Great Rollright / Rollrich, Great

"ROLLRIGHT, (or Rollrich, Great), a parish in the hundred of Chadlington, county Oxford, 3 miles N.E. of Chipping-Norton, its post town, and 8 from Shipston-on-Stour. The village, which is of small extent, is chiefly agricultural. It is mentioned in Domesday Survey as Rollendri. About two-thirds of the land are arable, and the remainder meadow and pasture. The soil is fertile, and the pasture rich. This place is celebrated for its breed of sheep. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment under an Enclosure Act in 1775. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford, value £250, in the patronage of Brasenose College. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, has a lofty square embattled tower. It contains a tomb to Shepheard, the friend of Prior, and on the S. side a Norman porch, near which last is an ancient cross. The parochial charities produce about £81 per annum, £11 of which goes to the almshouses. There is a school with a small endowment. There is a chapel belonging to the Rev. Mr. Bulteel, also a place of worship for the Baptists." [The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]