HARWELL, a parish in the hundred of MORETON county of BERKS, 6 miles (E. by N.) from Wantage containing 701 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Berks, and diocese of Salisbury rated in the king's books at £ 12. 4. 2. Sir J. Chetwode, Bart, was patron in 1823. The church is dedicated to St. Matthew. In 1644, Robert Loder bequeathed a messuage and land for a schoolmaster to teach the children of twelve poor men; the total income is £ 54; the master is appointed by trustees. In 1772, the Rev. Matthew Eaton devised the interest of his estates to trustees, for apprenticing poor children of Harwell, Milton, and Hagbourn, and for the relief of poor widows, or other industrious poor, at the discretion of the trustees; from this fund a sum is paid to the master on Loder's charity, for teaching twenty-five boys reading, writing, and arithmetic; he likewise occupies a house and orchard belonging to the estate rent-free. A benefaction from some person unknown, called the Feoffees gift, and consisting of fourteen acres of land and an orchard, produces about £26 per annum, which is distributed in money amongst the poor, by the churchwardens and overseers. An almshouse was founded by Frances Geering, or Jennings, in 1715, for six poor widows, who receive six 'shillings per week, and an annual sum for clothes. In the church is a tablet on which is recorded a singular benefaction by Christopher Elderfield, an eminent divine, and a native of this parish, of £350, vested in land for the purchase of two milch cows, to be given every spring to two of the poorest men in the parish; the proceeds having exceeded the price given for the cows, the surplus is expended in white waistcoats, which are distributed among twentyfive poor men at Christmas.