Down Hatherley is a civil parish and village in the

Tewkesbury Borough The Borough of Tewkesbury is a local government district with borough status in Gloucestershire, England. The borough is named after its largest town, Tewkesbury where the council is based. The district also includes the town of Winchcombe an ...

, between

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

and

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. It has approximately 165 houses and a population of 450, reducing to 419 at the 2011 census. The village is situated approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northeast of Gloucester city centre. The village was recorded (combined with Up Hatherley) as ''Hegberleo'' in 1022. It was listed as ''Athelai'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. In 1273 it was known as ''Dunheytherleye'' and in 1221, ''Hupheberleg''. The name derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''hagu-thorn'' + ''lēah'' meaning " hawthorn clearing". the distinguishing

affix In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. The main two categories are Morphological derivation, derivational and inflectional affixes. Derivational affixes, such as ''un-'', ''-ation' ...

es "Up" and "Down" derived from the Old English ''upp'' meaning "higher upstream" and ''dūne'' meaning "lower downstream". Up Hatherley is a separate parish three miles upstream on the Hatherley Brook. Historic buildings include St Mary's Church (15th-century tower, otherwise rebuilt 1860) and Hatherley Court (or House) (17th century), now a hotel. Jemmy Wood, ''The Gloucester Miser'', was a former owner of Hatherley House and estate.Jemmy Wood.
Down Hatherley History, 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.

Notable residents

Button Gwinnett Button Gwinnett ( ; March 3, 1735 – May 19, 1777) was a British-born American Founding Father who, as a representative of Georgia to the Continental Congress, was one of the signers (first signature on the left) of the United States Declaration ...

(1735–1777), second of the signatories (first signature on the left) on the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

, son of the rector * Peter Bellinger Brodie (1815–1897),

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and churchman * The Page Wood Baronets of Hatherley House * Sir Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet (1768–1843), Lord Mayor of London * William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley (1801–1881),

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

, son of last-named, took his peerage title from Down Hatherley * Sir Frederick Courtenay Selous (1851–1917), explorer, officer, hunter, and conservationist

References and sources

;References ;Sources * ''Gloucestershire: the Vale and the Forest of Dean'', David Verey,

Pevsner Architectural Guides The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pu ...

: The Buildings of England, Penguin, 1970, . P.172.

External links

Village web site
Villages in Gloucestershire {{Gloucestershire-geo-stub