St. Peter
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Plemstall
St. Peter |
| In the flat flood plains of the little River Gowy at
the end of a lonely dead end stands the church. Once washed by the
high tides creeping up from the River Mersey estuary it is now
considerably drier than in centuries past. The picture shows the church with the Gowy in flood on one wet and miserable January day. |
How to find Turn of the A56 between Chester and Helsby at Mickle Trafford. Follow a mile long cul-de-sac that creeps under a railway bridge that cuts between marshy surrounds past St. Plegmunds well down to the church. Map Ref. 458701 |
| History It is said to have been founded by an Irish fisherman washed up here in the 6th century. It is hard to imagine how this could possibly be now, but 1400 years of draining, silting and the installation of flood tidal gates at Stanlow Oil Refinery will have altered the area out of all recognition. This is also believed to be the site on which the Saxon hermit Plegmund lived. Later he became a teacher of Alfred the Great and Archbishop of Canterbury. Plegmund visited Rome twice. One of the copies of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is called the Plegmund edition. It was written at the time Plegmund was Archbishop. Plegmund is believed to have crowned Alfred's son Edward. He died in 914. |
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 In Chester Cathedral cloisters is this stained glass window of King Alfred and the hermit Plegmund. |
 A well was said to have existed where Plegmund baptised people. In the year 2000 it was restored |
 The inscription around the well |
| Two
photographs showing the church and its lonely position, surrounded
by willow trees, overlooking the flood plain of the Gowy with
Helsby Hill in the background. Most of the church was rebuilt in the 15th century but the tower was built in 1826 |
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| The Rev. Joseph Hooker Toogood was vicar from 1907 to 1943 and was a wood carver of huge talent. He carved pews, the chancel screen, the baptistry screen and the chancel. |
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| At the rear of the church is this unusual grave. |