It will be gathered from what has been said that though Saint Werburgh probably spent no portion of her life in Cheshire, yet she was for more than seven hundred years associated in men’s minds with the county, inasmuch as her shrine had its home in Chester. In those days she would be looked upon as a Cheshire Saint, and from far and near religious pilgrims would come to say their devotions and to tender their offerings at her shrine in the Church which was dedicated to God’s service in her name. We are therefore justified in speaking of her under this heading. And she has left her name in the county in other ways. Nine churches in England (six of them in the old kingdom of Mercia) are dedicated in her name. One of these is in Cheshire at Warburton, Werburgh town. That place gave its name to an honoured Cheshire family, which has given its scions to the service of their country in many directions, and which still holds a position of high renown and esteem in the county. We may thus legitimately term St. Werburgh a Cheshire Saint. We cannot do better than follow her favourite precept and common saying: “Please God and love Him, and doubt not anything.”
The other subject of our paper is St. Plegmund, to many perhaps an unknown name, though he rose to a high position, and must have exercised a wide and beneficent influence on Church and State both in his own day and for succeeding generations. He, like St. Werburgh, was a native of Mercia, though we cannot give his birthplace or his parentage. But we can connect him very closely with the county and with the neighbourhood of Chester, where his name is still preserved in the name of a parish, that of Plemstall. This has been variously written at different times, as Plegmundstall, Plegmondesham, &c. It was here, in fact, that he established himself as a hermit in an Isle of Chester; for though Plemstall is no longer an island, it has been clearly shown that in earlier times the locality would justify such description.
Plegmund was born in troublous times about the middle of the ninth century. The Danes had overrun the land, destroyed the monasteries, the only places of learning, and driven the monks from their books. Some there were, however, who determined, in spite of all difficulties, to pursue their studies and to pray in solitude for better times, and of these Plegmund was one. He had very probably been a monk, though this cannot be said with certainty. At any rate he adopted the hermit’s life, and set up his stall or habitation at Plemstall, then doubtless an island amid fens and marshes, and by its situation affording a place of safety in times of disorder and unrest. His lonely dwelling, of which no trace remains, may have been on the site of the present church or a short distance away, and nearer to the well which still bears his name. Here he lived the hermit’s life; but we must remember, as Dean Hook tells us, that a hermit was not an anchorite. The latter never quitted his cell, but was an absolute recluse. The hermit was a more independent character; he moved about as occasion demanded. If he had a settled abode he would go to places of resort near at hand, and by his preaching seek to benefit the wayfarers who might be passing by.
We can imagine therefore St. Plegmund paying his frequent visits to the neighbouring city, only three or four miles distant, taking up his position at one or other of its gates (for it was surrounded by its Roman walls, and though then “waste” must have had some inhabitants), and instructing out of his laboriously-acquired learning those who were willing to pause and listen to his discourse. The anxious inquirer might return with him to his island home and, after further preparation as a catechumen, receive the grace of Holy Baptism at the well above referred to. His supply of books or manuscripts would be but small. The Bible of course was his constant companion, and it has been suggested with confidence that Boethius’ De Consolatione Philosophiæ would certainly be one of his treasures. This treatise was afterwards translated by King Alfred, a task in which Plegmund may have helped him. There is in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, a copy (the oldest in existence) of the Saxon Chronicle, said to have been translated by Plegmund, for which assertion there is internal evidence of an indirect nature. This, however, was probably done after he left this neighbourhood; but the fact may be taken as showing what his powers were, and what a diligent student he must have been, especially when we consider the scanty materials which would be at his service. He must have acquired some reputation for his learning, and his fame reached the ears of King Alfred, who sent for him to his Court to act as his adult tutor. There he would find Grimbald, Werefrid, Asser, and others, and with them would be associated with the monarch in the promotion of learning and in furthering the best interests of the nation.
We speak of the king as “Alfred the Great,” but then he was known as “England’s Darling.” Alfred came to the crown in 872, and died in 900. How soon after his accession he summoned Plegmund to his side to be his tutor and instructor we cannot say, but that the relations between them were very close and intimate and mutually advantageous, we can have no doubt. In the year 890 the see of Canterbury was vacant, and, having been declined by Grimbald, was offered by the King to Plegmund, a step which was received with general approbation, for the entry in the Saxon Chronicle runs thus: “This year 890 Plegmund was chosen of God and of all the people Archbishop of Canterbury.” Plegmund was consecrated at Rome by Pope Formosus, but as some doubt and discredit was thrown upon the actions of this pontiff, he paid a second visit to Rome, and was re-consecrated by Pope Stephen, thus submitting to a rite of more than questionable propriety. He cordially seconded the King in his endeavours to establish a learned priesthood. Some justification has been alleged for the fact that several sees and posts were for a time kept vacant, in the consideration that men of sufficient learning and education were not to be found for them. At anyrate Plegmund, scholar and theologian as he was, did all that lay in his power to remove the reproach which was fastening upon the Church that it had an ignorant and illiterate clergy.
