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
      • Close
    • 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
      • Close
    • 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
« Matthew Eaton
Bag(g)’s Tree »
You are here: Home / Charities / Robert Loder

Robert Loder

In 1644, Robert Loder (of Brounz’s Farm, not the author of the farm accounts) gave land near Garsington village to provide from the profits a schoolmaster in Harwell to teach twelve poor men’s children born in Harwell.

In 1818, the schoolmaster also benefited by being provided with a house with garden and orchard, part of the bequest of the Rev. M. Eaton; in recognition of this the school was enlarged to twenty-five boys of the poorer class of Harwell children; they were taught to say their catechism, and if old enough, to cast accounts. In 1845, Eleanor Smith left money in trust for the purposes of this same school. Subsequent references are to the R. Loder foundation, including the E. Smith bequest.

Loder’s school was eventually closed by order of the charity commissioners in the 1895 scheme; by then its purpose had been fulfilled and it was made redundant by the Church School, built on land near the “Clive”, now the Cleave. This school was built in the now vicarage garden, given by Sir John Chetwode, in 1839; later a “Public Elementary School” was provided.

The Church of England school in the Cleave was closed in 1895, but the building continued to be used as Parish Room and Sunday school. An old lady who died not long ago recalled her own school days there with a beautiful garden and very happy memories. At the closure of the Loder’s school, the master, Mr T. Wood, was granted a pension of £30 a year, and permitted to live on in the School House at a rent not exceeding £5 a year.

The new incomes of the Loder and E. Smith bequests were combined by the 1895 scheme, with portions of the C. Elderfield and M. Eaton charities, and allocated to the educational account of the newly formed Harwell parochial charities. The disbursements from the account took the form of prizes and grants to the children of Harwell, and grants for higher education. In 1912, the Educational Trust was reconstituted into a newly formed “Harwell Education Foundation”, under a new and separate body of trustees, and under the Board of Education. As a result all the assets of the education account were transferred to that body.

To continue the story from the minutes of the education foundation, we find that owing to increased maintenance costs, the Garsington property became a burden rather than an asset, and eventually, in 1916, with the approval of the Board of Education, it was sold. The resulting funds were invested, and with capital from the Robert Loder and Eleanor Smith charities, the Technical Institute was built in 1926. The Hall continued under the management of the trustees until 1960, by which time its educational intent had been superseded by more social pursuits. In that year, the whole was reconstituted as the Harwell Village Hall Committee.

Thus it may be said that the Robert Loder bequest ultimately became a cornerstone of the building that is today as valuable a feature in the village life as, in its day, was the school for twelve poor men’s children.

In 1984 most of the assets of these charities were invested in financial holdings, and the only lands owned was Bagg’s Tree Field and the site and building of the almshouses. The charity was maintaining the almshouses, giving two grants from the Cow charity, and Christmas coal to fifteen or twenty parishioners. The Village Hall is also maintained by a share in the funds.

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« Matthew Eaton
Bag(g)’s Tree »

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