Vicar of Blackburn; net income, £179, with a house. The district assigned to the church includes the whole of Pleasington, and parts of Livesey and Hoghton. A Roman Catholic chapel, a very beautiful structure, was built and endowed about thirty years since, by the late John Butler, Esq., of Pleasington Hall, at a cost of nearly £20,000.

Pleasely-Hill

PLEASELY-HILL, a hamlet, in the parish and union of Mansfield, N. division of the wapentake of Broxtow and of the county of Nottingham; containing 400 inhabitants.

Pledgdon

PLEDGDON, a hamlet, in the parish of Henham, union of Bishop-Stortford, hundred of Clavering, N. division of Essex, 3½ miles (N. E. by E.) from Stansted-Mountfitchet; containing 162 inhabitants.

Plemonstall, or Plemstall (St. Peter)

PLEMONSTALL, or Plemstall (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Great Boughton, chiefly in the Lower division of the hundred of Broxton, but partly in the Second division of the hundred of Eddisbury, S. division of the county of Chester, 4½ miles (N. E.) from Chester, on the road to Frodsham; containing 804 inhabitants. The parish consists of the four townships of Hoole, Picton, Bridge-Trafford, and Mickle Trafford. Two-thirds of it are arable, and the remainder pasture; the surface is level, and the soil various, much of it alluvial, formed from the sea, as the fossils in the substratum indicate. The river Gowie separates the parish from the parish of Barrow. The living is a donative, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4.; patron and impropriator, the Earl of Bradford: the tithes have been commuted for £360, and the glebe contains 23½ acres, with a small glebe-house. The church is ancient, with the exception of the tower, which was rebuilt in 1820; it stands in the township of Mickle Trafford, a mile north-east of the village of that name. There is a parochial school, the master of which receives £3 for teaching five children. At one of the Traffords a garrison was placed for the king, by Sir William Brereton, during the siege of Chester.

Pleshey (Holy Trinity)

PLESHEY (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of Chelmsford, hundred of Dunmow, N. division of Essex, 6½ miles (N. N. W.) from Chelmsford; containing 337 inhabitants. This place was the seat of the high constables of England, from the institution of their office till nearly four centuries after the Norman Conquest; and from discoveries made, it seems to have been previously the site either of a Roman station or a villa. The village consists principally of one long street, and is surrounded by an intrenchment, inclosing also the keep mount of the Norman fortress, of which only a stone bridge remains, of singular construction, across the moat that separated the castle and its keep. The treacherous arrest of the Duke of Gloucester by Richard II. was planned while the former lay at this castle, from which the king himself decoyed him under the pretence of a friendly invitation to London. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £50; patron and impropriator, J. Tufnell, Esq. The body of the church was rebuilt of brick in 1708, chiefly by the munificence of Bishop Compton; but the tower which rose from the intersection of the ancient cruciform structure, remained in decay until renovated by the late Samuel Tufnell, Esq., who also added a handsome chancel. To the south of the church a college was founded about 1394, in honour of the Holy Trinity, by Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, sixth son of Edward III., for a master, warden, eight chaplains, two clerks, and two choristers, whose revenue at the Dissolution was estimated at £143. 12. 7.

Plessey, with Shotton

PLESSEY, with Shotton, a township, in the S. division of the parish of Stannington, union and W. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 6 miles (S. by E.) from Morpeth; containing 387 inhabitants. The important family of Plessey were formerly located here, and from them the estate descended to the Widdringtons, Radcliffs, and Ridleys, the last being represented by Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart., the present owner. In the 13th century a chapel was founded by John de Plessey, but it fell into disuse before the Reformation. Here were also, at a very early period, the church and hospital of Herford bridge; and among other interesting objects for which the township was once remarkable, may be named the mill of Plessey, built in the middle of the 13th century. Plessey Hall, now a farmhouse, was erected about 150 years since, out of the remains of a larger edifice, and is situated in an exceedingly beautiful and retired part of the township. The village stands on a dry and fertile knoll, overlooking a fine sweep of the Blyth, the banks of which are here steep, and covered with fine hanging woods of oak; the prospect is very extensive. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £427. 17., and the vicarial for £14.

Plompton

PLOMPTON, a township, in the parish of Spofforth, Upper division of the wapentake of Claro, W. riding of York, 2½ miles (S. S. E.) from Knaresborough; containing 229 inhabitants, and comprising by computation 2870 acres. Plompton Hall was the seat of a family of that name from the time of the Conquest till about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the last descendant sold the estate to the ancestor of the Earl of Harewood, its present proprietor. An ancient quarry has been converted into a lake of romantic appearance, inclosed with lofty rocks of gritstone. The Hall is now occupied as a farmhouse.

Pluckley (St. Nicholas)

PLUCKLEY (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of West Ashford, hundred of Calehill, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 3 miles (S. W.) from Charing; containing 802 inhabitants. It comprises 3047 acres, of which 70 are in wood. Here is a station of the South-Eastern railway, five miles distant from the great station at Ashford. A fair is held on WhitTuesday, for toys; and another on Dec. 6th, for cattle and hogs, which are brought in great numbers. The living is a rectory with that of Pevington united (the former valued in the king's books at £20. 1. 5½., the latter at £5. 13. 4.), and in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury: the tithes have been commuted for £700, and the glebe comprises 34 acres. The church, said to have been built by Sir Richard de Pluckley, who lived here in the reigns of Stephen and Henry II., has been newly pewed, and is in excellent repair: adjoining the chancel is the burial chapel of the Derings, of Surrenden-Dering, in the parish, which estate has been in their possession several centuries. The church of Pevington, which was dedicated to St. Mary, is in ruins.

