Harwell: Village for a thousand years

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  • Harwell Book – Full text of ‘Village for a thousand years’
    • Introduction
      • Contents
    • Beginnings – The Beginnings of Harwell
      • The Beginnings of Harwell
      • The Charters
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    • Middle Ages – The Late Middle Ages
      • Harwell Church
      • The Medieval Manors
      • Cruck Buildings
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    • Tudors – Tudors to Charles II
      • The Tudor period
      • Berkshire Farmers and their Homes
      • The Harwell Mug
      • Harwell: The Family Name
      • Trade Tokens
      • In the Civil War
      • Close
    • Charities – Harwell Charities
      • John Loder
      • Christopher Elderfield
      • Poor’s Orchard
      • William Wells
      • J. King
      • Frances Geering
      • Matthew Eaton
      • Robert Loder
      • Bag(g)’s Tree
      • An Old Harwell Recipe
      • Close
    • 19th C – Harwell in the Nineteenth Century
      • Enclosures
      • The Great Fire of Harwell
      • Fire at Didcot Station
      • Harwell and the Early Posts
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    • People – Some Nineteenth Century Families, Houses and Personalities
      • The Manor of Bishop’s Harwell, or Lower Manor, after the Middle Ages.
      • Bob Lay, Bob Lay, Bob Lay
      • The Bosley Family
      • John Lay of Prince’s Manor 1815 – 1888
      • From a book sold for the Blewbury Village Organ Fund in 1874.
      • Thomas James Pryor
      • The Day Family
      • The Hitchman Family
      • Other Old Harwell Families
      • Pillar House, Harwell
      • A Country Doctor (Dr Richard Rice)
      • Kelly’s Directory reports on the Harwell of 1891
      • The School
      • A Pictorial Miscellany
      • Close
    • 20th C – The Early Twentieth Century
      • Stanley Day
        • The Turn of the Century
        • A Visit to Harwell
      • Tape Recordings
        • A Houseboy at Harwell
        • Eliza Hutchings
        • Harwell Bakeries
        • The Eggs
        • Old Neighbours
        • Fire at King’s Farm (c.1908)
        • Will It Light?
        • Miss Irene Clarke’s memories.
      • Poem by H.S. Baker
      • Close
    • WWII – The Second World War
      • Guinea Pig Club
      • Eric Greenwood
      • Harwell in Wartime
      • School Life in Wartime
      • The Harwell Players
      • Close
    • 1945 -1985 – The Post War Years
      • The Atomic Energy Research Establishment.
      • Harwell Parish Council
      • Water and Sewage
      • Nursing Service
      • School Life after the War
      • The Winterbrook Youth Club
      • The Public Houses
      • The Whit Monday Feast
      • Wild Flowers of Harwell
      • The Bee Orchid
      • Village Footpaths
      • St Matthew’s Church Today
      • Harwell Women’s Institute
      • Harwell Bowls Club
      • Harwell Football Club
      • Close
    • Cherries – Harwell Cherries
      • Robert Loder
      • Cherries (1965)
      • Gordon Bosley
      • John Masefield: The Cherries
      • Close
    • Appendices
      • Appendix I the Harwell Charters
        • Introduction to The Harwell Charters
        • Charter No 1
        • Charter No 2
        • Charter No 3
        • Appendix I Charter References
      • Appendix II Buildings
      • Appendix III Glossary
      • Appendix IV Contributors
      • Appendix V References
      • Close
    • Close
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You are here: Home / Appendices / Appendix III Glossary

Appendix III Glossary

Bombasine, twill dress-material of worsted with or without silk or cotton, especially black, formerly used for mourning.

Cherry Teas, run by the “Chapel folk”, held in Ranger Cottage barn, cost 1s. Courtcoubert, sixteenth-seventeenth century sideboard, usually with cupboard only on top part.

Demesne, possession of real property as one’s own; held in demesne – occupied by owner, not tenants.

Fatty cake, lardy cake, bread dough with sugar, currants and lard.

Harwell (place-name), accepted locally as meaning Hare Well, the coat of arms of Bishop John de Harewell, with the heads of three golden hares, endorsing the first element, the spring at Wellshead giving the second. However, the Dictionary of English Place-names, by Eilert Eckwall (4th ed. 1960), derives the word from the hill name, Horn Down, which means “grey hill”, the original name of which was Hara or Hare, “the grey one”. Harwell by this derivation is a “stream by or coming from Horn Hill”. (OE har – “hoary, grey”).

Jack of Dover, wild flower also known as Star of Bethlehem, Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon. Leet, court of, yearly or half-yearly court of record that lords of certain manors might hold.

Lucullus, Captain, A Roman who became a general and consul, said to have introduced the cherry into Italy from Cerasus in Pontus, Asia Minor.

Manumitted, set free.

Messuage, dwelling-house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use. Rector, incumbent of parish where all the tithes formerly passed to the incumbent. (In Ch. of England. cf. Vicar)

Rood light, light to burn in front of a crucifix.

Reredos, an ornamental screen covering wall at back of altar.

Tallet, Loft. (West Country).

Twitchen, twitchens, twitchins, probably from twitch grass (couch) growing at the edge of cultivation, where a footpath would develop.

Vicar, incumbent of parish where tithes formerly belonged to chapter or religious house or layman. (In Ch. of England. cf. Rector)

Want, Mole.

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Harwell is a village in south Oxfordshire, England, although until 1974 it was a Berkshire village. Harwell was first mentioned in 985, before the Doomsday Book.
This website presents the full text of the book (ISBN 0 9510668 0 3 ) published in 1985 to celebrate the village millennium.
"Harwell ~ Village for a thousand years"

Additional information about Harwell Village (History Notes, photos and more) can be found at harwellvillage.uk

Website © 2005–2023 maintained and managed by David Marsh on behalf of Harwell Parish Council
Copyright © 1985–2023 in the text of the book is vested in Harwell Parish Council