Fritwell, Oxfordshire Family History Guide

Fritwell is an Ancient Parish in the county of Oxfordshire.

Alternative names: Fritwell in the Elms

Parish church: St Olave

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1558
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1713

Nonconformists include: Roman Catholic and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

Parish church of St Olave, Fritwell, Oxfordshire view of the church from the south east before 1865
Parish church of St Olave, Fritwell, Oxfordshire view of the church from the south east before 1865

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

FRITWELL, a village and a parish in Bicester district, Oxford. The village stands on the N border of the county, 2½ miles ENE of Somerton r. station, and 5 NW by N of Bicester; and has a post-office under Bicester. The parish comprises 1, 230 acres. Real property, £2, 717. Pop., 542. Houses, 130. The property is subdivided. The manor-house is an old picturesque edifice; and has a dismal room, like a den, in which Sir Baldwin Wake immured his brother. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £210. Patron, W. Willes, Esq. The church is ancient, and has a Saxon porch. There are two Methodist chapels and a national school.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

FRITWELL (St. Olave), a parish, in the union of Bicester, hundred of Ploughley, county of Oxford, 5 miles (N. W. by N.) from Bicester; containing 524 inhabitants. In 1159, Pope Alexander III. ratified a grant made by Malcolm, King of Scotland, of the church of Fritwell to the monks of St. Frideswide, Oxford; and by an inquisition taken in 1405, it appeared that the Earl of Ormond held a manor within the parish, called Ormondston. The parish is high table-land, and contains one of the sources of the river Ouse; it comprises 1850a. 2r. 10p., of which about one-fifth is arable, and the remainder pasture, with a very small portion of woodland. The manor-house occupied by the owner, William Willes, Esq., is a fine specimen of domestic architecture of the time of Elizabeth or James I. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £7. 9. 4.; net income, £103; patrons and impropriators, the Willes family: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1807. The church is an interesting edifice in the Norman style; the roof is supported by circular arches resting on massive round pillars with plain capitals: a portion of the ancient rood-loft, of highly decorated character, was recently removed. There are remains of Ormondston manor-house now held by a farmer.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Records

FamilySearch

England, Oxfordshire, Fritwell – Census ( 1 )
Census returns for Fritwell, 1841-1891
Author: Great Britain. Census Office

England, Oxfordshire, Fritwell – Church records ( 2 )
Bishop’s transcripts for Fritwell, 1558-1812
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Fritwell (Oxfordshire)

Parish registers for Fritwell, 1558-1892
Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Fritwell (Oxfordshire)

England, Oxfordshire, Fritwell – Church records – Indexes ( 2 )
Computer printout of Fritwell, Oxon., Eng

Parish register printouts of Fritwell, Oxford, England ; christenings, 1558-1812
Author: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Genealogical Department

England, Oxfordshire, Fritwell – Taxation ( 1 )
1662 and 1665 Hearth tax of Ploughley Hundred Oxfordshire
Author: Smith, Donnette Stringham

Maps

Old maps of Britain and Europe from A Vision of Britain Through Time

Administration

  • County: Oxfordshire
  • Civil Registration District: Bicester
  • Probate Court: Courts of the Bishop (Episcopal Consistory) and the Archdeaconry of Oxford
  • Diocese: Oxford
  • Rural Deanery: Bicester
  • Poor Law Union: Bicester
  • Hundred: Ploughley
  • Province: Canterbury