Benson, Oxfordshire Family History Guide
Benson is an Ancient Parish in the county of Oxfordshire.
Other places in the parish include: Roke, Preston Crowmarsh, and Crowmarsh Battle.
Alternative names: Bensington
Parish church: St. Helen
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1565
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1661
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Independent/Congregational, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Wallingford St Mary le More with All Hallows, Berkshire
- Swyncombe
- Warborough
- Newington
- Nuffield
- Crowmarsh Gifford
- Newnham Murren
- Brightwell Baldwin
- Ewelme
- Berrick Salome
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
BENSINGTON, or Benson, a village and a parish in the district of Wallingford and county of Oxford. The village stands on the river Thames, 1¾ mile NNE of Wallingford r. station; is a considerable place; and has a post office, of the name of Benson, under Wallingford. It occupies the site of a town of the ancient Britons; which was taken from them, in 572, by the West Saxons; held by the latter till 775; and surrendered then to the Mercians. The parish includes also the hamlets of Fifield, Roke, and Crowmarsh-Battle or Preston-Crowmarsh. Acres, 2,922. Real property, £6,382. Pop., 1,169. Houses, 282. The property is divided among a few. A very ancient manor-house is in the hamlet of Fifield. A Maison Dieu was founded in the time of Henry VI., by William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk; and given to the University of Oxford. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £250. Patron, Christ Church college, Oxford. The church is partly ancient, variously late pointed Norman and decorated; has a modern tower; contains a Norman font and two brasses; and is very good. There are national and British schools, and charities £80.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
BENSINGTON, or Benson (St. Helen), a parish, in the parliamentary borough and the union of Wallingford, partly in the hundred of Dorchester, but chiefly in that of Ewelme, county of Oxford, 1½ mile (N. N. E.) from Wallingford; containing, with the hamlets of Fifield, Preston-Crowmarsh, and Roke, 1254 inhabitants. In this parish was a strong fortress of the Britons, from whom it was taken on their defeat at Bedford, in 571, or, according to some authorities, in 560, by Cealwyn, third king of the West Saxons. It subsequently fell into the power of the Mercians, from whom it was seized by Cuthred, King of the West Saxons, who, revolting from Ethelbald, King of Mercia, defeated him at Burford in 752; but it was finally surrendered by the West Saxons to Offa, King of Mercia, who, enraged at the obstinate resistance of the garrison, dismantled the fortifications. The Roman way leading from Alchester to Wallingford crossed the Thames here; and there was anciently a royal palace in the vicinity. The parish contains 2880a. 2r. 13p., of which 2119 acres are arable, 344 meadow, 92 woodland, and 200 pasture. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £180; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Canons of Christ-Church, Oxford. The great tithes have been commuted for £1046, with a glebe of 17½ acres, and those of the incumbent for £157. 10., with a glebe of 3½ acres.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Maps
Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain Through Time
Administration
- County: Oxfordshire
- Civil Registration District: Wallingford
- Probate Court: Court of the Peculiar of Banbury, Court of the Peculiar of Dorchester
- Diocese: Oxford
- Rural Deanery: Pre-1846 – None, Post-1845 – Cuddesdon
- Poor Law Union: Wallingford
- Hundred: Dorchester; Ewelme
- Province: Canterbury