Thankful Villages (also known as Blessed Villages; ) are settlements in England and Wales from which all their members of the armed forces survived

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The term Thankful Village was popularised by the writer

Arthur Mee Arthur Henry Mee (21 July 187527 May 1943) was an English writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for ''The Harmsworth Self-Educator'', '' The Children's Encyclopædia'', ''The Children's Newspaper'', and ''The King's England''. The ...

in the 1930s; in ''Enchanted Land'' (1936), the introductory volume to '' The King's England'' series of guides, he wrote that a Thankful Village was one which had lost no men in the war because all those who left to serve came home again. His initial list identified 32 villages. There are tens of thousands of villages and towns in the United Kingdom. In an October 2013 update, researchers identified 53 civil parishes in England and Wales from which all serving personnel returned. There are no Thankful Villages identified in Scotland or Ireland yet (all of Ireland was then part of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

). Fourteen of the English and Welsh villages are considered "doubly thankful", in that they also lost no service personnel during

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. These are marked in italics in the list below (note: while the list includes 17 of these, not all have been verified).

List of Thankful Villages

The researchers acknowledged a number of other villages which have been put forward as Thankful Villages but where they found there to be some uncertainty, generally over the place of residence of a serviceman.

England

;Buckinghamshire *

Stoke Hammond Stoke Hammond is a village and also a civil parish situated in the north of the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England, about two and a half miles south of Fenny Stratford (Milton Keynes). The village was first recorded in the Domesda ...

;Cambridgeshire * Toft ;Cornwall *'' Herodsfoot'' ;Cumberland * Ousby ;Derbyshire *''

Bradbourne Bradbourne is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. The village is just outside the Peak District National Park, and is 5 miles north of Ashbourne. Bradbourne is also one of the 51 Thankful Villag ...

'' ;Dorset *''

Langton Herring Langton Herring is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in South West England. It lies about north-west of the coastal resort town of Weymouth. It is "prudently set on a ridge above the Fleet", the Fleet being a brackish lagoon be ...

'' ;Durham *

Hunstanworth Hunstanworth is a small village in County Durham, England. It is situated approximately 10 miles to the west of Consett, south-west of the village of Blanchland. The population of the village as taken at the 2011 Census was 116. Listed in the Bol ...

;Essex * Strethall ;Gloucestershire *

Coln Rogers Coln Rogers is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Coln St. Dennis, in the Cotswold district of the county of Gloucestershire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 95. Location Coln Rogers lies on the River Coln, ...

Little Sodbury Little Sodbury is an English village in South Gloucestershire, located between Chipping Sodbury, to the West, Old Sodbury to the South, Badminton, and the A46 road to the East and Horton and Hawkesbury Upton, to the north. The "manor of Sodbur ...

*''

Upper Slaughter Upper Slaughter is a village in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, south west of Stow-on-the-Wold. The village is located one mile away from the village Lower Slaughter, as well as being near the villages Bourton-on-the-Water, ...

'' ;Herefordshire * Knill *''

Middleton-on-the-Hill Middleton on the Hill is a village in north east Herefordshire, England, near the border with Worcestershire. Middleton-on-the-Hill lies a few miles to the east of the A49 between Ludlow and Leominster. Middleton on the Hill is one of the 53 Than ...

'' ;Hertfordshire * Puttenham ;Kent * Knowlton ;Lancashire *'' Arkholme'' *'' Nether Kellet'' ;Leicestershire * Saxby * East Norton *

Stretton en le Field Stretton en le Field is a small village and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England, about 7 miles/11 km south-west of Ashby de la Zouch, historically an exclave of Derbyshire. According to the 2001 ...

;Lincolnshire * Bigby *''

Flixborough Flixborough is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,664. It is situated near the River Trent, approximately north-west from Scunthorpe. The village is noted for ...

'' *'' High Toynton'' *

Minting Minting is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated south from the A158 road. The population (including Gautby) at the 2011 census was 286. Minting Priory was located here. Mi ...

*'' Allington'' ;Northamptonshire *

East Carlton East Carlton is a village and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire, on the southern ridge overlooking the Welland valley to the north and covers on a long strip of land.

* Woodend ;Northumberland * Meldon ;Nottinghamshire *

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

* Maplebeck * Wigsley * Wysall ;Rutland * Teigh ;Shropshire *

Harley Harley may refer to: People * Harley (given name) * Harley (surname) Places * Harley, Ontario, a township in Canada * Harley, Brant County, Ontario, Canada * Harley, Shropshire, England * Harley, South Yorkshire, England * Harley Street, in L ...

;Somerset * Aisholt *

Chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area i ...

* Chelwood * Holywell Lake * Rodney Stoke * Shapwick *'' Stocklinch'' * Tellisford *'' Woolley'' ;Staffordshire *'' Butterton'' ;Suffolk * Culpho *

Wordwell Wordwell is a small village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, about five miles North of Bury St Edmunds. The village was hit by the Black Death in 1348 and never recovered in terms of population; in 2005 it was estimated to have only 20 resi ...

*'' South Elmham St Michael'' ;Sussex *

East Wittering East Wittering is a coastal village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. The majority of the village lies within the civil parish of East Wittering, while the western edge lies within the boundary of West Wittering civil parish. ...

;Yorkshire *'' Catwick'' * Cundall * Helperthorpe * Norton-le-Clay *

Scruton Scruton is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It is west of Northallerton. According to the 2001 census the village had a population of 442, decreasing to 424 at the 2011 census. History The nam ...

Wales

;Ceredigion *''

Llanfihangel y Creuddyn Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn () is an ancient parish in the upper division of the hundred of Ilar, Ceredigion, West Wales, 7 miles south east from Aberystwyth, on the road to Rhayader, comprising the chapelry of Eglwys Newydd, or Llanfihangel y Cre ...

'' ;Glamorgan * Colwinston/''Tregolwyn'' ;Pembrokeshire *''

Herbrandston Herbrandston is a village, parish and community on the north side of the River Cleddau, in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is located to the west of Milford Haven and Hakin and east of St Ishmael's. Before 1960 and the building of the ESSO oil refine ...

'' Tavernspite, in Pembrokeshire, has been mooted as a fourth doubly thankful village in Wales.

France

In France, where the human cost of war was higher than in Britain,

Thierville Thierville () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. It is around 30 km south-west of Rouen city centre, and around 130 km north west of Paris. Thierville is remarkable as the only village in all of Franc ...

in Upper Normandy was the only village in all of France with no men lost from World War I. Thierville also suffered no losses in the Franco-Prussian War and World War II, France's other bloody wars of the modern era.

In popular culture

On 3 June 2016 singer-songwriter Darren Hayman released the first of three albums inspired by and written in-situ at the Thankful Villages. 54 villages were covered, including Welbury, North Yorkshire, not in the 53 listed above.

References

{{reflist United Kingdom in World War I