Berners Roding in the Chapman and Andre map of 1777
According to A Dictionary of British Place Names, Roding derives from "Rodinges" as is listed in the Domesday Book and recorded earlier as such at c.1050.[2] 'Berners' Roding is not listed in Domesday.
In the 19th century Berners Roding was in the Dunmow Union—poor relief provision set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834—and part of the Rural Deanery of Roding. The registers of the church of All Saints' (deconsecrated in 1985 and privately owned) date to 1538. The 1848 living was a perpetual curracy, held by the rector of Margaret Roothing, and in the gift or donative of the lord of the manor. In 1882 the living was in the gift of a Colonel Bramston, and held by the rector of Willingale Doe, part of today's Willingale, where the children of Berners Roding attended school. In 1848 Berners Roothing parish land of 1,030 acres (4.2km2) supported a population of 103; in 1882, 1,050 acres (4.2km2) supported 86. Crops grown at the time were chiefly wheat, barley and beans, on a heavy soil with a clay subsoil. Parish occupations included three farmers in 1848, and two in 1882.[3][4]
All Saints Church graveyard
In 1946 the three parishes of Abbess Roding, Beauchamp Roding, and Berners Roding were merged into a new civil parish called Abbess Beauchamp and Berners Roding.[5][6] At the 1931 census (the last before the abolition of the civil parish), Berners Roding had a population of 81.[7]
Berners Roding's unlisted All Saints Church dates to at least the 14th century, with some remnants dating to the 12th. It was deconsecrated in 1985. It, and its graveyard, is in a state of neglect and decay.[8][9][10]
References
↑ Hadfield, J. (1970). The Shell Guide to England. London: Michael Joseph.
↑ "Berners Roding", British History Online, quoting from An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Volume 2, Central and South west (London, 1921), pp.14-15. Retrieved 30 January 2019
