Frampton Cotterell is a village and parish, in South Gloucestershire on the River Frome The name Frampton means 'the settlement (farmstead or village) on the Frome'. This camera was installed and is maintained by the Environment Agency and can be viewed
here All content is available under the
Open Government Licence v3.0. Frampton Cotterell was recorded as Frantone in the Domesday Book (1086). All the other local villages (Westerleigh, Stoke Gifford and Winterbourne) also have Old English names, suggesting they were either conquered or resettled between 577 and 1066. Early in the 11th century, Frampton may have been under the manor of Winterbourne, a later medieval record refers to 'the Lordship of Frampton and Winterbourne'. This would have included Stoke Gifford. However, at no point after 1066 were these three manors owned by the same person. The name of a lane in the village, 'Harris Barton' also may be of pre-Norman origin, Barton comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'bere' and 'tun' meaning 'place where grain was stored' this suggests there was a farm here prior to Norman conquest. In 1086 Frampton was held by Walter the Crossbowman (Balistarius) and then contained 10 villagers and 11 smallholders. Indicating a total population of about 100, to this total should be added slaves and their families. In 1086 there was a church which was not there before 1066 (so under 20 years old) this church was probably on the site of St. Peter's church today. There were also two water mills, probably behind the church (near Mill Lane today) and at Cogmill. By 1301 Frampton had a third watermill, probably at 'Frampton Lido' upstream from the church (where remains of a mill could be seen as late as the 1970s), a windmill, on the site of the current one at Brockeridge. and a coal pit, presumably at Coalpit Heath (although this name did not appear until around 1680) By the 13th century the village was known as Frampton Cotell The name Cotell or Cotterell is derived from the Cotele Family, lords of Frampton Manor in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Their manor house was not at modern day Frampton Court, it was probably located behind the church on the east of Mill Lane, here the field names 'Hall Marsh' and 'Hall Marsh Mead' survived into the 19th Century.
