The Rodings

The Rodings (or Roothings) are a group of villages in Essex, England, the largest group in the country to bear a common name. 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. This was one of the tribal areas that were absorbed into the Kingdom of Essex. The River Roding and the villages derived their name from Hroða. The typical pronunciation of the name is "Roadings". The Rodings formed a single land unit that was investigated by Stephen Basset.

The villages are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rodinges in the Hundred of Dunmow. 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. Part was also held by the de Veres and de Mandevilles families, who became the Earls of Oxford and Earls of Essex. By the 14th century, the boundaries and names of the villages had become fairly established. Abbess Beauchamp and Berners Roding now form a single parish in the district of Epping Forest.

An electoral ward in the same name exists. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 1,853.

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.

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