Frensham
Encyclopedia
Frensham is a village in Surrey
, England
, beside the A287, 13 miles (20.9 km) south west of Guildford
. Neighbouring villages include Millbridge, Shortfield Common, Dockenfield
, Spreakley, Batt's Corner and Rushmoor
. Frensham lies on the River Wey
. Farnham
is the nearest main town and it is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the north. The majority of the land around Frensham is located within the Metropolitan Green Belt
. The non-agricultural land surrounding the village is mainly open heathland and birch woodland.
Planning permission
is being discussed for a potential mineral zone for the extraction of sand
and gravel
near Frensham Manor.
Frensham Common
is owned by the National Trust
and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI). It covers about 1,000 acres and comprises a large area of heathland, together with some coniferous and mixed woodland. There are two large ponds, known as Frensham Great and Little Ponds, which were built in the Middle Ages
to provide fish
for the Bishop of Winchester
's estate.
camp or living sites have been discovered around Frensham. Hundreds of Bronze Age
arrowheads have been found around Frensham and there are several tumuli
(burial sites). In 688 AD, King Caedwalla of Wessex
made a charter conveying to the Catholic church 60 hides
of land that included Farnham
, Frensham and Churt
. This became the property of Hedda, Bishop of Winchester.
The origins of the name Frensham come from 'Frena's ham'. Frena was the name of either a Danish
Earl
who was killed in the battle of Ashdown
in the year 871, or of a Saxon
who was driven south from Northumberland
by the Danes in 993. The second part 'ham' means 'settlement', and is also from where we get the word 'home', so Frensham is 'Frena's settlement'.
In 1348, Frensham suffered from the plague
. Before it ceased in 1350, fifty-two area farms had become desolate.
Locally clay was extracted from around Frensham for Farnham Pottery
.
In the 17th century, farmers focused primarily on hop
growing and sheep rearing.
During the Second World War, tanks based in the Headley
area used Frensham Common for training, whilst Canadian soldiers used to gallop across the Common. At this time, Frensham Great and Little Ponds were drained as otherwise they would have provided markers for German
bomber
s.
In the 1960s boxy little rowing boats were available for hire on the Little Pond from a boathouse near the road.
, the present St Mary's church was dedicated in 1239, having been moved from its previous site on low ground beside the River Wey
. The move was probably due to the massive storms of the 1230s which flooded Waverley Abbey
(6 km downstream) to a depth of 1.75 m.
The chancel
is the oldest part of the church, its walls being those of the original building, the 13th century niches, piscina
and aumbry
. The tower is 14th century, with massive diagonal buttresses and eight bells dated between 1627 and the 19th century. The porch is restored but is believed to be 15th century. The north aisle was built in 1827, and the whole church was subject to a major restoration
in 1868.
The font, of Purbeck Marble
, is early medieval but its carvings are nearly obliterated. The organ was installed in 1871 with subsequent modernisations. The exterior of the building is of local sandstone
, flint
and rubble, with evidence of endless repair and reconstruction.
has a total population of 3,961.
There are four local schools: St Mary's Church of England Infants' School, Frensham Heights
, Edgeborough
and More House.
Frensham Great Pond, lying within Frensham Common
, extends over 100 acre (0.404686 km²) and is a centre for sailing activities. In the summer, Surrey County Council
provides a lifeguard to supervise the swimming area. However, the pond sometimes suffers from eutrophication
due to excess run-off of nitrate fertilisers from nearby arable land. The occasional presence of blue-green algae means that official advice regarding swimming varies, as indicated by notices at the water's edge. The smaller Frensham Little Pond is a scenic area for picnics - no swimming or sailing is permitted here.
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, beside the A287, 13 miles (20.9 km) south west of Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
. Neighbouring villages include Millbridge, Shortfield Common, Dockenfield
Dockenfield
Dockenfield is a civil parish in the borough of Waverley in Surrey. It has a population of 421. The parish council clerk is R Liiv....
