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.