History of Berners Roding

Berners Roding Church
Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.

History of Berners Roding >> White's Directory 1848

White's Directory of Essex 1848

ROOTHING BERNERS, or Roding Berners, is a small parish on the east side of the vale of the Roding, 6 miles North North East of Ongar, and 7½ miles West North West of Chelmsford, containing only 103 souls, and 1030 acres of land. T. B. Bramston, Esq., is lord of the manor, impropriator of the tithes, and patron of the perpetual curacy, valued in 1831 at £60, and now enjoyed by the Rev. William Shepherd, B.D., of Margaret Roothing. The tithes were commuted in 1839.

The Church is a small structure, with a wooden turret and one bell, and was appropriated to the monastery of St. Leonard, at Bow, Middlesex. Part of the parish belongs to S. B. Brocket, and a few smaller owners. Juliana Berners, daughter of Sir James Berners, was born here, and became prioress of Sopewell nunnery. She was very learned, and fond of hunting, hawking, and fishing, on which subjects and heraldry she wrote treatises, which were so popular, that they were amongst the first printed books in the English language.

The FARMERS are, Anthony Archer Bentall, Jesse Challis, Elms; and William Robinson, Hall.