In Neolithic times, 3000 to 1700 BC, long mounds or barrows were built and used for collective burial sites. One exists at Winchcombe. Another ancient site of a village exists at Woodmancote. Little is known of these people.

The Beaker folk, named so because they made clay beakers, arrived around 1900 BC from the Rhineland in Germany. Many arrowheads were found in their graves which indicated an unwelcome reception. The beaker folk were also noted for having quite round heads.

Iron age people, of Celtic tribes which began moving westward from Persia about 3000 BC came to Britain around 500 BC and arrived in the Churn valley about 150 BC. Around 25 BC an iron age group known generally as the Belgic people arrived. The local group around Bagendon/North Cerney were known as the Dobunni or Belgic Dobunni. These were a Celtic people.This group set up a tribal capital at Bagendon and traded with France and Rome. They minted their own coins.

About 10 AD Bagendon was established. A series of earthworks combined with a wooded scarp enclosed some 200 acres three miles from Cirencester. It was an important centre for trade in metalworking. The inhabitants lived in huts with stone floors and the walls were half timbered with wattle and daub walls. The roof was thatched. Glazed ware and glass were imported. This group had an alliance with other local tribes at Salmonsbury and Bourton-on-the-Water which broke up about the time the Romans came. Bodvoc the leader of the Dobunni was pro Roman and made them welcome. Within the next decade Bagendon was abandoned and the Roman camp of Cirencester was set up.

Roman armies and settlers came to the area between 43 and 49 AD. Aulus Plautius invaded the Cotswolds in 43 AD and at a large battle at the Dobuni tribe fortress which was possibly Bagendon defeated the locals. Later, Cirencester became an important town, district capital for western Britain. A large number of Roman villas were established in the area. This area was prosperous and stable until well into the fifth century.

In 577 the Saxons from southern Denmark and nearby costal Germany, between the Elbe and Wesser rivers invaded and captured the kingdom of Hwicce, a part of the kingdom of Mercia. Both of these ancient Teutonic people came as Aryan people from somewhere near ancient Persia. The valley of the Churn along with Cirencester was settled by the Saxons. Bagendon, Andoversford, Withington were all Saxon settlements. The British celts were driven into Wales or forced into slavery. Since Eycote was in this area it seems likely it was also a Saxon vill. Miserdene and Winstone have churches with Anglo-Saxon features.

The Saxons Kinric and Ceawlin were temporarily defeated by the local Britons at Beranbyrig  which was possible again the river crossing at Perrots Brook (see development of name) and thereafter the Saxons lived in peace here for over four hundred years. They became Christian and they set up local governments. The people of the Cotswolds in the year 700 were some of the 7,000 or so households in the lands of the South Saxons. In 750 the church diocese of Worcester centered at Malmsbury had ecclesiastical ( religious) control of most of the area. Winchester diocese had some areas. The area of Cirencester was part of the Ramsbury diocese. Eycote was under the bishop of Worcester and at one time was owned by the bishop. In 680 AD the Bishop of Worcester was given his first See.

About 1000 AD the common administrative unit was the hundred. It was set up in 945 - 961 AD. It was a group of vills (Villages) organized for defense purposes and to help each other out. The Saxons kept slaves but they also practiced a form of democracy since they elected their leaders. Once each month there was a meeting of the Hundred under the chairmanship of the hundred man. Eycote was in the centre of Rapsgate Hundred and would normally be the meeting place for the hundred. However, at some time it was attached to Bibury hundred and so was not at all an important location.

All this was swept away when William the Conqueror who set up a feudal system and gave the lands to his followers. All the lords owed their allegiance to the king and lesser ranks owed allegiance to them. Slavery was done away with. Very few persons were free, most had to perform duties for their lords. Most of the Saxon bishops were replaced by Frenchmen but the bishop of Worcester was not. He retained his land holdings in the Cotswolds.

By the time of the Domesday census the area around the Churn valley was fairly evenly populated with more people in the valleys than on the higher ground. There were a higher than usual numbers of slaves in the area, 25 % of the people were slaves when William and the Normans arrived. The churches at Rendcomb, North and South Cerney were early Norman churches. At Domesday, 1086, Ulward was the Thane of Bagendon, and there were 5 yeomen and 5 slaves. Until 1792 there were still 5 freemen holdings. The land was in long narrow Saxon style strips until the enclosure of 1792.

At the time of Domesday 1086 there were 83 listed inhabitants between Eycot, Rencomb, North Cerney and Bagendon. This figure more likely represents households. So there were between 200 and 300 people spread along three miles or so of the river valley. The population likely increased until the plague.

In 1327 Eycot had a population of 8 (likely 8 male adults) and 12 in 1381. A few people were there still in 1442 the last time a record existed for Eycote. The plague arrived in 1348-49. The Black Death spread quickly all over England. The death toll was very high. Two rectors of North Cerney church died from it in 1348. A huge depopulation took place and many farms were abandoned. The economy collapsed and the survivors of the plague, which came repeatedly over the next half century did very little trade. The poor marginal lands were no longer farmed. There was no one to buy the crops. The plague struck badly in 1348-49, 1361, 1369 and with lesser outbreaks every few years until 1480 when severe outbreak reduced the population to less than half what it had been in 1348. It did not recover this level until 1600. Peasant farmers who survived, increased the size of their farms from an average of 12 to 30 acres. They also became more prosperous as the demand for their skills increased. The Eacotts who survived the Black Death may have been from only one family. The village of Eycote, not on the best land was totally wiped out or abandoned. The church was destroyed and the stone cross from it was relocated to North Cerney church.

By the 14th century South Cerney was a noted centre for the cloth trade. It had several fulling mills. Fairford was also known for its cloth. The Cotswold sheep produced wool that was in demand in Europe and the local farms prospered. The Tames in the 1500's, Edmund and his father were great cloth merchants. They purchased Rendcomb and Eycote and created Rendcomb Park. During this time fields were enclosed and the modern appearance of the land took place.

References and Notes

Subsidy Roles for Cirencester, Bagendon, Woodmancote 1327, 1381

Red Book of Worcester

Manor Court Roles for Bagendon, Woodmancote,

Cromhall in Glos. was an Abbott's Parish records dating from 1653. 2.5 miles from Wickwar. Cromhall Abbotts (Cromale) at Domesday was Kings land, now Abbottside Farm. Cromhall Lygon records were lost.

Gaunts Earthcote - Hardicote original name

Rendcombe - 1863 mansion now school, a Parish from 1566

Purton parish 1558 in Archdiocese of Wiltshire, Salisbury diocese. Held by Glastonbury Abbey at 1086

Woodmancote a tything parish of North Cerney

Cirencester - Kings Land

Chedworth - Kings land