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 sub-kingdoms that were absorbed into the Kingdom of Essex.^[2] The River Roding and the villages derived their name from Hroda.^[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.

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

• Abbess Roding
• Aythorpe Roding
• Beauchamp Roding (note, pronounced Beecham Roding)
• Berners Roding
• High Roding
• Leaden Roding
• Margaret Roding
• White Roding

Related names

• Morrell Roding - A hamlet in White Roding

Ecclesiastical organisation

In the Church of England Diocese of Chelmsford, Leaden, Abbess, White and Beauchamp Roding have formed the South Rodings parish since 2004.^[5] High and Aythorpe Roding are beneficed to Great Canfield and Margaret Roding to Good and High Easter. As of September 2011^[update], those 6 parishes are served by one priest-in-charge. Berners Roding is united as one parish with Willingdale and Shellow.

See also

• River Roding

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Rollason, Pam (June 2008). "Around the Rodings". Essex Life (Archant): p. 92. http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&pnum=&refresh=3Ex0Hy14j5C1&EID=52357006-6cf2-46b7-874f-a85febe6a2c6&skip=true. 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. ^ ^{a b} Dr Ann Williams; Professor G H Martin, ed (2003). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin Books. pp. 982, 996, 1393. ISBN 9780141439945. 
5. ^ South Rodings parish history

Reddington (family name originating in these Essex villages)

External links

• British History Online

Coordinates: 51°48′N 00°18′E / 51.8°N 0.3°E / 51.8; 0.3