Figure 6.8 Harwell church chandelier.
Other Old Harwell Families
The Elderfield family is one of the oldest in the village with descendants living today; Elderfields are recorded in the church registers in the sixteenth century, and may be even older. They were known to have had great wealth. Christopher Elderfield left the Elderfield Charity. He was born in Harwell, and became vicar of Burton in Sussex. He left money for the poor of his native village in his will of 1652. In 1766 another Christopher Elderfield presented the church with the existing chandelier, and in 1837 another Elderfield charity became known.
Other old Harwell names with descendants still living are the Keats, wealthy yeoman farmers, who lived at Middle Farm and Abbey Timbers, and in later years kept the village grocery and baker's shop; this family has recently moved to Didcot.
The Woodleys were farmers, with descendants still living in the village.
Others with descendants still living are: Maisie, King, Wise, Talbot, Tyrrell, Harris (stonemasons), Green, Slade, Dunsden, Dearlove, Jefferies (carriers), Hitchman (carpenters, undertakers), Blissett, Hoare, Day, Bosher, Pryor, Cox, Allen, Thorne and Lay.
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