History of Frindsbury

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Frindsbury comes from the Old English ‘burh’ meaning a ‘fortified place, stronghold’ combined with a personal name; therefore, ‘Freond’s fortification’. The Domesday Book records Frindsbury as Frandesberie.

In 764, King Offa of Mercia and Sigered granted 20 sulungs (4000 - 5000 acres) of land at Aeslingham in Freondesberiam to Bishop Eardulf of Rochester. In 778, King Egbert gave more land to the Bishop. By the 10th Century, all of Frindsbury belonged to the Bishop of Rochester for the upkeep of his church.

Frindsbury parish church is dedicated to All Saints. The Normans built the church around 1127, with additions and extensions in the following 200 years. William Burford cast and hung two bells around 1300. Giles Reve added another bell in 1584, with John Wilnar casting a bell in 1637 and a tenor the following year. An unknown Dutch founder cast a Sanctus bell in 1670. In 1797, Edward Hasted described the Frindsbury church as consisting of ‘two isles and a chancel, with a spire steeple at the west end, in which is a peal of five bells and a small one’. In 1824, the Georgians replaced the nave and south aisle windows. The architect, J L Pearson, carried out a heavy restoration in 1883, including adding a new north aisle, an organ-chamber/vestry and re-facing the south aisle. In 1920, Alfred Bowell added three treble bells to make eight. In 2000, John Taylor replaced the Sanctus bell - sold in 1980 - with the 4th (of 8) and cast a new 4th…. more

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