[Van Worden]

Cytat:

FRITWELL OXFORDSHIRE SUNDAY AUGUST 1 This is a new club farm. Fields that were standing crops a week ago have unbelievably been harvested, cultivated and rolled! The oilseed rape on the four new club fields has been taken off and the stems disced in leaving a decent surface ideal for detecting. In all there are four large fields in the region of the two villages of Souldern and Fritwell. Ancient houses line the streets of the very pretty village of Fritwell & the original settlement lay beside Aves Ditch close to a spring which gave the village its name of Fyrht-w(i)elle or 'wishing well'. This spring in the village was thought to be the source of the Great Ouse. By 1086 and throughout the Middle Ages there were two settlements dependent on the two manorial estates in Fritwell and by the 12th century many of the inhabitants were moderately prosperous & thirty four were assessed for taxation in 1316. The subsidy list of 1534 with 21 names listed shows that wealth continued to be fairly widely distributed. During the 13th century both a water mill and a windmill were recorded within the parish, probably located on the Cherwell & is mentioned in 1235, valued at 6s. 8d. In the early 19th century the windmill still stood in Windmill Ground Field near the turnpike on the Souldern - Fritwell road. A toll-gate near the eastern approach to the village was removed in 1876 but the toll-house still remains. On Ploughley Hill was a round barrow, once the meeting-place of the hundred which was levelled in the early 19th century and human bones were found on its site. Numerous roads converge on the hill: the pre-Roman Portway, a grass lane which crosses the west of the parish, joins the road from Somerton less than a mile to the south while the roads from Somerton, Souldern, and Tusmore meet the main Bicester/Banbury road near by. All very probably follow the line of ancient tracks. Starts 9.30am See http://www.british-histor...px?compid=63732 DIRECTIONS The Post Code for Fritwell is OX27 7QX The M40 exit J10 will take you onto the B430 to Ardley then follow the road signs to Fritwell. Then follow our dayglo pink and black arrows to the field. The following link will take you to a map of the location which can be viewed in Map or Sat view http://tinyurl.com/wwdc-sunday-dig