Harefield enters recorded history through the Domesday Book (1086) as Herefelle, comprising the Anglo-Saxon words Here ’[danish] army’ and felle ’field’.
Before the Norman conquest of England, Harefield belonged to Countess Goda, sister of Edward the Confessor. Her husbands, Frenchmen Dreux of the Vexin and Count Eustace of Boulogne, were connected to the area.
After the Norman conquest, Richard FitzGilbert, son of Count Gilbert of Brionne, gained ownership of Harefield. In the Domesday Book, it was listed with enough arable land for five ploughs and meadow land for only one plough. Notably, Harefield’s woodland areas supported 1200 pigs, the second-highest in the Hundred of Elthorne. The population in the 12th or 13th century transitioned from free tenants to unfree.
Harefield was later divided into the main manor of Harefield and the submanors of Brackenbury and Moorhall. After passing through various families, including the Clares and Batchworths, the Newdigate family took ownership in 1446. The Grand Junction Canal’s opening in 1797 brought industry, and by 1802, copper mills were established.
The Napoleonic Wars and post-1815 economic depression slowed industrial growth. In 1851, the copper mills transitioned to paper making, employing around 40 people by 1871. In the 1830s, west Middlesex shifted to less labour-intensive hay farming.
During the First World War, Harefield Park served as an Australian military hospital, and the grounds became a military cemetery where servicemen were buried with full honours.
The village fête is held annually in July.
