 The first surviving record of Plessa appears in the 1406 "Landbethe zu Hayn", where a total area of slightly more than 24 Oxgangs is recorded.The name "Ples(o)" comes from an old Sorbian word for a lake, and probably refers to backwaters of the Black Elster River, now to an extent channelled, but which in the fifteenth century, with numerous small tributaries meandered through the area.Taxes were paid to the , home to the lords who owned the land.