, Spreakley, Batt's Corner and Rushmoor
Rushmoor
Rushmoor is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England. It covers the towns of Aldershot and Farnborough.It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Aldershot and the Farnborough urban district....
. Frensham lies on the River Wey
River Wey
The River Wey in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex is a tributary of the River Thames with two separate branches which join at Tilford. The source of the north branch is at Alton, Hampshire and of the south branch at both Blackdown south of Haslemere, and also close to Gibbet Hill, near Hindhead...
. Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
is the nearest main town and it is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the north. The majority of the land around Frensham is located within the Metropolitan Green Belt
Metropolitan Green Belt
The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It includes designated parts of Greater London and the surrounding counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey in the South East and East of England regions.-History:The...
. The non-agricultural land surrounding the village is mainly open heathland and birch woodland.
Planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
is being discussed for a potential mineral zone for the extraction of sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
and gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
near Frensham Manor.
Frensham Common
Frensham Common
Frensham Common is a heathland Site of Special Scientific Interest near Frensham, Surrey. Owned by the National Trust but managed by Waverley borough council, it supports the sand lizard, smooth snake, woodlark, Dartford warbler and nightjar. ...
is owned by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
and is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI). It covers about 1,000 acres and comprises a large area of heathland, together with some coniferous and mixed woodland. There are two large ponds, known as Frensham Great and Little Ponds, which were built in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
to provide fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
for the Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
's estate.
History
MesolithicMesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
camp or living sites have been discovered around Frensham. Hundreds of Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
arrowheads have been found around Frensham and there are several tumuli
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
(burial sites). In 688 AD, King Caedwalla of Wessex
Caedwalla of Wessex
Cædwalla was the King of Wessex from approximately 685 until he abdicated in 688. His name is derived from the British Cadwallon. He was exiled as a youth, and during this time attacked the South Saxons and killed their king, Æthelwealh, in what is now Sussex. Cædwalla was unable to hold the...
made a charter conveying to the Catholic church 60 hides
Hide (unit)
The hide was originally an amount of land sufficient to support a household, but later in Anglo-Saxon England became a unit used in assessing land for liability to "geld", or land tax. The geld would be collected at a stated rate per hide...
of land that included Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
, Frensham and Churt
Churt
Churt is a village and civil parish in the borough of Waverley in Surrey, England. It is located on the A287 road between Hindhead and Farnham, and is split by the Surrey–Hampshire borders. Its origins date back to the Saxon period. The original boundary stones are visible at the junction of Green...
. This became the property of Hedda, Bishop of Winchester.
The origins of the name Frensham come from 'Frena's ham'. Frena was the name of either a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
Earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
who was killed in the battle of Ashdown
Battle of Ashdown
The Battle of Ashdown, in Berkshire , took place on 8 January 871. Alfred the Great, then a prince of only twenty-one, led the West Saxon army of his brother, King Ethelred, in a victorious battle against the invading Danes.Accounts of the battle are based to a large extent on Asser's "Life of...
in the year 871, or of a Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
who was driven south from Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
by the Danes in 993. The second part 'ham' means 'settlement', and is also from where we get the word 'home', so Frensham is 'Frena's settlement'.
In 1348, Frensham suffered from the plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
. Before it ceased in 1350, fifty-two area farms had become desolate.
Locally clay was extracted from around Frensham for Farnham Pottery
Farnham Pottery
Farnham Pottery is located in Wrecclesham near Farnham, Surrey. This is one of the best preserved examples of a working Victorian country pottery left in England and is Grade II Listed...
.
In the 17th century, farmers focused primarily on hop
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
growing and sheep rearing.
During the Second World War, tanks based in the Headley
Headley, East Hampshire
Headley is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 1.8 miles east of Bordon on the B3002 road.The nearest railway station is 3.6 miles south of the village at Liphook....
area used Frensham Common for training, whilst Canadian soldiers used to gallop across the Common. At this time, Frensham Great and Little Ponds were drained as otherwise they would have provided markers for German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
s.
