This brief outline of the history of Down Hatherley isn't intended to be comprehensive or complete but to highlight some of the major, events, buildings and people who have been associated in some way with the village over the centuries. We would welcome contributions from readers on any other aspects of Down Hatherley's history which have been missed, in particular events, developments and characters in the 20th Century.

Dark Ages, Roman Times, Domesday Book, Civil War: :

Evidence of human habitation in Down Hatherley goes back almost 2000 years - to Roman times. Six-acre field, immediately to the east of the A38 and north of Down Hatherley Lane contains a Romano-British site. It has never been formally excavated but field walking in the 1990s by members of the Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group (GADARG) revealed part of a floor, Romano-British pottery, wall plaster, Roman coins and a Roman brooch. It is estimated that the site was occupied between 2nd and late 4th century. A Saxon burial site was discovered in the same field. Reports of the Roman habitation appear in the GADARG magazine, Glevensis. Medieval/Middle Ages Down Hatherley is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Athelai, the word 'athelai', meaning 'hawthorn clearing', so the hawthorn trees and hedges around the village have been around for a long time! In the Domesday survey of 1086 it was recorded that Edmar, a Thane, had held 'Athelai' during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066). It would appear that, after the death of Edward, the land of Athelai was appropriated by King Harold. On Harold's defeat and death at Hastings in 1066, the land was the land was recorded under the title 'Terra Regis', together with other lands that William the Conqueror seized for his own property. Down Hatherley was subsequently attached to the barony of Giffard of Brimpsfield and in 1311 it was held by Sir John de Wyllenton and passed by marriage to Sir John Willoughby in 1389. Sir Fulke Greville (1554-1628), succeeded to the estate through marriage into the Willoughby family. Greville himself served at the court of Elizabeth I and James I, held several high government offices and was knighted by Elizabeth in 1597. Greville also owned Warwick castle (1604-1628), so Hatherley Manor may have seemed like something of a country cottage! The manorial estate subsequently passed through several hands before being purchased by George Brett. The Bretts were in favour with Oliver Cromwell because of their support for the Parliamentary cause.

Down Hatherley Church: St Mary and Corpus Christi:

The church dates from the 15th century, the Late Perpendicular tower and the base of the east wall of the chancel being the only remaining parts of the original 15th century church.

The lead font, of late Tudor date,(see photo) is a fine example of the type.

The rebuilding of the main body of the present church in Early Perpendicular style took place during 1859-1860.

Hatherley House:

Hatherley House, now the Hatherley Manor hotel, was built in the 17th Century, reportedly for an illegitimate son of Oliver Cromwell. However, this piece of 17th century scandal remains uncorroborated by hard evidence. The manor subsequently passed through a number of owners, including Sir Matthew Wood and his son, William Page Wood, described below. By the middle of the 19th century, the Manor was in the possession of Anthony Gilbert Jones, three times mayor of Gloucester and father of nine children. Charles Allen Jones, the seventh and youngest son, patented the 'Hatherley Patent Lattistep', forerunner of the modern stepladder (cost - 7s 3d in 1914!). Examples of the Lattistep can still be found today and are auctioned as antiques. Jones & Co were also responsible for mass production of the folding deck chair. During the occupancy of the Jones and, later, the De Winton families, the Manor was subjected to extensive refurbishment, The 17th century house, despite having been submerged by additions in the late 18th and 19th centuries, and by enlargement in 1983/6, when it first became a hotel, still retains an imposing grandeur. Architecturally, the porch has re-used mullioned and transomed windows, the remainder being entirely re-faced in brick in the 19th century, which belies its splendid 17th century and Regency interior fittings. At the rear of the main building is a tall projecting staircase wing containing a 17th century staircase, with moulded balusters and ball finials, and decorative plaster ceilings. Other features include a bow-fronted Regency styled drawing room, a baroque chimneypiece and 17th century oak panelling in several rooms. Remains of the original moat, listed in the Gloucestershire Sites and Monuments record, can still be seen to the rear of the hotel.

Button Gwinnett:

Button Gwinnett was born in 1735, the son of the Rector of Down Hatherley Church. On coming of age, he became a merchant in Bristol, married at the age of 22 and emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, eventually settling in Savannah, Georgia, in 1765,where he set himself up as a planter. Gwinnett became active in local politics, was appointed as a representative in congress and, in 1776, voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on behalf of Georgia. Gwinnett returned to Georgia after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and became involved in bitter disputes over how to resist the British. He became the enemy of Col Lachlan McIntosh, the military commander of the Georgia patriots, who preferred a cautious approach to resistance over Gwinnett's aggressive stance and, in May 1777, their political differences led them to fight a duel. Both were wounded. McIntosh recovered from his wound but Gwinnett died three days later, on May 19 1777, at the age of 42. A monument in the Colonial Park cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, marks the grave of one of the most colourful characters in Down Hatherley's history. 40 years after his death the state of Georgia honoured Gwinnett's memory by naming Gwinnett County, Georgia, after him.

