Plumstead, Kent
Historical Description
Plumstead, a suburban town and a parish in Kent. The town is suburban to Woolwich on the E, stands near the river Thames, and has a station on the S.E.R. It is included in the county of London. All statistics will be found under LONDON. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. The population has increased considerably of late years, chiefly from contiguity to Woolwich, and from large extension there of Government employment. The manor was given in 960 by King Edgar to Canterbury Abbey; went for a time to Earl Godwin's son Tostan, and to Bishop Odo; passed in the time of Henry VIII. to the Broughtons; and was given in 1736 to Queen's College, Oxford. Lesnes or Lessness Abbey estate, with interesting ruins 1¼ mile E of the parish church, belongs to Christ's Hospital, London. Genteel residences and elegant villas are very numerous. The S portions of the parish are hilly, and have good views, but the N portions are chiefly marsh. Shooter's Hill is in the same range as Plumstead Common. About 2000 acres of the Plumstead and Erith Marshes were inundated in the time of Henry VIII., and were not recovered till the time of James I. Powder magazines are on the Plumstead Marshes; brickfields, tile-kilns, sand pits, and chalk pits are near Plumstead Common; market-gardening is carried on, and sugar moulds are made. The living is a vicarage, united with Arsenal chapel, in the diocese of London. The perpetual curacy of St Nicholas is a separate benefice, in the patronage of the Vicar. St James' chapel, on the Barrage Town estate, forms another charge. St Margaret's Church, on Plumstead Common, is a modern and handsome edifice. St Nicholas' Church is an old building, and has been much improved. St John the Baptist Church is a brick edifice in the Gothic style. St James' Church is a very plain rectangular edifice of brick. There are a mission hall, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and Wesleyan chapels. The value of the various livings will be found under LONDON. Bostall Wood, near Plumstead, was opened to the public in 1893. It consists of 61 acres of charming hilly and thickly-wooded land, and was acquired at the joint cost of the London County Council and the Plumstead District Board. It adjoins Bostall Heath, an expanse of 55 acres which had already been acquired as an open space for the public.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Kent | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Plumstead St. Nicholas | |
Hundred | Lessness | |
Lathe | Sutton-at-Hone | |
Poor Law union | Lewisham |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Plumstead from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Plumstead (St. Nicholas))
Maps
Online maps of Plumstead are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.