Childrey

Coordinates: 51°35′35″N 1°27′11″W / 51.593°N 1.453°W / 51.593; -1.453

Childrey is a village and civil parish about 2.5 miles (4 km) west of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. The parish was part of the Wantage Rural District in Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the whole of the Vale of White Horse from Berkshire to Oxfordshire.

Toponym

Childrey was originally an island in a marsh, relating it to nearby villages of the Hanney, Goosey and Charney. Its toponym is derived from the Old English Cille-rīþ, meaning "spring - stream". Its spelling evolved through Celrea in the 11th century, Chilree in the 13th century and Chelrey in the 13th to 15th centuries before reaching its current form.

Archaeology

In the parish west of Hackpen Hill on the Berkshire Downs is a bowl barrow 90 feet (27 m) in diameter and 4 feet (1.2 m) high. In the 19th century the barrow was excavated and one cremation was found.

Manors

Frethornes

Before the Norman conquest of England the manor of Frethornes was held by an Anglo-Saxon freeman called Brictric. The Domesday Book records that by 1086 it was held by a Norman, Turstin Fitz Rou. The manor's name comes from the de Frethorne family, who were tenants of the manor by 1166 and remained so until 1357. In 1514 and subsequently the manor was recorded as being held of Baron FitzWarin and his heirs, who held the manor of Wantage. An annual payment of four bushels and two pecks of wheat from Frethornes to the manor of Wantage was still payable in 1771.