Hatherop is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...
, about north of
Fairford
Fairford is a market town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park.
History
I ...
in
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 ...
, England. The
River Coln
The River Coln is a river in Gloucestershire, England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of is ...
forms part of the western boundary of the parish.
Geography
Hatherop lies in the southern part of the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...
, a range of hills designated an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...
, and is approximately south-east of
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 ...
. It is situated about east of
Cirencester
Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...
and north of
Fairford
Fairford is a market town in Gloucestershire, England. The town lies in the Cotswold hills on the River Coln, east of Cirencester, west of Lechlade and north of Swindon. Nearby are RAF Fairford and the Cotswold Water Park.
History
I ...
.
[
] Close by are the parishes of
Coln St. Aldwyns
Coln St Aldwyns (sometimes Coln St Aldwyn) is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of the English county of Gloucestershire.
History
Name
The designation "St Aldwyns" () is attested from the 12th century, and differentiates ...
and
Quenington
Quenington is a nucleated village and larger rural civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, on the River Coln east of Cirencester and north of Fairford. It had a recorded population of 603 at the 2011 census.
Impo ...
. The three villages lie on the edge of the parkland of 17th-century mansion
Williamstrip. Nearby, to the west of Hatherop is the
River Coln
The River Coln is a river in Gloucestershire, England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of is ...
which flows through the Cotswolds.
History
Etymology
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 lists Hatherop as ''Etherope'',
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 ...
''hēah'' and ''throp'' meaning "high outlying farmstead".
Prehistoric era
Barrow Elm, which lies about southeast of the village, is a prehistoric
tumulus
A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...
.
Middle ages
An estate dates back to 1066 which was owned by successive
Earls of Salisbury
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used.
The titl ...
,
one of whom was
William Devereux
William Devereux was an Anglo-Norman nobleman living during the reigns of kings William the Conqueror, William I, William II of England, William II, and Henry I of England. The Devereux, along with the Baskervilles and Pichards, were prominent k ...
. At the time of the Domesday Book, Hatherop (along with Eastleach Turville), were recorded as landholdings of Devereux, whose overlord was
Roger de Lacy
Roger de Lacy (died after 1106) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman, a Marcher Lord on the Welsh border. Roger was a castle builder, especially at Ludlow Castle.
Lands and titles
From his father, Walter de Lacy, he inherited Castle Frome, Here ...
.
It had a population of 47 families.
According to ''
A History of the County of Somerset'',
'' William Longespée">William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury">William Longespéeappears to have contemplated the foundation of a house of Carthusian monks at Hatherop in Gloucestershire, and had not only located there some monks, but had formally conveyed to them a small estate in Chelwood.''
The monks soon relocated to
Hinton Priory.
Hatherop had three mills on the river Coln. At least two were used in
fulling
Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate ( lanolin) oils, ...
.
17th century onwards
The village and parish adjoin the parkland of Williamstrip, a 17th-century
country house
image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
that was the seat of
Michael Hicks Beach, the first
Earl St Aldwyn
Earl St Aldwyn, of Coln St Aldwyn in the County of Gloucester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1915 for the prominent Conservative politician Michael Hicks Beach, 1st Viscount St Aldwyn, known from 1854 to ...
.
The architect and builder
Richard Pace
Richard Pace (c. 148228 June 1536) was an English clergyman and diplomat of the Tudor period.
Life
He was born in Hampshire and educated at Winchester College under Thomas Langton. He attended the universities of Padua and Oxford. In 1509, ...
built Severalls as a rectory for the parish in 1833.
[Verey, 1970, page 272] Letchmere, a set of cottages built in 1856, was later converted into a rectory and Severalls became a private house.
The architect
Henry Clutton
Henry Clutton (19 March 1819 – 27 June 1893)Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , was an English architect and designer.
Life
Henry Clutton was born on 19 March 1819, the son of Owen and Elizabeth Goodinge Clutton. He studied with Edwa ...
also rebuilt the
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
of
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...
for
Baron de Mauley in 1854–55.
[Verey, 1970, page 270]
The Hatherop Estate was acquired by the trustees of the
Ernest Cook Trust
The Ernest Cook Trust is a large educational charity in England. It was founded in 1952 by the philanthropist Ernest Cook, the grandson of travel pioneer Thomas Cook. Each year the Trustees distribute more than £1.25m in educational grants to be ...
in 2002 from the Bazley family, who had owned the estate for more than 130 years. Following the death of Sir Thomas Bazley in 1996, his children were very keen to retain the community of the estate and avoid breaking it up. They said at the time: "One of the main factors in our decision to sell the estate to the Ernest Cook Trust is our wish to preserve the estate for future generations. We feel that selling to the Ernest Cook Trust is the best way to maintain its special character, as well as retaining the unspoilt nature of the villages of Eastleach and Hatherop, which our father valued so much."
Education

Hatherop Castle is now a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
co-educational
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
preparatory school. Hatherop Castle dates from the sixteenth or seventeenth century, and was also partly rebuilt by Henry Clutton for Baron de Mauley in 1850–56.
Hatherop has a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
primary school, which in 2006 had 68 pupils.
It was built in 1856 by
Ashley Ponsonby
The Hon. Ashley George John Ponsonby, (24 June 1831 – 12 January 1898), was a British Liberal politician.
Background
Ponsonby was a younger son of William Ponsonby, 1st Baron de Mauley, third son of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborou ...
, son of Baron de Mauley.
Governance
Hatherop is part of the
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
of
Cotswold
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...
and the
Parliamentary constituency
An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
of
North Cotswolds
North Cotswolds is a newly created constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Created as a result of the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 general election, when it was won by Conserv ...
, represented by Conservative
Member of Parliament (MP) Sir
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Sir Geoffrey Robert Clifton-Brown (born 23 March 1953)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 538 is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Memb ...
.
Prior to
Britain leaving the European Union in January 2020 it was part of the
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...
constituency of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
.
Notable residents
*
Hugh Longbourne Callendar
Hugh Longbourne Callendar (18 April 1863 – 21 January 1930) was a British physicist known for his contributions to the areas of Temperature measurement, thermometry and thermodynamics.
Callendar was the first to design and build an accurate R ...
- Nobel Prize in Physics-nominated scientist born in Hatherop in 1863
*
Henriette Alice Abel Smith - Lady-in-Waiting to
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
In popular culture
Hatherop village and Hatherop Primary School were used briefly as locations in the film ''
The Gathering (2003).''
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
{{authority control
Villages in Gloucestershire
Cotswold District