Field Names:

In 1807 a map containing the names of fields around Down Hatherley was published. Many of the field boundaries remain the same today, as can be seen from the aerial photograph on the back cover of the new Down Hatherley Parish Plan. Some of the names go back much further than the 19th century. The Park is reported in the Gloucestershire Sites and Monuments record to appear as 'Parchulle' in a document of c. 1295. Some field names, such as Frog Furlong and Broad Close, will be familiar to today's inhabitants of the village. Victorian Times The 1851 census lists a total of 240 people living in the village, 109 male and 131 female. Most people were employed in farming, the majority of the male occupations being 'agricultural labourer'. It would be interesting to know whether any of today's inhabitants of Down Hatherley can trace their ancestry back to this census. Down Hatherley is described in the National Gazetteer of 1868 as"A parish in the upper division of the hundred of Dudstone and King's Barton, county Gloucester. The parish is watered by a rivulet which rises in Badgeworth and falls into the Severn at Sandhurst. The soil is a mixture of clay and sand and the land nearly evenly divided between pasture and arable, the chief crops being wheat and beans. The tithes were commuted for land and corn rents under an Enclosure Act in 1807. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, value £245. The church, dedicated to St Mary and Corpus Christi, is an ancient structure with a strong parapeted tower at the W. end. It contains several monuments. There is a National school for boys and girls, supported by Sir W. P. Wood, Bart ,(see following paragraph) who is Lord of the Manor and chief landowner. The charities produce about £11 per annum".

Sir Matthew Wood and William Page Wood:

Sir Matthew Wood was made a Baronet by the new Queen Victoria in 1837 and took his title from Hatherley House, now the Hatherley Manor Hotel. Born in Devon, Wood had twice been lord Mayor of London, one of four Members of Parliament for the City of London and, in the 1820s, a champion of Queen Caroline when George IV was trying to disown her. These activities attracted the attention of Elizabeth Wood (no relation), sister of the millionaire banker, Jemmy Wood, who owned Hatherley House until his death in 1836. Matthew became a regular visitor to Gloucestershire and a close friend of Jemmy Wood. On his death, Jemmy named Matthew Wood as one of the executors of his will. After a long dispute over the will, said to be worth around £1 million, Matthew Wood obtained formal ownership of Hatherley House shortly before his death in 1843, although he and his family had been living at the house since about 1834. Among Sir Matthew Wood's legacies to Down Hatherley are the foundation of the village school, now closed as a school but whose building, still bearing the plaque 'Sir Matthew Wood school', lies to the west of the church. Sir Matthew was also responsible for filling in part of the moat around the house, building a new road, part of present-day Down Hatherley Lane, linking Down Hatherley with the turnpike road between Gloucester and Cheltenham, and for building the lodge at Hatherley House. There is an inscription to Sir Matthew Wood in Down Hatherley church. William Page Wood, son of Sir Matthew, was born in London in 1801. He was educated at Winchester, Trinity College, Cambridge and Geneva University. He entered Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in 1824. In 1845 he became a QC and in 1847 was elected to Parliament for the city of Oxford as a Liberal. In 1868 he was selected by Prime Minister Gladstone to be Lord Chancellor and raised to the peerage as Lord Hatherley of Down Hatherley. He retired as Lord Chancellor in 1872 but still sat occasionally as a law lord. His wife's death in 1878 was a great blow, from which he never recovered, and he died in London in 1881. He left no issue and the title of Lord Hatherley became extinct on his death.

20th Century Down Hatherley:

In 2005 Down Hatherley is a village of some 165 houses and a population of 450, a 50% increase from the 1851 census (see above). In addition to the dwellings, the 2005 Village Plan lists St Mary & Corpus Christi church,(Down) Hatherley Manor hotel, Down Hatherley cricket club, Norton Garden Centre , three plant nurseries, stables and four farms. There is no village shop but one did exist in Down Hatherley until the early 1970s, when it was converted to a residence. Down Hatherley residents participated in both World Wars and there are memorials in the church to those who died in both the first and Second World Wars. Among the most famous is

Frederick Courtenay Selous (1851-1917), famous as a big game hunter in Africa and friend of Cecil Rhodes and US President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1893 Selous married Gladys Maddy, daughter of the Canon of Down Hatherley church, Henry Maddy, who was canon from 1856 to 1907. Selous was killed in a WW1 skirmish in what is now Tanzania. The Selous game reserve in Tanzania was named after him, as were the famous Selous Scouts counter-insurgency force (1973-1980) in the former Rhodesia. Other reminders of WWII are the four pillboxes erected in 1940 at the eastern end of the village. It is assumed that these were associated with the defence of the Rotol Airscrews factory at Staverton, which produced large numbers of propellers for many types of British military aircraft, including those used in the Battle of Britain. There are also some graves of WWII airmen in the churchyard. Among these is the grave (and stained-glass memorial window in the parish church) of fighter pilot Squadron-Leader R.E.S. Smith D.F.C. (Distinguished Flying Cross) and Bar,killed in action during WWII.,who lived at the large house still named "Longcroft" on the A38 in Down Hatherley, near the parish border with Norton. Relatives recalled recently that the squadron-leader used to wave to his family at "Longcroft" from his fighter aircraft shortly after take-off from the nearby RAF airfield at Staverton/ Innsworth.

These few paragraphs are just a summary of the history of Down Hatherley village from Roman times until the present day. It seems amazing that so many famous names in British history have lived in and been associated with one small village.