The Rodings

The Rodings (or Roothings) are a group of villages in Essex, England, the largest group in the country to bear a common name.[1] They are believed to be the remnants of a single Anglo-Saxon community known as the Hroðingas, led by Hroða, who sailed up the River Thames and along a tributary in the sixth century and settled in the area.[1] This was one of the tribal areas that were absorbed into the Kingdom of Essex.[2] The River Roding and the villages derived their name from Hroða.[1] The typical pronunciation of the name is "Roadings". The Rodings formed a single land unit that was investigated by Stephen Basset.[3]

The villages are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rodinges in the Hundred of Dunmow.[4] In the time of Edward the Confessor, it was held by the Abbey of St Æthelthryth of Ely; however, after the Norman Conquest, part was taken by William de Warenne.[4] Part was also held by the de Veres and de Mandevilles families, who became the Earls of Oxford and Earls of Essex.[1] By the 14th century, the boundaries and names of the villages had become fairly established.[1] Abbess Beauchamp and Berners Roding now form a single parish in the district of Epping Forest.

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 1,853.[5]

Buildings

The area is typified by medieval thatched cottages, timber-framed manor houses and farmhouses. There is a mid-18th century post mill windmill in Aythorpe Roding, the only surviving windmill in the area. There are a number of churches dating from the Norman period; the oldest is St Margaret of Antioch in Margaret Roding, which has a Norman doorway and the tomb of a crusader.[1]

Roding names

The Rodings do not lie within a single district in the county; they are arranged around the tripoint of the administrative areas of Chelmsford, Uttlesford and Epping Forest.

A single bus service, number 59, serves White Roding, Leaden Roding and Margaret Roding. It is operated by Arriva, running hourly in each direction to Harlow via Hatfield Heath and Chelmsford via Roxwell. The route is on the Hertfordshire Intalink network.

Ecclesiastical organisation

In the Church of England Diocese of Chelmsford, Leaden, Abbess, White and Beauchamp Roding have formed the South Rodings parish since 2004.[6] High and Aythorpe Roding are beneficed to Great Canfield and Margaret Roding to Good and High Easter, those 6 parishes are served by one priest-in-charge. Berners Roding is now part of the Parish of Willingale, the Parish Church of unknown dedication (but thought to be All Saints) is redundant and is privately owned.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rollason, Pam (June 2008). "Around the Rodings". Essex Life. Archant. p. 92. Retrieved 2009-02-03. (Registration required.)
  2. ↑ Andrew Reynolds, Later Anglo-Saxon England (Tempus, 2002, page 67) drawing on S Bassett (ed) The Origin of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms (Leicester, 1989)
  3. ↑ Basset, Stephen (1997). "Continuity and fission in the Anglo-Saxon landscape: the origins of the Rodings (Essex)". Landscape History. 19: 25–42.
  4. 1 2 Dr Ann Williams; Professor G H Martin, ed. (2003). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin Books. pp. 982, 996, 1393. ISBN 978-0-14-143994-5.
  5. ↑ "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  6. ↑ South Rodings parish history
  7. ↑ /

Media related to The Rodings at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 51°48′N 00°18′E / 51.800°N 0.300°E / 51.800; 0.300

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