In conjunction with the King, he published The Pastoral Care of Gregory the Great, a copy of which was sent to every English bishop, with a noteworthy preface from the King himself, in which the sovereign acknowledged what he had “learned of Plegmund my Archbishop, and of Asser my bishop, and of Grimbald my presbyter, and of John my presbyter.” It is interesting to know that the copy addressed to Plegmund is still preserved, as well as those addressed to the Bishops of Worcester and Sherborne. It is reasonable to conclude from this that Alfred would find in his Archbishop a zealous assistant in all his efforts to promote sound and religious learning, and that the two would heartily co-operate in endeavours to secure an educated clergy. Whether he ever visited the scene of his former labours, it is impossible to say; but the late Mr. Thomas Hughes, F.S.A., in a fancied description of the laying of the foundation of St. John’s, Chester, writes thus: “First there were Ethelred and Ethelfleda, the joint founders—near them might stand their Royal Ward, Athelstan, the Etheling, heir to his father’s throne. Prominent among the group would be Plegmund, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a native of Mercia, and but a few years before a modest recluse at the hermitage in that island of Chester.” We cannot give a detailed account of Plegmund’s episcopate, which lasted for twenty-four years; but we are sure that, as he assisted his royal master when at his Court and before he became Archbishop in promoting learning amongst his people, so in the higher position and with the larger opportunities he must have done the like. Himself a student, he knew the advantages of learning, and would be anxious to make them as widespread as possible.
Alfred is looked upon as the founder of the University of Oxford, or of University College, its first hall, and we can understand how in that work, in the conception as well as in the performance of it, the advice and counsel of his own tutor, Plegmund, would be most valuable. During his pontificate the West Saxon Episcopate was sub-divided, and the number of sees thereby increased, a clear indication of his vigorous and strenuous rule. In 909 on the same day no fewer than seven bishops were consecrated by Plegmund, three of them for newly-founded sees, and one of these for the extreme west in Devonshire. This was for Kirton, identified as Crediton, and it is interesting to note that the millenary of the consecration of Eadulf as the first bishop of Crediton has just been celebrated at that place. On that occasion the Bishop of Bristol (Dr. G. F. Browne), who is an eminent historian, gave a most instructive address, referring specially to the work of Plegmund, and to an earlier Saint connected with Crediton, S. Boniface. It was probably owing to that connection that Crediton was chosen as the seat of the Bishops of Devonshire, a position it retained for more than a hundred and fifty years. The Archbishop of Canterbury was also present on the occasion, and expressed the hope that the work they were doing now, the things they were now starting, and the works they were taking in hand, might give as good cause to people a thousand years hence to thank God and take courage, as was given a thousand years ago to them by Plegmund and the seven Bishops of whom they had heard that day. Plegmund died on July 23, 914, and was buried in the Cathedral of Canterbury. No likeness of him has been left, not even on the coins which bear his name. His life in Cheshire must have been singularly quiet, and yet we cannot doubt that he was thereby nerved and braced for the battle of life, and fitted for the arduous duties of the high position to which he was afterwards called.
Allusion has been made to St. Plegmund’s Well. It is interesting to know that whilst it bore this title in very early deeds, it has for generations been designated “the Christening Well,” as the water for the Font for Holy Baptism was drawn from it. Moreover, in the old churchwardens’ accounts of the parish, mention is made of an annual payment made to the clerk for cleaning out this well, and keeping it free from weeds. There was some danger of the well being overlooked, as it is very much overhung by bushes in the hedge at the back of it. The original stone work at the side and bottom had decayed. In the autumn of 1908 a new curb and back were erected at the expense of Mr. Osborne Aldis, and dedicated on November 10th, when a goodly congregation assembled, and after a short service in the church, when the story of St. Plegmund was unfolded, proceeded to the well where the dedicatory prayers were said. On the stone-work the following couplet is carved:—
“Hic fons Plegmundi functus baptismatis usu
Regnante Alfredo tunc hodieque solet.”