Fringford
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| Fringford | |
  Fringford shown within Oxfordshire |
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| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Fringford is a settlement in Oxfordshire, England. Notes from local pamphlet titled "A Guided Tour of Five Churches of the Shelswell Group" about Fringford, Oxfordshire, England
FRINGFORD
Fringford, Godington, Hethe, Stoke Lyne and Stratton Audley are all parishes in their own right, each with a distinct and intriguing history. They are now linked to form one benefice of Stratton Audley with Godington, Fringford with Hethe and Stoke Lyne. These five form the southern part of the Shelswell Group of Churches, which number ten in all. The Rector for the southern part of the group lives at Stratton Audley.
FRINGFORD
In the fourth and fifth centuries Saxon tribes from North Germany invaded England. They used the Roman Roads to explore the country and to find places to build their new homes. One tribe, the Ferrings or Fcarings came to live and give their name to what we now know as Fringford. They were not the first settlers (Celts and Romans were before them) and it is believed that from the earliest camps at Fringford, the aboriginals went in search of ferns and roots for their medicines to the rough uncultivated ground where Hethe now stands.
It is difficult to accept that the narrow stream flowing around three sides of Fringford was once such an obstacle that it could only be crossed at a ford. It was so, however, and from this fact the village derives its name - Ferringas-ford.
By our standards the Saxons were savage and cruel; but they respected a competent leader and were loyal to their comrades. The women were chaste and there was a strong sense of family. With these qualities it was easy for them to accept Christianity, which was then spreading through the land. Possibly as early as the eighth century a wooden building was erected for a church.
Then came another invader, the Normans. On Christmas Day 1066 William was crowned King. Bishop Odo, depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry rallying Norman soldiers, was given estates by the King which included Fringford. But the Bishop's ambitions did not please the King, Odo was exiled and the village went to Baron William de Arsic of Cogges. It was his son, Baron Manessah Arsic who at least by the early twelfth century, built a stone church in place of the wooden building, which had served the villager.; for hundreds of years. The new building was dedicated to St. Michael and All Angels and granted to the Priory of Black Monks, instituted at Cogges by Baron William.
Baron Mannessah's building was sound. For centuries no repair work is recorded. The south aisle may have been rebuilt in the fourteenth century and sometime before the end of the seventeenth, the peal of bells must have been hung. The only maintenance recorded before the nineteenth century, is in 1788, when £18.4.3d. was spent on general repairs.
In 1814 a new Rector, Henry Dawson Roundel arrived. He is described as having ample means and he proved to be both generous and forethinking. He started a plan for the letting of small allotments to labourers in the parish and, throughout his life, he was the driving force for the much needed restoration of the church. Except that the north aisle was rebuilt in 1905 and the roof restored in 1909, the building we use today is much as the Roundel family left it. The Rector's restoration work has been highly praised, although one cleric is on record as saying there is so much stained glass that no one can see to read his prayer book:
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