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Harwell is a village and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in the
Vale of White Horse The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. It was historically a north-west projection of Berkshire. The area is commonly referred to as the 'Vale of ''the'' White Horse'. It is crossed by the Ridgeway Na ...
about west of Didcot, east of Wantage and south of
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. The parish measures about north – south, and almost east – west at its widest point. In 1923 its area was .
Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
in
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...
, it has been administered as part of
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...
, England, since the 1974 boundary changes. The parish includes part of the
Milton Park Milton Park is a mixed use business and technology park in Oxfordshire, England, operated by MEPC plc. It is just south of the village of Milton, about west of Didcot. It is on the site of a former Ministry of Defence depot between the A ...
business park in the north and part of
Harwell Science and Innovation Campus The Harwell Science and Innovation Campus is a 700-acre science and technology campus in Oxfordshire, England. Over 6,000 people work there in over 240 public and private sector organisations, working across sectors including Space, Clean Ener ...
in the southwest. In the east it includes part of the new Great Western Park housing estate that is contiguous with the built-up area of Didcot. The 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 2,349.


Toponymy

The earliest known surviving records of Harwell's name are 10th-century Saxon charters now reproduced in the ''
Cartularium Saxonicum ''Cartularium Saxonicum'' is a three volume collection of Anglo-Saxon charters published from 1885 to 1893 by Walter de Gray Birch (1842-1924), then working in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Library The British Library is the ...
''. One from 956 records Horn Down, a nearby hill, as ''Harandúne'', which is derived from the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
for "grey hill". The same charter records the manor as ''Haranwylle'', which comes from the Old English for "stream by or coming from Horn Hill". A slightly later charter, from 973, records the manor as ''Harawille''. The
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 records the manor as ''Harwelle''. Another 11th-century source records it as ''Harowell''. One 13th-century document records it as ''Arewell''. Other 13th- and 14th-century sources record it as ''Harewell''.


Parish church

The
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of Saint Matthew may date from the 11th century. In 1962 ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' reported that walling had been found west of the tower indicating where a former
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...
had been. The herringbone layering of the masonry suggested that an 11th-century date is likely. At the same time a
pewter Pewter () is a malleable metal alloy consisting of tin (85–99%), antimony (approximately 5–10%), copper (2%), bismuth, and sometimes silver. Copper and antimony (and in antiquity lead) act as hardeners, but lead may be used in lower grades ...
chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. R ...
from about 1200 was found. The present nave, east of the tower, was built in about 1200. This second nave has north and south aisles with three-
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...
arcades. The west tower may have been at the same time, but its
Early English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
bell openings suggest that it may not have been finished until the middle of the 13th century. The
Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...
is early 14th century and has a five-light east window. The
rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...
is probably of the same date, but the screen's
Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-c ...
top is later. The tower has a ring of eight bells. Joseph Carter, who was Master bellfounder at the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...
and also had a foundry at
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
, cast the fourth bell in 1590 and the seventh bell in 1597. William Yare of Reading cast the third and fifth bells in 1611 and the sixth and tenor bells in 1612.
John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...
of
Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...
cast the treble and second bells in 1932, completing the present ring. St. Matthew's also has a Sanctus bell cast by Robert I Wells of Aldbourne,
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
in the 18th century. There is a single-handed clock on the tower's west face. In 1975 a two-storey extension was built on the north wall which now includes a parish office. A new church hall was built in 1994. St Matthew's parish now shares a rector with the parish of All Saints, Chilton.


Economic and social history

Harwell contains two 13th-century houses, each of which is a
Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...
. Lime Tree Cottage in the High Street was built about 1250 and remodelled about 1300. A cross-wing was added about 1360 and the house was given a new front about 1700. Gable Cottage and Tibbleton Cottage in Wellshead Lane were originally one
timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...
house, built in about 1295 and extended with a new front range in the 17th century. Bayllols Manor house at Middle Farm is a timber-framed 14th-century
hall house The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples w ...
, and its service wing may be the remains of a 13th-century building. In 1589 an upper floor was inserted in the 14th-century hall and some pargeting was applied. The farm has two 14th-century barns, each of which is Grade II* listed. One is the Cherry Barn, which was built about 1350 and has 15th- and 17th-century outbuildings. The other was built around 1365 and has a
cruck A cruck or crook frame is a curved timber, one of a pair, which support the roof of a building, historically used in England and Wales. This type of timber framing consists of long, generally naturally curved, timber members that lean inwards and ...
frame. The White Hart in the High Street is an early 17th-century timber-framed building with early 18th- and mid-19th century brick-built extensions. It now trades as the Hart of Harwell pub and restaurant. Harwell once had five pubs and a brewery. The former brewery is a 17th-century building in the High Street with an 18th-century malt house and 19th-century extension. It is now a private house. The Crown in the High Street was converted into a nursing home, which was run by Southern Cross Healthcare and ceased trading in 2012. The Chequers, The Crispin and The Kicking Donkey have all been converted to private houses. On 4 April 1899 Berkshire Constabulary PC John Charlton was killed in an affray outside the Chequers. His two killers were felled and arrested by another officer, PC Thomas Hewett and later sentenced to 20 years hard labour for manslaughter. Until the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
Harwell may have been best known for its
cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The n ...
orchards. Geering Almshouses are a row of brick-built
almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...
s built by a charity established in 1715 but the houses themselves may not have been built until about 1723. The almshouses are a Grade II* listed building. The
Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the o ...
was built through the north of the parish and opened in 1840. Originally the nearest station was , about northwest of Harwell, which the Great Western opened in 1840. In 1844 the GWR opened Didcot railway station about northeast of Harwell. In 1964
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...
ways closed Steventon station, making Didcot (now ) Harwell's nearest rail link.


