Barningham, Suffolk, England

As mentioned in a previous post, the earliest Ong records from the 1280's place the family in Barningham, a village in northwestern Suffolk, about 11 miles NE of Bury St. Edmonds.

Michael Lingwood, a longtime Barningham resident (who passed away in 2008 at the age of 88) wrote a charming and interesting history of the village in 2005 called "Our Own People: A History of a Village Community".  The book gives due credit to the Ongs as among the village's earliest recorded residents and uniquely as a family which lived there continually for at least four centuries ending with the death of Robert Onge in 1678.  Barningham is recorded in the Domesday Book survey of 1066/1086 as having 35 households (very large for a village of its day, and only one of which were slaves/serfs).   The name Barningham is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for warrior, beorn, and therefore the village is of Anglo-Saxon origin, while the Nordic-sounding Onge name is likely evidence of the area's subsequent invasion by the Danes (Vikings) in the late 9th century.  In Lingwood's words:

"Inherited names were not customary amongst the ordinary people in Anglo-Saxon times, but the name Ong seems to have Old Norse origins.  It gives rise to the theory that Viking families had been clinging to their Danish origins since they invaded and remained conscious of their individual cultural background."

The Barningham book is available at on-line sellers (e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Our-Own-People-History-Community/dp/1870738152), although there was a limited print-run so supplies may be limited.  Lingwood makes several references to various medieval Ongs throughout the earlier chapters.  He also says the local authority-owned land near the primary school now known as the "Cricket Meadow" was once known as "Ongs Close".

Mr. Lingwood is also responsible for a guidebook to the parish church, St. Andrew's, where the Barningham Ongs worshiped for several generations before, during, and after the Reformation.  I don't have a copy, but an on-line guide to the church is here: http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/barningham.htm