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Harefield
Harefield Church.JPG
St Mary the Virgin Church, Harefield
Harefield is located in Greater London
Harefield
Harefield
Population 7,399 (2011)
OS grid reference TQ055905
• Charing Cross 17 mi (27 km) SE
London borough
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town UXBRIDGE
Postcode district UB9
Post town Uxbridge
Postcode district UB9
Dialling code 01895
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
EU Parliament London
UK Parliament
  • Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
London Assembly
  • Ealing and Hillingdon
List of places
UK
England
London
51°36′12″N 0°28′41″W / 51.6034°N 0.4780°W / 51.6034; -0.4780

Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Harefield is the westernmost settlement in Greater London.

Harefield is near Denham, Ickenham, Northwood, Rickmansworth, Ruislip and Uxbridge. Pioneering heart surgery techniques were developed at Harefield Hospital.

History

Two sites near Dewes Farm have produced late Mesolithic artefacts. Harefield enters recorded history through the Domesday Book (1086) as Herefelle, comprising the Anglo-Saxon words Here "[danish] army" (c.f. the English fyrd) and felle (later feld), "field". Before the Norman conquest of England Harefield belonged to Countess Goda, the sister of Edward the Confessor. Her husbands were French, Dreux of the Vexin and Count Eustace of Boulogne.

Following the Norman conquest, ownership of Harefield passed to Richard FitzGilbert, the son of Count Gilbert of Brionne. It was listed in the Domesday Book as comprising enough arable land for five ploughs, with meadow land only sufficient for one plough. Woodland areas in Middlesex were registered in the number of pigs which could be supported there; Harefield had 1,200, the second highest in the Hundred of Elthorne to Ruislip, with 1,500. Ten villeins (tenants) are also counted; they held their land freely from the lord in exchange for rent payments and labour. By the 12th or 13th century their land is believed to have passed back to the lord and become unfree. There were also seven bordars (poorer tenants) with five acres each, while one had three. In addition, three cottars, who owned a cottage and garden, also feature.

Harefield was eventually split into the main manor of Harefield, and the two smaller submanors of Brackenbury and Moorhall. It had been owned by the Clares, descended from Richard FitzGerald, before passing to the Batchworths by 1235. In turn, the Swanlord family took possession in 1315. By 1446, the Newdigate family owned Harefield - they still owned some land in the 1920s. John Newdigate exchanged most of his land in 1585 with the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Sir Edmund Anderson.

During World War I, Harefield Park was used as an Australian military hospital. The bodies of the servicemen who died there were buried with full military honours within the graveyard of St. Mary's Church; this area, which also included the ground where the Harefield Place building stood, became a military cemetery.

Other notable people

  • Rhodes Boyson (1925–2012), Conservative Member of Parliament
  • Brian Connolly (1945–1997), singer of glam rock band Sweet grew up in Harefield and Hayes from the age of 12
  • Thomas Egerton, Lord Ellesmere (1540–1617) and wife Alice Spencer (1559–1637), lived in Harefield from 1601; Queen Elizabeth I visited the couple in July 1602
  • Alexander Fleming (1881–1955), biologist and Nobel Prize winner for the discovery of penicillin, was Regional Pathologist at Harefield Hospital, 1939; this is recorded on a blue plaque at the main entrance door to the hospital
  • Russell Grant (born 1951), TV astrologer, grew up in Harefield and was head chorister at St Mary's parish church
  • Politician Charles Newdigate (1816–1887), lived in Harefield, and was buried in Harefield Church, which he had personally spent much money restoring
  • Judge Sir Richard Newdigate (1602–1678), lived in Harefield, and was buried in Harefield parish church, where a monument was raised to his memory
  • Henry Avray Tipping (1855–1933), designed and built Little Hammonds in Breakspear Road North. Tipping was architectural editor of Country Life magazine and was responsible for the layout of the garden at Chequers
  • Thomas Wakley (1795–1862), medical and social reformer, and founder of The Lancet, lived at Harefield Park, 1845–1856; he has a memorial stone in the grounds of Harefield Hospital

Victoria Cross recipients

The Victoria Cross or VC is the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. It is remarkable that a village the size of Harefield is associated with three VC recipients. Two booklets in the Reference section of Harefield library give details of the three recipients of the award.

A gold plaque in the Royal British Legion Hall honours the exceptional bravery of both Goodlake VC and Ryder VC. In 2011, Hillingdon Council erected a blue plaque in honour of the courage of Kinross VC at the place of his birth on the anniversary of his birthday, 17 February.

Transport

Although there is no eponymous tube or railway station in Harefield, buses in the area link to Northwood and Uxbridge tube stations and Denham and Rickmansworth railway stations.

Buses

Harefield is served by route 331 operating between Uxbridge and Ruislip, and route U9 between Uxbridge and Harefield Hospital.

Nearest Underground stations

  • Moor Park
  • Northwood
  • Rickmansworth
  • Uxbridge
  • Ickenham

Nearest railway stations

  • Denham
  • Rickmansworth

Sport

Harefield is home to Harefield United Football Club, which was founded in 1868 and is the oldest in Middlesex.

Harefield is home to Harefield Cricket Club, whose first and second teams play their matches at the Woods Cricket Ground on Breakspear Road North. In 2008, however, the Dairy Farm Ground (behind the current first team pitch) was opened in order to accommodate the third and fourth XIs. This was done in conjunction with the Harefield Parochial Charity. In 2009, the first XI achieved promotion to the Home Counties Cricket League, and are therefore one division away from the highest level of club cricket in England and Wales. In 2010, HCC had the most successful season in its history, with the second, third & fourth XI's all winning their respective leagues. The Sunday Academy side won their division of the Chess Valley League. The 2014 season saw the first XI play their first season in the Premier Division and after a protracted relegation battle, they survived on the last game of season. A second season in the top flight secured their status as the highest ranked club in the area.

Harefield is also home to an Elite Gymnastics Academy. The Harefield Academy, Northwood Road, opened in September 2005 on the John Penrose School site.

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