Editing Hanwell (section)

=== Etymology ===
The name probably means 'spring/stream frequented by [[cock (bird)|cock]]s'.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Middlesex/Hanwell| title = Key to English Place-names| access-date = 2 June 2021| archive-date = 2 June 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210602220158/http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Middlesex/Hanwell| url-status = dead}}</ref>

The earliest surviving reference is AD 959 when it is recorded as ''Hanewelle'' in pledge, when Alfwyn (a [[Anglo-Saxons|Saxon]]) pawned his land for money to go on a [[pilgrimage]].<ref name="CyN">{{cite book | last = Neaves | first = Cyrill | title = A history of Greater Ealing | publisher = S. R. Publishers | year = 1971 | location = United Kingdom | pages = 103, 105, 128, 208 | isbn = 0-85409-679-5 }}</ref> The origin of the name is uncertain; various suggestions have been put forward.

Near to the old [[Rectory]] and close to Hanwell spring is a large stone of about a ton in weight. In [[Anglo-Saxon]] the word ''Han'' denoted a boundary stone. This juxtaposition of these two natural features could have given rise to the name ''Han-well'', which dates back to before the [[Domesday Book]].

The original borders of the parish stretched from the bend of the [[River Brent]] at [[Greenford]] and followed the river down to the [[River Thames]]. Its geography, before the draining of the [[marsh]]es, formed a natural boundary between the different tribes of the south east of England. This gives some support to the suggestion that ''Han'' came from the Saxon ''han'' for cockerel. If so, the name is derived from ''Han-créd-welle''. ''Han-créd'' or cock-crow meant the border between night and day, and is neither one nor the other. So Hanwell would mean ''well upon the boundary''. ''For more see: [[River Brent#Hydronymy and etymology|River Brent: Hydronymy]]''.

The only other Hanwell in Britain is a small parish in [[Oxfordshire]] on the boundary with [[Warwickshire]].<ref name="CyN" />