Place:Benson, Oxfordshire, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Benson is a village and civil parish in the South Oxfordshire District of Oxfordshire, England. At the 2001 UK census it had a population of 4,464. The village is about 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) north of Wallingford at the foot of the Chiltern Hills at the confluence of a chalk stream (Ewelme Brook) and the River Thames, next to Benson Lock. Being on the northern (or eastern) bank of the Thames, Benson has always been in Oxfordshire, unlike nearby Wallingford and Abingdon, which were part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes.

The village is on river silts and gravel, just above the surrounding marshy land that gives nearby settlements of Preston Crowmarsh, Crowmarsh Gifford, and Rokemarsh their names. The fertile land which surrounds the village meant that farming was the main source of employment until the 20th century.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Benson from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"BENSINGTON, or Benson, a village and a parish in the [registration] district of Wallingford and county of Oxford. The village stands on the river Thames, 1¾ mile NNE of Wallingford [railway] station; is a considerable place; and has a post 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 775; and surrendered then to the Mercians. The parish includes also the hamlets of Fifield, Roke, and Crowmarsh-Battle or Preston-Crowmarsh. Acres: 2,922. Real property: £6,382. Population: 1,169. Houses: 282. The property is divided among a few. A very ancient manor-house is in the hamlet of Fifield. A Maison Dieu was founded in the time of Henry VI., by William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk; and given to the University of Oxford. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford. Value: £250. Patron: Christ Church college, Oxford. The church is partly ancient, variously late pointed Norman and decorated; has a modern tower; contains a Norman font and two brasses; and is very good. There are national and British schools, and charities £80."

Preston-Crowmarsh

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Preston Crowmarsh from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"CROWMARSH-BATTLE, or Preston-Crowmarsh, a hamlet in Bensington parish, Oxford; on the river Thames, 1 mile N of Wallingford. It belonged to Battle abbey. Real property: £843. Population: 93."

Roke or Rokemarsh

Since 1974 Roke or Rokemarsh is no longer in Benson parish, but in Berrick Salome.

NOTE:Fifield in Benson is so-named because there is a civil parish named Fifield in the western part of Oxfordshire.

Research Tips

• Benson is referred to in a number of chapters of the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire but there is no chapter devoted to it. This is because the VCH considered it to be in Ewelme Hundred which, as of July 2016, they have not covered.
• A map illustrating the parishes of southeast Oxfordshire as of 1900 will be found under Dorchester Hundred
• Oxfordshire History Centre, St Luke's Church, Temple Road, Oxford, OX4 2HT
• Oxfordshire FHS covers the whole county. The Family History Society provides an interactive map to assist in locating individual parishes and also relates the society's progress in transcribing parish registers and gravestone information for that particular parish. Browse the website to see what else the society can provide.
• Further information from GENUKI
• Ordnance Survey map of Oxfordshire 1900 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• Ordnance Survey map of Oxfordshire 1944 provided by A Vision of Britain through Time
• English Jurisdictions 1851, a parish finding aid provided by FamilySearch, particularly helpful in large towns and cities.