Plumbland (St. Cuthbert)

PLUMBLAND (St. Cuthbert), a parish, in the union of Cockermouth, Allerdale ward below Derwent, W. division of Cumberland, 6½ miles (N. by E.) from Cockermouth; containing 729 inhabitants. The parish comprises by computation 2440 acres, of which about 1000 are meadow and pasture, 1400 arable, and 40 woodland. Coal and limestone abound, and much of the latter is burned into lime; freestone of an inferior quality is also obtained. The Ellen, a fine trout stream, bounds the parish on the north and west. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £20. 14. 9½.; net income, £371; patron, Henry Curwen, Esq. The church is a plain building, lately repaired and improved. There is an excellent parsonage-house, with about 72 acres of glebe. A free school was founded at Parsonby in 1759, by Captain John Sibson, who endowed it with lands now producing an annual income of £87; the school-house was erected in 1800.

Plumbley

PLUMBLEY, a township, in the parish of Great Budworth, union of Altrincham, hundred of Bucklow, N. division of Cheshire, 3 miles (S. W. by S.) from Knutsford; containing 385 inhabitants, and comprising 1548 acres of land. The soil is principally clay and moss; and the surface level.

Plumpton with Westby.—See Westby.

PLUMPTON with Westby.—See Westby.

Plumpton (St. John the Baptist)

PLUMPTON (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Towcester, hundred of Green's-Norton, S. division of the county of Northampton, 6½ miles (W.) from Towcester; containing 69 inhabitants. It comprises 811a. 2r. of land; the soil is clay, intermixed with some limestone and gravel, and the surface rather undulated than hilly. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £10; patron, the Rev. Francis Henry White, M.A.

Plumpton

PLUMPTON, a parish, in the union of Chailey, hundred of Street, rape of Lewes, E. division of Sussex, 4¾ miles (N. W. by W.) from Lewes, on the road to Ditchelling; containing 294 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2423a. 2r. 38p., of which 218 acres are common or waste. The northern escarpment of the Downs, here, is extremely bold and precipitous; from the most elevated spot the views are peculiarly grand, embracing the Sussex coast, with great part of Hampshire, to the south and parts of Surrey and Kent to the north. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10, and in the patronage of the Rev. William Woodward: the tithes have been commuted for £375, and there are 20 acres of glebe. The church is in the early English style, with later additions, and has a tower at the west end. Here is a place of worship for Wesleyans. On Plumpton plain, Sir Simon de Montfort drew up his army previous to the sanguinary battle of Lewes.

Plumpton, county of York.—See Plompton.

PLUMPTON, county of York.—See Plompton.

Plumpton-Head

PLUMPTON-HEAD, a hamlet, in the parish and union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland; containing 87 inhabitants.

Plumpton-Street

PLUMPTON-STREET, a township, in the parish of Hesket-in-the-Forest, union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 6½ miles (N. by W.) from Penrith; containing 190 inhabitants.

Plumpton-Wall

PLUMPTON-WALL, a township and chapelry, in the parish of Lazonby, union of Penrith, Leath ward, E. division of Cumberland, 4 miles (N. by W.) from Penrith; containing 321 inhabitants. This township, the Voreda of the Romans, comprises 2937a. 37p., of which 2886 acres are arable, and 49 woodland. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £49; patron, the Earl of Lonsdale; impropriators, the Vicar of Lazonby and the poor of Witherslack. The chapel dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, and situated at SalkeldGate, a hamlet on the road to Carlisle, was rebuilt by subscription among the inhabitants, in 1756. A Roman altar has been found; and at Castle Steads, an inscribed stone, with a bust, has been discovered.

Plumpton, Wood

PLUMPTON, WOOD, a parochial chapelry, in the parish of St. Michael, union of Preston, hundred of Amounderness, N. division of Lancashire, 4¼ miles (N. W. by N.) from Preston; containing, with the hamlets of Bartle, Catforth, and Eaves, 1688 inhabitants. The manor of Wood-Plumpton was held by the barons de Stokeport. Robert de Stokeport, who died 23rd of Henry III., left an heiress who was married, first to Nicholas de Eaton, and secondly to John de Aderne. By her first husband she had Robert, to whom the second husband released all his right to the manor; and Cicely, ultimately heiress of the Eatons, who conveyed the estate by marriage to Sir Edward Warren, of Poynton, in whose descendants it continued until the heiress of Sir George Warren brought it by marriage, in 1777, to Viscount Bulkeley. The Fleming-Leycesters succeeded to the possessions of the Bulkeleys, and hence Lord de Tabley is the present lord. The chapelry comprises 4721a. 2r. 6p., of which the surface is undulated, the soil various and fertile, and the scenery picturesque: the arable and meadow land are in equal portions. The Lancaster canal and Preston and Lancaster railway pass through. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £120, with a house; patron, the Vicar of St. Michael's. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for £531. 10., and the vicarial for £261. The chapel has been rebuilt at different periods since 1636; it has a small tower. There are places of worship for Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics; and a school at Catforth with an endowment of 23 acres of land.