Place Name
Accepted Frewen (1588 – March 28, 1664), was president of Magdalen College from 1626 and Archbishop of York from 1660 to 1664. Frewen (the street name spelling is incorrect) was born at Northiam, East Sussex, into a highly religious family. The unusual forename is an example of the type of puritan name not uncommon in the area in the late 16thCentury; his brother was called Thankful Frewen. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied Divinity from the age of 16. At some stage he went Spain on a sabbatical acting as chaplain to Sir John (later Lord) Digby, ambassador to the country. His sabbatical was extended and it was while in Spain, on a return visit that he met with the future Charles II. The young prince attempted to sell the virtues of the Roman Catholic faith to the priest, but he was having none of it. Instead he quoted Kings: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him,” urging him to be steadfast in the doctrines of the Church of England. The prince who was much struck with the sermon, became attached to Frewen, and presented him with a miniature of himself. Returning to England he rose to Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University in 1628. Afterwards, he was consecrated Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and was also made one of the king’s chaplains. In 1626 Frewen was elected president of Magdalen College, during his term he made great alterations in the chapel. He paved the inner chapel with black and white marble, put up a new organ, stained windows, and new stalls, all which improvements were probably mainly at his own expense. But his close connections to royalty, made him suspect and Parliament declared his estates forfeited for treason in 1652, Cromwell afterwards set a price on his head. The proclamations, however, got the name wrong, calling him Stephen Frewen, and he was able to escape into France. At the Restoration in 1660, he was restored to the See of Lichfield and Coventry and reappeared in public, later the same year he was elected Archbishop of York, where he is buried. At least a part of the manor of All Farthing, which this street was once in, was owned by Thomas Sheppard, himself a Doctor of Divinity from Magdalen College. When Thomas died he left his fortune to his wife Sophia Sheppard, who became a generous benefactor to her husband’s former college, leaving them extensive land in Earlsfield. The college began to develop it for housing from the early 1930s, naming the streets after places and people that were connected with it. Magdalen is one of the wealthiest colleges in Oxford.
