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
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    • 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
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    • 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
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    • Cherries – Harwell Cherries
      • Robert Loder
      • Cherries (1965)
      • Gordon Bosley
      • John Masefield: The Cherries
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    • 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
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Middle Ages »
You are here: Home / Beginnings / The Charters

The Charters

01-04

Figure 1.4. The charter of A.D.985. Translation: Starting from Harandun Way, it goes to the people of Middleham, to Sutton lake; from Sutton lake to the people of Leofsige, to the twisted ditch; from the twisted ditch to the bramble-thorn; from the bramble-thorn to Hengest Gate to the old down, to the people of Brihtwold; from the people of Brihtwold then to Harandun.

Throughout history land has been an important, if not a major source of wealth. Ownership of this wealth, and particularly any changes in this ownership, had to be recorded at first by verbal agreement but later by inscribing the fact on stone, clay, wood, papyrus or paper. The first historical references to Harwell are records of this kind, being three Anglo-Saxon charters of the tenth century in which the king makes over the small agricultural settlement of Haranwylle, Harawylle or Harewyllan to one of his thegns or retainers. In return, the thegn had certain obligations. He had to maintain the fortifications, keep bridges in good repair, and fulfil military service. In A.D. 973 such a charter, signed by King Eadgar, gave Harwell to his thegn Ælfric for his perpetual inheritance. Twelve years later, in A.D. 985 and perhaps on the death of Ælfric, Harwell was made over to another thegn, Æthelric. King Eadgar was dead and the charter was signed by his son Æthelred the Unready (i.e. the ‘redeless’ or uncounselled). Both these charters were solemnly witnessed and agreed to by Dunstan as Archbishop of Canterbury, followed by other religious and secular leaders.

This parcelling out of land to loyal retainers was already a time-honoured way of consolidating power over a territory. The Romans had withdrawn their legions from Britain by the middle of the fifth century and bands of what were later to be called Anglo-Saxons had invaded, settled, become Christianized and founded various kingdoms which from time to time contended with each other. Harwell was in Wessex, the kingdom of the West Saxons, which had been inherited by Alfred the Great (who was born only a few miles from Harwell, at Wantage in A.D. 849) and although by the time of King Eadgar the Anglo-Saxon part of England was united, there was still the threat of further Danish inroads from the east. Throughout this whole period, therefore, the granting of lands to loyal thegns was more than just an act of gratitude for some service.

With the arrival of William the Conqueror and his troops in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon rule was broken, but the old units of land and the agricultural wealth that they represented were still of importance and needed to be recorded. Domesday Book did just that. Even sixty years after the Conquest, the former Anglo-Saxon bounds of Harwell were of sufficient interest for scribes to be employed to copy out the charters that had been written nearly two centuries before. The original charters were then either thrown away or became lost. The copies, however, have survived and three for Harwell are bound up with others in a large cartulary or collection of such charters now in the Department of Manuscripts of the British Library (the so-called Codex Wintoniensis). They seem to have been compiled at the time of Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester (and brother of King Stephen) around 1130 – 50.

These copies of the Harwell charters are described in more detail in Appendix I, where the Anglo-Saxon bounds of Harwell are reproduced (with translations). The charters for A.D. 973 and A.D. 985 seem to be authentic, but an earlier one dated A.D. 956 is almost certainly a forgery. What is significant is that the boundaries of Harwell in the A.D. 973 charter seem to be little different from those of the modern parish.

However, to have altered the boundaries of a land unit would have meant altering those of its neighbours (for example Milton, Sutton Courtenay or Didcot), so that it was presumably simpler in most cases to retain the existing boundaries. The result is that even now, a thousand years after the time of Æthelred the Unready, one can still stand on the high ground above the village and visualize the Haranwylle, Harawylle or Harewyllan made over to his thegn Æthelric. One can actually see a millennium of recorded history.

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« The Beginnings of Harwell
Middle Ages »

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