Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HAREFIELD

HAREFIELD, a village and a parish in Uxbridge district, Middlesex. The village stands near the Grand Junction canal, the river Colne, and the boundary with Bucks, 3¾ miles N of Uxbridge r. station; was known at Domesday as Harefelle; and has a post-office under Uxbridge, and a police station. The parish comprises 4,513 acres. Real property, £8,772. Pop., 1,567. Houses, 325. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged, in the time of Edward the Confessor, to the Countess Goda; at Domesday, to Richard, son of Earl Brion; in 1284, to Roger de Bacheworth; in 1315, to Simon de Swanland; in next generation and till 1585, to the Newdegates; in 1585, to Sir Edmund Anderson; in 1601, to Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord keeper of the Great Seal, and his wife, the Countess Dowager of Derby; in the next generation, to their son, Lord Chandos; and from 1675 till the present time has belonged again to the Newdegates. Harefield Place, on a site near the church, was long the manorial seat; received a state visit from Queen Elizabeth; had associations or connexious with Milton's "Arcades" and "Comus;" was burned down, in 1660, in the time of Lady Chandos; was rebuilt, soon after 1675, by Sir Richard Newdegate; and was taken down early in the present century. Harefield Place is now the seat of the Newdegates. Breakspere House took name from the family of Breakspere; was the residence of Nicholas Breakspere, who became Pope Adrian IV.; and is now the seat of William W. Drake, Esq. A monastic house, a cell to Clerkenwell priory, was founded in the parish by Alice de Clare, who probably held the manor prior to Roger de Bacheworth. The living is a donative in the diocese of London. Value, £64.* Patron, C. N. Newdegate, Esq. The church is very ancient; belonged originally to either the Knights Templars or the Knights of St. John; underwent recent restoration and enlargement, at a cost of upwards of £3,000; and contains an elegant monument to the Countess of Derby, and several ancient monuments to the Newdegates. There are national schools, alms-houses for six widows, and other charities £73. Chief Justice Anderson was a resident.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Harefield AP/CP       Uxbridge RegD/PLU       Middlesex AncC
Place names: HAREFELLE     |     HAREFIELD
Place: Harefield

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