FRETHERNE, a parish in the upper division of the
hundred of WHITSTONE, county of GLOUCESTER, 9
miles (W. N. W.) from Stroud, containing 210 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged rectory, in the archT
deaconry and diocese of Gloucester, rated in the king's
books at £5. 6. 8. The Rev. J. H. Dunsford was patron
in 1824. The church is dedicated to St. Mary. This
is supposed to be the place called in the Saxon Chronicle
Fethanleage, where Ceawlin, King of Wessex, obtained a
victory over the Britons in 584. Fretherne cliff rises
sixty feet above the surface of the Severn, on the bank
of which it is situated. The Clifford family had anciently
a castle in this parish.