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.
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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]
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.
Reddington (family name originating in these Essex villages)