Histories

The first recorded instance of the name FLEXNEY in Oxfordshire is in 1212, when Stephen de FLEXNEIA held land on the Oxfordshire bank of the Thames at a spot called Ramsey, just South of Bablock Hythe [Feet of Fines, Oxford Rec. Soc.] In 1273 John de Flexneye held land and a share in a mill at Standlake not far away, and other land at Bablock [Hundred Rolls]. The village closest to Bablock Hythe is Stanton Harcourt.

This first appearance of a FLEXNEY in Oxfordshire occurs shortly after Robert de HARCOURT of Bosworth, Leicestershire was granted the manor of Stanton in 1191 (hence Stanton Harcourt, which became the chief residence of the HARCOURTs). It was previously held by his father-in-law, Richard de CAMVILLE, whose wife's first husband, Robert MARMION, held it before him.

MARMION also held the manor of Fleckney in Leicestershire, about half-way between Leicester and Market Harborough. Among the tenants in Fleckney were Richard de FLECKNEY, and in 1221 his son Ivo de FLECKNEY. So "de FLECKNEY" was established as the name of a reasonably prosperous family in Leicestershire.

The landowner connections between Fleckney and Stanton Harcourt therefore suggest very strongly that the origin of the name FLEXNEY lies in Leicestershire.

In Oxford, Richard FLAXNEY witnessed a deed in 1349, and Richard FLEXNEY was a City tax-collector in 1513. Later FLEXNEYs were mayors of the city.

"The name 'Fleckney' (and alternative spellings of "Flecknie", "Fleckineye" and "Flechenie") may be Saxon or Scandinavian in origin. Although it seems Fleckney existed before the Norman Conquests as the pre-Norman spelling of the village name appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, not a lot is known prior to this." [www.thisisfleckney.com]