The date of the foundation of Plympton is not known but by the late Saxon period, it appears to have become a regionally important centre, mentioned in a charter of the West Saxon king Edward the Elder dating to the period 899-909 AD. At the time of Domesday Plympton was a rural royal manor and by 1100 it was confirmed in the ownership of the de Redvers family. The date of the creation of the town is not certain but is likely to have been in the earlier part of the 13th century. In 1328, Plympton Erle succeeded in becoming the fourth Dartmoor stannary town after Tavistock, Ashburton and Chagford, to which tin mined on Dartmoor was brought for weighing, testing and stamping.