The church of St Cuthbert’s, Plumbland is situated within the hamlet of Parsonby, in the deanery of Allerdale, Cumberland. The church was rebuilt between 1868 and 1871, incorporating parts of the medieval church. The Romanesque church appears to have been two-celled, with N and S nave doorways, but during the following centuries it was enlarged. The 12thC. chancel arch survives from the medieval church and is the primary re-used Romanesque feature. Although largely intact, it has its been heightened and some of the stonework has been replaced. There are, as well, chequer-decorated voussoirs which have been reused in the vestry fireplace and a coped grave cover kept NW of the church near the gate to the old rectory. Pre-Conquest stones also survive, some reworked in the 13thC.

The history of Plumbland is not well documented, and Domesday Book did not cover this part of England. From the surviving stone carvings, however, it would appear that the location of the church was a religious site at least as early as the 10thC. Allerdale-below-Derwent (i.e. Allerdale above the River Derwent), in which Plumbland is located, was given to Waldeve in the early part of the 12thC., but a specific reference to the church only first occurs in the second half of that century, when Reginald of Durham wrote of it as 'ecclesia quaedam in loco qui Plumbelund'. It is from Reginald, too, that one first hears of the church being dedicated to St Cuthbert. Between 1138 and 1157, Cumberland was under the control of the king of Scotland. In 1229, the church was referred to as 'ecclesie de Plumlund' (patent Rolls). The Taxatio Ecclesliastica of 1291-2 assessed the church at £18. 0s. 0d. In the Patent Rolls of 1225 'Willelmo de Plumlund in comitatu Cumberlande' appears. Several years later, in the Inquisitions Post Mortem (nos. 457 and 561) for the 26th and 27th years of King Edward I (i.e. 1298-9), a John de Plumland is mentioned. The following year (28 Edward I), Walter de Plumland is listed as a free tenant of Plumland, and in the same writ Walter, rector of 'Plumlond' is recorded (no. 594). Whether these are the same person is uncertain. Following this, in 33 Edward I (nos. 322 and 327), Robert de Plumland and Richard de 'Plumblond' appear. John de Halton, bishop of Carlisle (1292-1324), refers to Plumbland in his register several times in the early part of the 14thC. Under Henry IV, further references to Plumbland were made, including 'Thomam Raynton rectorem ecclesie de Plumland' (Lyte, 1915, no. C. 5827). According to Hutchinson, the manor of Plumbland was under the control of the Orfeur family in the time of King Edward II, but on the extinction of this family it was sold off. In 1794 the advowson of the church belonged to J. C. Curwen.

There are parts of a hogback gravestone and also part of a cross-shaft for which a 10thC. date has been proposed (see CASS), but the coped grave cover now kept in the churchyard near the gate to the vicarage is later. Dates ranging from the 11thC. to the 13thC. have been proposed for the latter.

The chequer-decorated voussoirs re-used in the vestry fireplace bear a close similarity to a loose voussoir in the church at Brigham. 12thC. chequer-decoration can also be found elsewhere in Cumberland at places such as Bromfield, on the S doorway tympanum, and Kirkbampton, on a chancel-arch capital.

The front faces of the central capitals of the Chancel Arch make a striking comparison with a loose double capital kept inside the church at Workington.