Re: Hargrave Village in England
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In reply to:
Re: Hargrave Village in England
James Hargraves 9/02/01
In 2000 after learning about the 3 English villages named Hargrave(in Cheshire, Suffolk, & Northamptonshire) which, according to authorities I've read,are at the origin of the surname Hargrave and its variations, I checked websites of the three. Cheshire seemed the most promising. I received this answer from Elaine Pierce-Jones, Heritage Support Officer of the Chester, Cheshire website:
"Thank you for your recent enquiry about Hargrave. According to Ormerod's History of Cheshire, Hargrave did give name to a family there in the reign of either King John or Henry III. The first mentioned was Simon, son of Madoc de Haregrave. Records for Hargrave are held at the County Record Office, Duke Street, Chester, and you can email them at [email protected]. There is also a Hargrave and Huxley Local History Society in Cheshire and I am sure that they would be interested in your research and should be able to help you with local knowledge of the area as well as historical details. You can write to them--the Secretary is John Whittle and the address is Meadow Farm House, Hargrave, Cheshire...etc."When I emailed the Record Office they answered that they were unable to find any references to the name Hargrave that pre-date 1475.
I've been in touch with Mr. Whittle and he sent me a very interesting summary of the parts of Ormerod's Hist. of Cheshire that concern Hargrave: "The name Hargrave is believed to be derived from "har" or "hara" and "graefe" meaning "hoar wood". The name appears in Court records in 1285 as Haregreve and in many spellings in later records. The name is often mis-spelt even today, -greave and -graves being the most frequent variations. In the center of the village there was an area of common land known as Hargrave Stubbs. In Bryant's map of 1831 the Stubbs is marked as woodland, presumably the remains of the "hoar wood"...Hargrave was a separate hamlet in the township of Foulk Stapleford and during the middle ages there were several landowners, one family taking the name Hargrave during the reign of King John or Henry III...R Blome in Magna Britannica quotes Sir Ranulph Cotgreave as being "Lord de Hargrave, Tarvin and Tattenhall" in the early 15th century..."
If anyone wants more I can post it here or send it by email. I'll add that I zeroed in on Hargrave, Cheshire, because it seemed the most likely of the three since it is the closest to Wakefield, West Riding Yorkshire, and because a royal manor, later a political division of Yorkshire (called a "liberty") (this from memory as my notes are not handy) with Wakefield as its head place, extended into Cheshire during the Middle Ages. The English counties being so small, this Hargrave is not a very great distance from Wakefield. But I do intend to research the other two. I later learned that a "piece of land"--possibly a field--was recorded in 1323 in Lancashire (just west of the WRY) as Hargreves. Evidently it is no longer known by that name.
As for the "hoar wood" or "wood of the hares", I have a theory about the name and am writing it up. It is based on the importance of groves in European pre-Christian nature religions (see The Golden Bough by JG Frazer). If anyone has an idea for research in England on our name, I may be going there in a few months and would like to have your suggestions.
Best regards, Mary
More Replies:
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Re: Hargrave Village in England
James Hargraves 5/28/02
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Re: Hargrave Village in England
James Hargraves 5/26/02
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Re: Hargrave Village in England
Brian Hargrave 6/01/02
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Re: Hargrave Village in England