PLUMSTEAD, a parish in the hundred of LESSNESS,
lathe of BUTTON at HONE, county of KENT, 10
miles (S. byE.) from London, containing 2386 inhabitants.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Rochester, rated in the king's books
at £6. 18. 4., and in the patronage of B. Bowell, Esq.
The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas. The river
Thames bounds the parish to the northward. Plumstead
was formerly a market-town, and possessed also
a charter for fairs, now disused. John Budgen, Esq.,
in 1807, granted land whereon to build a' schoolroom,
which was afterwards erected by private subscription;
in the same year William Cole bequeathed
£1000, now producing upwards of £46 per annum,
for the support of a day and a Sunday school, in which
fifty-seven boys and fifty girls are educated, the additional
expense being defrayed by contributions.