Hanwell, Oxfordshire

Historical Description

Hanwell, a village and a parish in Oxfordshire, near the boundary with Warwick and the Oxford Canal, 3 miles NW from Banbury, which is the nearest railway station. Post town, money order, and telegraph office, Banbury. Acreage, 1271; population, 225. The manor with all the property belonged formerly to the Vennns, the Ardens, the Grevilles, and the Copes, and was carried in marriage by an heiress to John Frederick, third Duke of Dorset, whose daughter and heiress Elizabeth married the fifth Earl De la Warr, whose son is the present owner and lord of the manor. Hanwell Castle was called by Leiand " the pleasant and gallant house of Hanwell," was twice visited in the time of Sir Anthony Cope by James I. and his queen, and is now represented chiefly by a fine quadrangular brick tower, with stone quoins, used as a farmhouse. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; gross yearly value, £300 with residence, in the gift of Earl De la Warr. The church is of the 14th century, chiefly in the Decorated period with a fine tower, and has some curious capitals, with grotesque figures.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Oxfordshire Family History Society and Oxfordshire History Centre, have images of the Parish Registers for Oxfordshire online.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Hanwell from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Hanwell (St. Peter))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Oxfordshire is available online

Maps

Online maps of Hanwell 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 Oxfordshire newspapers online:

• Oxford Journal
• Banbury Advertiser
• Banbury Guardian
• Oxford University and City Herald
• Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette
• Faringdon Advertiser and Vale of the White Horse Gazette
• Oxford Times
• Banbury Beacon
• Ossett Observer

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Oxfordshire, 1566, 1574 &1634 are available on the Heraldry page.