Fritwell, Oxfordshire - Genealogy Notes

Location and general description

A small village just south of Banbury in northern Oxfordshire. Fritwell lies close to Tusmore Park, Oxfordshire., Hardwick, Oxfordshire., and Cottisford, Oxfordshire.

Buildings

St Olave's church

Raghouse Lane

This lane gets its name from the house built there to store rags for use at the paper mill in Deddington, Oxon. (Blomfield 1893, 22). In the 16th and 17th centuries paper was made from rags and brought in from the larger cities. Why the rag house was so far from the mill is as yet unknown, as is its exact location. However it is fairly equidistant between the population centres of Banbury, Bicester and Buckingham.

People

The LORD family

In 1675, Edward ANDREWS of Lathbury, Bucks., surrendered his own rights in the Manor of Cottisford, Oxon., together with those of his wife, to Laurence LORD of Fritwell
LORD received a new lease in 1676, he died at Fritwell in 1708. His eldest son Laurence LORD resided at Cottisford, Oxon. during his father's lifetime, and continued renewals of the lease of the manor until 1731. He died in 1743.

In 1693 one Lawrence LORD (-1708) of Fritwell, gent, was involved in an exchange of land at Holwell, linked to enclosure there. He was chosen as a referee to appoint the land to William GODFREY of Holwell, Oxon., along with John JORDAN of Burford, Oxon. gent, Richard JORDAN of Fulbrook, Oxon. gent and John PARRAN of Wicke Rissington, Glos. gent. (Oxfordshire Record Office, Hey/X/xii/3). Laurence also leased the nearby Manor of Cottisford, Oxon. (A History of Oxford).

On 24 Feb 1701/02, Henry TRINDER, esq. sergeant at law, leased the the Manor of Holwell, Oxon, together with other property in that village to Jane JORDAN of Burford, widow [widow of William JORDAN of Burford and nee TRINDER] (ORO, HEY/X/v/10). The transaction included the manor and much of the property formerly belonged to Henry's mother Jane TRINDER, widow, deceased [widow of Charles TRINDER and nee HEYLIN]). It was witnessed by one Lawrence LORD jun.

The church apparently contains inscriptions to two daughters of a Laurence LORD.

Laurence LORD Jr of Banbury (c. 1698-1743, son of Lawrence LORD of Fritwell) married Anna of Kemeys and purchased land from the KEMEYS family, the same surname was related by marriage to the BRAY family of Shilton, Oxon.

Laurence LORD of Banbury was succeeded by Allen LORD (abt 1710-1771) of Cottesford Kemeys.

Between 2 Feb 1675 and 17 JUl 1678 (Surrey Records Office Catalogue, G92/2/77, G92/2/82a-b) one Lawrence LORD of Fritwell was a joint party with Ambrose HOWERTH of Mollington, Warcs., in transactions that also involved Peter FERMOR of Tusmore, Oxon., and his wife Elizabeth (nee CARILL). The property concerned was a third part of various manors in Surrey (Bramley, Bridley also known as Crastock, Marckwicke, Monkton Hooke and Great Tangley, in Bramley, Wonersh, Dunsfold, Shalford, Woking, Cranleigh, Hascombe and Alfold). This property was the inheritence of Elizabeth and after her death LORD, HOWERTH and FERMOR transferred it to Richard GWYNN, citizen and cloth worker of London. This Ambrose HOWERTH of Mollington probably refers to Ambrose HOLBECH of Mollington, who, in 1676 participated with Lawr. LORD of Fritwell, co. Oxon. and Peter FERMOR of Tusmore, co. Oxon. in a transaction concerning property 'at Deerhurst' [presumably Gloucestershire] (Gloucestershire Records Office Catalogue, D4262/T6). The HOLBECH family would later marry into the TASH family of Iver, Bucks who are believed to be connected to the TASH family of Burford, Oxon. (who in turn married into the JORDAN family of that place,) and the Hatton TASH of Holwell, Oxon., whose duaghter Mary TASH married John GODFREY of Holwell. Oxon., then Cobham, Surrey.

The HATTON Family

Several HATTON children were christened in Fritwell between about 1606 and 1616 to a Bennet or Benet HATTON, one of which mentions a mother called Elizabeth (IGI).

1605 Benedicte HATTON, son of HATTON and Elizabeth
1605/6 Jayne HATTEN d. of Benett HATTEN
1608 Benet HATTEN s. of Benet HATTEN
1609 Robert HATTEN s. of Bennet HATTEN
1610 Dorathy HATTEN d. of Benet HATTEN
1612 Ralf HATTEN s. of Bennet HATTEN
16 13 Laticia HATTEN d. of Benit HATTEN
1615 Ann HATTEN d. of Bennet HATTEN

Ralf appears to have been the Ralph HATTON who later appears at nearby Hardwick, Oxon. In Ralph's Will he refers to his 'dear friend' Laurence LORD.

During the enclosure of Fritwell (decree passed in 1613), Thomas CHAMBERLAINE, Bennett HATTON and Rowland BULL, gents., were chosen for their knowledge of the local land (Blomfield 1893, 30)

On 10 Feb 1615/16, one Benedict HATTON of Frittwell, Oxon, gent was involved with Richard FARMER of Somerton [one of the FERMORs of Tusmore Park] in a bond concerning the Manor or Farm of Walcott in Charlbury, Oxon. (East Sussex Record Office: Archive of the Portman family of Buxted Place, SAS/PN/1373). It is possible that this was the Mr. Benedict HATTON who presented William JUXON (1582-1663), later to be Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Lord High Treasurer of England, to the the rectory of Somerton, Oxon. on June 16, 1615. Somerton was one of the FERMOR estates in Oxfordshire along with Tusmore, Hardwick and Croughton. (College Histories of Oxford, St. John's College, William Holden Hutton, London:F E Robinson., pg 105)

According to A History of the County of Oxford a subsidy levied in 1644 found one Elizabeth HATTON as the only recusant (she was therefore either non-conformist or Roman Catholic).

Wood & Rawlinson (1922, 165) record a monumental inscription in the church, as follows: ‘Ralph Hatton, gent., died Feb. 10, 1694 aged 81 years, “ Requiescat in Pace”; also Mary his widow died Oct 4 1717 aged 88’. This appears to be the son of Benedict, as mentioned above. His wife's maiden name

The presence of the raghouse (see above), suggests the possibility of a link with the non-conformist (Quaker) HUTTON family of Deddington, Oxon. and Hampton Gay, Oxon.

Bibliography

BLOMFIELD, James Charles. History of Fritwell and Souldern. Vol. 7 in History of the Present Deanery of Bicester, Oxon. London: Elliot Stock, 1893.
LOBEL, Mary D. (editor), 'Parishes: Cottisford', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6 (1959), pp. 103-116. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63729. Date accessed: 02 May 2008.
'Parishes: Fritwell', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 6 (1959), pp. 134-146. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63732. Date accessed: 05 July 2008.
WOOD, Anthony & Richard Rawlinson, Parochial Collections (Second Part). Transcribed & Edited by F. N. Davis. Oxford: Royal Historical Society, 1922.