Medieval glass fragment of Berkley coat of arms in a window of the north aisle of St Mary's church, Frampton on Severn.
"The Berkeley family is an aristocratic English family, nearly unique in English history in that it has to this day an unbroken male line of descent from a noble Saxon ancestor before the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and also retains possession of much of the lands it held from the 11th and 12th centuries, centred on Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, which still belongs to the family.
The Berkeley family descends in the male line from Robert Fitzharding (d.1170), 1st feudal baron of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, reputedly the son of Harding of Bristol, the son of Eadnoth the Constable (Alnod), a high official under King Edward the Confessor.
Berkeley Castle, the caput of the barony, and the adjoining town of Berkeley are located in the county of Gloucestershire and are situated about five miles west of Dursley and eighteen miles southwest of Gloucester, and northeast of Bristol. The location has conferred various titles on the family over the centuries, including Baron Berkeley (barony by writ), Earl of Berkeley, and Marquess of Berkeley.
Berkeley Castle was originally granted by William the Conqueror to the Norman Roger de Berkeley, feudal baron of Dursley, under the feudal tenure of fee-farm. However, this Norman family, which had recently taken its name from its tenure of Berkeley Castle, was stripped of its tenure by King Henry II (1154–1189) shortly before he became king. The tenure was re-granted to his supporter and financier the Anglo-Saxon Robert Fitzharding (d.1170), of Bristol, as a feudal barony.
Shortly afterwards, under the encouragement of Henry II who had clearly regretted the effect of his dispossession of Roger, the two families were united by the forced intermarriage by contract of the eldest son and heir of each to the other's eldest daughter. Thus the heirs of both Roger de Berkeley and of Robert Fitzharding either adopted, or continued the use of, the surname "de Berkeley", the former retaining the truncated feudal barony of Dursley, the latter establishing his line as feudal barons of Berkeley Castle.
Both lines of Berkeleys therefore originated as cousins, but it was the line of the feudal barons of Berkeley, descended from Fitzharding in the male line, which was by far the more powerful and which would play the more prominent role in British history in the next several centuries.
The Scottish Clan Barclay may or may not be descended from the family."
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"This beautiful church was consecrated as a church in 1315 AD and has been used for worship ever since.
The church is open daily for prayer and quiet reflection. We welcome visitors throughout the year.
Although there were probably earlier churches on the site, the first records of clergy in Frampton date from 1228, however the church was not consecrated until 1315. It is believed that the main door dates from this period: it is oak with the imprint of the skins that originally covered it and the antique lock and enormous key are still in daily use. Over the porch is the 18th century parvise chamber, to which there is no longer access. The oldest part of the present day church in Frampton is the Romanesque font dating from the second half of the 12th century."
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