In the 1960s boxy little rowing boats were available for hire on the Little Pond from a boathouse near the road.
St Mary's Church
Originally a chapelry of FarnhamFarnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
, the present St Mary's church was dedicated in 1239, having been moved from its previous site on low ground beside the River Wey
River Wey
The River Wey in Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex is a tributary of the River Thames with two separate branches which join at Tilford. The source of the north branch is at Alton, Hampshire and of the south branch at both Blackdown south of Haslemere, and also close to Gibbet Hill, near Hindhead...
. The move was probably due to the massive storms of the 1230s which flooded Waverley Abbey
Waverley Abbey
Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester. It is situated about one mile south of Farnham, Surrey, in a bend of the River Wey.-History:...
(6 km downstream) to a depth of 1.75 m.
The chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
is the oldest part of the church, its walls being those of the original building, the 13th century niches, piscina
Piscina
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. Roman Catholics usually refer to the drain, and by extension, the basin, as the sacrarium...
and aumbry
Aumbry
In the Middle Ages an aumbry was a cabinet in the wall of a Christian church or in the sacristy which was used to store chalices and other vessels, as well as for the reserved sacrament, the consecrated elements from the Eucharist. This latter use was infrequent in pre-Reformation churches,...
. The tower is 14th century, with massive diagonal buttresses and eight bells dated between 1627 and the 19th century. The porch is restored but is believed to be 15th century. The north aisle was built in 1827, and the whole church was subject to a major restoration
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
in 1868.
The font, of Purbeck Marble
Purbeck Marble
Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone quarried in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England.It is one of many kinds of Purbeck Limestone, deposited in the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous periods....
, is early medieval but its carvings are nearly obliterated. The organ was installed in 1871 with subsequent modernisations. The exterior of the building is of local sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
and rubble, with evidence of endless repair and reconstruction.
Population
The population of Frensham in 1851 was 714. Today the area of Frensham, Dockenfield and TilfordTilford
Tilford is a small village about two miles south of Farnham in Surrey, England. It lies within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty- History :The name "Tilford" is probably derived from "Tila's ford" or "Tilla's ford"....
has a total population of 3,961.
Today
Frensham post office and village shop is a community run shop and celebrated its tenth anniversary in January 2006.There are four local schools: St Mary's Church of England Infants' School, Frensham Heights
Frensham Heights School
Frensham Heights School is an independent school located in Surrey, United Kingdom, run by the registered charity, Frensham Heights Educational Trust Ltd. It was founded in 1925 and formed as part of the movement for progressive education...
, Edgeborough
Edgeborough School
Edgeborough School is a prep school located in Farnham, Surrey in England. It is situated at Frensham Place and provides education for 350 boys and girls aged between 3 and 13. It became co-ed in 1992 and since this time, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of girls attending the...
and More House.
Frensham Great Pond, lying within Frensham Common
Frensham Common
Frensham Common is a heathland Site of Special Scientific Interest near Frensham, Surrey. Owned by the National Trust but managed by Waverley borough council, it supports the sand lizard, smooth snake, woodlark, Dartford warbler and nightjar. ...
, extends over 100 acre (0.404686 km²) and is a centre for sailing activities. In the summer, Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 80 elected councillors.The council is controlled by the Conservative party.The leader of the council is David Hodge....
provides a lifeguard to supervise the swimming area. However, the pond sometimes suffers from eutrophication
Eutrophication
Eutrophication or more precisely hypertrophication, is the movement of a body of water′s trophic status in the direction of increasing plant biomass, by the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system...
due to excess run-off of nitrate fertilisers from nearby arable land. The occasional presence of blue-green algae means that official advice regarding swimming varies, as indicated by notices at the water's edge. The smaller Frensham Little Pond is a scenic area for picnics - no swimming or sailing is permitted here.