Bensington or Benson, Oxfordshire

Historical Description

Bensington or Benson, a village and a parish in Oxfordshire. The village stands on the river Thames, 1½ mile NNE of Wallingford station on the G.W.R.; it is a considerable place, and has a post, money order, and telegraph 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 777, and surrendered then to the Mercians. The parish includes the hamlets of Fifield, Roke, Roke Marsh, Littleworth, Crowmarsh-Battle, and Preston-Crowmarsh. Acreage, 2922; population of the civil parish, 1121; of the ecclesiastical, 1113. A manor-house, part of which is very ancient, with a window-head of the 13th century, is in the hamlet of Fifield. A Maison Dieu was founded there in the time of Henry VI. by William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, and given to the University of Oxford. Crowmarsh-Battle was bestowed upon Battle Abbey by William the Conqueror. The parish of Bensington was formerly of very great extent; Henley, 11 miles distant, having been one of its chapelries as late as the reign of Edward I. It continued to be a royal manor until the manorial rights were sold by Charles I. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £215 with residence, in the gift of Christ Church, Oxford. The church is chiefly ancient, variously late pointed Norman and Decorated; has a Georgian tower, contains an Early English font, and is very good. There are a Free Church, erected in 1879, Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels, and some small charities.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Oxfordshire Family History Society and Oxfordshire History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Oxfordshire online.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Bensington or Benson from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bensington, or Benson (St. Helen))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Oxfordshire is available online

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Oxfordshire newspapers online:

• Oxford Journal
• Banbury Advertiser
• Banbury Guardian
• Oxford University and City Herald
• Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette
• Faringdon Advertiser and Vale of the White Horse Gazette
• Oxford Times
• Banbury Beacon
• Ossett Observer

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Oxfordshire, 1566, 1574 &1634 are available on the Heraldry page.