Down Hatherley, Gloucestershire
Historical Description
Hatherley Down or Down Hatherley, a village and a parish in Gloucestershire, on a small affluent of the Severn, 2 miles N of Churchdown station on the G.W.R., and 4 NE by N of Gloucester. Post town, Gloucester. Acreage, 855; population, 172. Hatherley Court, the seat of the lord of the manor, is a fine old moated mansion. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; gross value, £200 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church was rebuilt in 1859, and is in the Perpendicular style. Sir Matthew Wood's school for forty children, with teacher's residence, was built and endowed-by his son, the late Lord Hatherley.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Gloucestershire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Down Hatherley St. Mary and Corpus Christi | |
| Hundred | Dudstone and Kings Barton | |
| Poor Law union | Gloucester |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1563.
The Gloucestershire Parish Registers are available online at Ancestry, in association with Gloucestershire Archives.
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary and Copus Christi (parish church)
The church of St. Mary and Corpus Christi, restored in 1859, is an edifice of stone in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, north aisle, north porch, and an embattled western tower containing one bell: there is a mural tablet to William Gibbs esq. d. 1785, and two hatchments with the arms of Sir Matthew Wood bart. Alderman and twice Lord Mayor of London, d. 25th September, 1843, and Maria (Page), his wife, d. 2nd July, 1848: there are 180 sittings. In 1909 a lych-gate was erected at the east end of the churchyard as a memorial to the late Canon H. W. Maddy, rector here 1856-1907.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Down Hatherley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hatherley, Down (St. Mary and Corpus Christi))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Gloucestershire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Down Hatherley are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Gloucestershire online:
- Gloucester Citizen
- Gloucester Journal
- Gloucestershire Chronicle
- Gloucestershire Echo
- Cheltenham Chronicle
- Cheltenham Looker-On
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of the county of Gloucester, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.