Harwell

Not to be confused with Harwell, Nottinghamshire

Harwell
Berkshire
Parish church of St. Matthew
Location
Grid reference:	SU4989
Location:	51°35’49"N, 1°17’35"W
Data
Population:	2,354  (2001)
Post town:	Didcot
Postcode:	OX11
Dialling code:	01235
Local Government
Council:	Vale of White Horse
Parliamentary constituency:	Wantage
Website:	Harwell Parish Council website

Harwell is a village in Berkshire, 2 miles west of Didcot. It is famed not for its fields and orchards, but for the Atomic Energy Research Establishment founded here in 1945. The AERE in Harwell had the first atomic reactor in Western Europe.

In the 1990s the establishment was privatised and the site became Harwell International Business Centre. In May 2011, the International Space Innovation Centre opened in Harwell.

The village

The village has but one public house, the White Hart, on the corner of High Street, and two shops, Bobs the Butcher's and White Horse News. Two other general stores and the bakery have closed in the village over the last 20 years. At one point the village even had a brewery, now a private house.

Parish Church

The parish church of Saint Matthew is a Grade I listed building. The nave roof dates from 1220, and the screen dividing the chancel from the nave also dates from the 13th century. The church is notable for the quality and age of the peal of 8 bells housed in the belfry, and 1 sanctus bell, dating from 1611 to 1932. The tenor weighs 16 cwt. There is a single-handed clock on the tower's west face. In 1975, a two floor extension was built on the north wall which now contains a parish office. A new church hall was built in 1994.

Sport and leisure

There are a good number of clubs and societies in the village. These include an Royal Legion, a Scout Group, an Girls Brigade, a Horticultural Society and the Harwell Feast Committee. Sports Clubs include Harwell Rugby Club, football clubs and others.

The Harwell Feast is a celebration held on the Monday of the May Bank Holiday each year. The celebrations include a parade of decorated floats and people through the village. The recreation ground is turned over to various fund raising stalls and demonstration from sheep dog handling to vintage cars. Either a cow or a couple of pigs is roasted to supply the meat for the feast.

Airfield and Atomic Energy Research Establishment

Before 1946, Harwell was probably best known for its cherry orchards. In 1937, an airfield was built between Harwell and Chilton and named RAF Harwell. The airfield was used during Second World War to launch glider-borne troops for the Normandy invasion.

In 1945 John Cockcroft was asked to set up a research laboratory to further the use of nuclear fission for both military purposes and generating energy. RAF Harwell provided good water supply, military infrastructure and large buildings in place and proximity to the University of Oxford. On 1 January 1946 the Atomic Energy Research Establishment was formed, coming under the Ministry of Supply. The scientists mostly took over both accommodations and work buildings from the departing RAF.

The Atomic Energy Research Establishment, the main centre for nuclear power research in the United Kingdom, and become known as Harwell Laboratory. It was the site of Europe's first nuclear reactor in 1946, and once housed five nuclear reactors, all of which have been shut down.

Other parts of the airfield were later used by other scientific organisations, including the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory which runs the ISIS neutron source and is home to the Diamond Light Source synchrotron joint venture. Part of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment is now operated by Research Sites Restoration Limited who are undertaking decommissioning work on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The former airfield site as a whole is now known as the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and is managed by the international property group, Goodman.

The International Space Innovation Centre opened on the capus in 2011.

Further reading

• Fletcher, Anthony; Whiteley, Alfred (1967). Elizabethan Village (Then & There). White Plains, NY: Longmans. ISBN 0582204097.  Social, economic and cultural life in Harwell in 1600.
• Hance, Nick J (2006). Harwell: from Romans and Runways to Reactors and Research Renaissance. Oxford: Enhance Publishing. ISBN 0-09553055-0-0. http://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter/volume-16/number-2/harwell. 
• Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 484–492. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). The Buildings of England: Berkshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 152–153. 

Outside links

• Village:
  • St. Matthew's Parish Church website
  • Royal Berkshire History: Harwell
  • Research Sites Restoration Limited
  • Harwell Rugby Club
  • Residents Blog

• Technology:
  • Harwell Science and Innovation Campus website
  • STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
  • International Space Innovation Centre
  • United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
  • Information about the RSRL site, present day
  • Speech by Sir John Cockcroft
  • History of UK nuclear research
  • Fusion experiments from the British Science Museum
  • Harwell: The ENIGMA revealed by Nick Hance MBE
  • Diamond Light Source