A Harwell Miscellany
In 1985 the villagers of Harwell, in Oxfordshire, England, celebrated their first millennium. They compiled a book, Village for a thousand years, as a souvenir of Harwell’s recorded life of one thousand years. The book is now out of print, but the Harwell Parish Council has decided to publish it here on their web site, so that the history and recollections of the village can be available to a new generation. Find your way around by using the menu above, which follows the chapters in the book. At the bottom of each page are links so that you page forwards or backwards through the text. Click on the image thumbnails to see larger versions in the Archives. We’ve provided the opportunity to comment on each page, to provide additional information, or to point out any corrections in the original text.
Contributors to the original book are acknowledged in Appendix IV.
For this website, first made in 2008 and updated in 2014, thanks to
- Martin Ricketts for digitising the text from the book, and for scanning all the photographs, and for new content and photos.
- David Marsh for creating and hosting the website, and for the domain name village4a1000years.uk.
- The Harwell Parish Council for supporting the project.
Comments
-
- Norman Staples –
5 Jun 2008 A fantastic effort to make this book accessible to all. Well done David and Martin. But of course well done to the original creators of the book. We count ourselves lucky to have come to a village having not just so much history, but the great foresight of a group of people to get it recorded in a fine book. And now it’s been put on the web.I see the original group members have all been acknowledged (Appendix iv, Contributors), although an email from Bill Woollen suggests that Ruth Woollen was not credited for the driving force she must have been as Chair of the group getting everything together. (I think that is what he meant, although he actually says that Ruth was credited, I suspect he missed the word “not” ). So I say “a special thank you to Ruth” Thanks Norman Staples
- Norman Staples –
- Thank you!
Suzanne E. Harrel Chapman –
2 Sep 2013 Thank you so much for allowing all of the Harwell descendants to have access to this wonderful book about the village where our ancestors originated! I am the 9th great granddaughter of Thomas Foulk Harewell who sailed with his brother in 1636 to the Virginia colony. Eventually, my family migrated to North Carolina then onto Kentucky before settling in Indiana. My Harrel ancestors have served honorably and bravely in every military conflict since – Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Banana Wars in S.America, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars.God Bless You All, Suzanne E. Harrel Chapman
David Marsh says
Partly testing the comment system, and partly leaving a comment to announce the new site for Harwell History – Village for a thousand years. Here is the full text of the book, lots of photos and additional history articles.
flatbedfordband2016 says
I am a Harrell interested in genealogy and family history. The Harwell Village History is fascinating. Thank you. Brew Harrell, Austin, TX. Brew – Kenneth – Benjamin Hubert- Benjamin Little= Thomas Washington= Theophilus- Jesse – Samuel – ?????????
J Fox-Davies says
Thank you to all involved in the research, writing, publication and digital production for preserving the history of Harwell, our friendly and lively village. Especially now we will have thousands of new houses built within the Parish Boundaries with many new residents being unaware of Harwell’s rich history.
From a personal viewpoint I particularly enjoy the information re Pillar House as our house was built in its garden. There are strong links to art for the house, as readers will find, and as I am an artist who now paints in the garden where another more illustrious artist may have worked many years ago, I like to think that other artists will also sit in that garden to work in the future and that there will be a continuity of this art link into the future for another thousand years.
Susan Turner says
My grandmother grew up in Harwell in her father Robert Turner’s home on Kings Lane.
Carol Harwell Morrison’ says
I knew my ancestors were originally from England but I had no idea there was a Harwell Village. Is there any chance this book is still available?
Martin Ricketts says
Only just seen this; I see Abebooks has 2 extortionately priced copies (one seller indicates they donate some profits to a Sri Lankan charity) but I’m wondering if you have heard of the little educational book ‘Elizabethan Village’ by Anthony Fletcher which is based on Harwell village? Abe books has copies of the original version, published in 1967 with a green and black cover illustration, and of a later edition, made some would say ‘more accessible’ to school-children – I’d say get the 1967 edition if you can,
Jonathan Harwell says
When I was about 8, in 1985, my family was driving through the English countryside on a visit from the United States. We saw an unexpected sign pointing to Harwell (our surname). We followed that sign to discover the village and learn that it was celebrating its 1000th anniversary. We bought and kept a copy of the Village for a Thousand Years book. I later returned several times to the village while studying at Oxford. Thanks for your work in putting together this website.
Baylee Miller says
I would love to have a hard copy of the book to give to relatives but I can seem to find it.
Thanks in advance for your help!
SFC Rick Mazey says
Thank you for this page.
My Great grand father, William Mazey was born in Harwell Berkshire in 1860, One of four children of William Sr. G Grand fathers wife was Ellen Armour. Son of Ambrose Mazey and Martha Thorn(E).
I believe there are still a few Mazey’s in the area.
Again thanks, this is one step closer looking into family history
Webmaster says
Apology: March 2025
The old domain (village4a1000years.com) failed to be renewed and cannot be recovered. The site was unavailable for a few weeks.
We are now back with a new domain village4a1000years.uk
If you have found us – well done. If you know of people interested in the history of Harwell, please let them know that the website address now ends in .uk. Thank you.
Ian Woodley says
Before my dad died in 2013 I researched the family tree for him via Ancestry.co.uk and got back to 1546
We are the Woodley family and seem to have spent from that period till mid Victorian times in Harwell or surrounding villages. It would be great to hook up with anyone who is related or knows anything about the family