Freeland is a village and civil parish about 4 miles northeast of Witney in Oxfordshire. The 2021 Census recorded the parish population as 1,490. Freeland village began as part of the parish of Eynsham. Its toponym is derived from the common Old English word fyrth, meaning a wood. In 1150 the Abbot of Eynsham granted land called terra de Frithe to on…Freeland is a village and civil parish about 4 miles northeast of Witney in Oxfordshire. The 2021 Census recorded the parish population as 1,490. Freeland village began as part of the parish of Eynsham. Its toponym is derived from the common Old English word fyrth, meaning a wood. In 1150 the Abbot of Eynsham granted land called terra de Frithe to one Nicholas of Leigh. "Frith Wood" later evolved into "Thrift Coppice" and by 1241 several people were living there. Freeland developed from a medieval freehold, probably on the site of Elm Farm. The freehold farm was called Frithlands by the 16th century and had been joined by at least two other cottages before 1650. there were something less than a dozen cottages at Freeland by 1762. The enclosure of the parish of Eynsham was resisted by rioting in the north of the parish around Barnard Gate and Freeland in 1780 but was eventually carried out in 1784.
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