Airfield and Atomic Energy Research Establishment

RAF Harwell Royal Air Force Harwell or more simply RAF Harwell is a former Royal Air Force station, near the village of Harwell, located south east of Wantage, Oxfordshire and north west of Reading, Berkshire, England. The site is now the Harwell Sci ...
was built in 1937. It spans the parish boundaries between Harwell, Chilton and
East Hendred East Hendred is a village and civil parish about east of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse and a similar distance west of Didcot. The village is on East Hendred Brook, which flows from the Berkshire Downs to join the River Thames at Sutton C ...
. The airfield was used in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
to launch troop-carrying
military glider Military gliders (an offshoot of common gliders) have been used by the militaries of various countries for carrying troops ( glider infantry) and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft wer ...
s for the
invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
. In 1946 the airfield was taken over to be the new
Atomic Energy Research Establishment The Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE) was the main centre for atomic energy research and development in the United Kingdom from 1946 to the 1990s. It was created, owned and funded by the British Government. A number of early res ...
, the main centre for
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
research in the UK, and become Harwell Laboratory. It was the site of Europe's first
nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...
in 1946, and once had five nuclear reactors, all of which have been shut down. Two have been completely dismantled, and the other three will be decommissioned by 2022. Other parts of the airfield were later used by other scientific organisations, including the
Science and Technology Facilities Council The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astro ...
's
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the Atla ...
which runs the ISIS neutron source and hosts the Diamond Light Source
synchrotron A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its closed ...
joint venture. Part of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment is now operated by Research Sites Restoration Limited which is undertaking decommissioning work on behalf of the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, formed by the Energy Act 2004. It evolved from the Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit of the Department ...
. The former airfield site as a whole is now the
Harwell Science and Innovation Campus The Harwell Science and Innovation Campus is a 700-acre science and technology campus in Oxfordshire, England. Over 6,000 people work there in over 240 public and private sector organisations, working across sectors including Space, Clean Ener ...
and is managed by the Australian-based Goodman property group.


Amenities

Harwell's remaining public house, The Hart of Harwell, is at the junction of the High Street and Burr Street. The village has two shops: a butcher and a combined newsagent and off licence. The village has clubs and societies including The Harwellian Club, a Scout troop, a tennis club, a horticultural society, Harwell Feast Committee, Harwell Rugby Club, football clubs, and others. Harwell Feast is a celebration held on the Monday of the Late May
Bank Holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or h ...
each year. The celebrations include a parade of decorated floats and people through the village. The recreation ground hosts fund-raising stalls and displays including sheepdog handling and historic cars. Either a cow or two pigs are roasted for the feast.


Buses

Several
Thames Travel Thames Travel is a bus operator serving the southern part of the English county of Oxfordshire. It is based in Didcot and is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. In May 2011 the Go-Ahead Group bought Thames Travel. Branded routes River Rapid ...
bus routes serve Harwell. Route 33 links Harwell village and campus with Abingdon, Didcot, Milton Park and Wantage from Mondays to Fridays. Route 98 links Harwell village and campus with Didcot ''via'' the Great Western Park housing estate. Route 99 links Great Western Park with the Milton Park business estate from Mondays to Fridays. It has no Saturday or Sunday service. Route X32 links Harwell village and campus with Abingdon, Didcot, Milton Park and Oxford daily, and from Mondays to Saturdays also serves Wantage. Route X33 links Harwell village and campus with Abingdon, Didcot, Milton Park and Wantage from Mondays to Saturdays. It has no Sunday service Route X34 is a limited service between Harwell campus and Oxford that runs from Mondays to Fridays only.


Notable residents

* Humphry Bowen (1929–2001), chemist and botanist * Christopher Elderfield (1607–52), Caroline Divine and author *
Klaus Fuchs Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (29 December 1911 – 28 January 1988) was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who supplied information from the American, British and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly af ...
(1911–88),
nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...
scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...
and
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
spy * Eric Stanley Greenwood (1906–79),
test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...
, first man ever to exceed in level flight *
John Harewell John Harewell was a Bishop of Bath and Wells in medieval England. Harewell came from Harwell in Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire). He was in the employ of the Black Prince, before being collated Archdeacon of Berkshire The Archdeacon of Berkshi ...
,
Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...
1366–86


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Harwell Parish Council
* {{Authority control Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse Villages in Oxfordshire