The toponym is derived from Ae-whylme, Old English for "waters whelming". It refers to the spring just north of the village, which forms the King's Pool that feeds the Ewelme Brook. The brook flows past Fifield Manor and then through nearby Benson before joining the River Thames. It formed the basis of Ewelme's watercress beds, which provided much local employment until well into the 20th century. Before inclosure in 1863, there was no clear boundary between the parishes of Ewelme, Benson and Berrick Salome where they shared large open fields. Ewelme Parish was within the Hundred of Benson in 1086, later renamed the Hundred of Ewelme.
Almshouses and school
, Lord Chamberlain of England, and his wife Alice de la Pole established the school and cloistered almshouses from their profits from the East Anglian wool trade in 1437. Alice was the daughter of Thomas Chaucer, Speaker of the House of Commons, and a granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. As lords of the manor, she and her father had both lived at Ewelme Palace which once stood in the village. The author Cynthia Harnett featured the school and church prominently in her children's novel The Writing on the Hearth. The action in the book is set around the time the school was built. Ewelme School is said to be the oldest school building in the UK still in use as a local authority school. The almshouses are officially called "The Two Chaplains and Thirteen Poor Men of Ewelme in the County of Oxford". The thirteen almsmen have now been reduced to eight, but the building is still run as a charity by the Ewelme Trust. Under King James I, the original purpose of the position of Master of Ewelme Hospital was diverted in 1617 to support the Regius Professorship of Physic at the University of Oxford; this was confirmed in 1628 by the attachment of the stipend to the chair. At the same time, the Rectorship of Ewelme was made to support the same university's Regius Professor of Divinity, who then served as rector of the parish.
Parish church
Thomas Chaucer, who died in 1434, and Alice de la Pole are buried in the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin adjoining the almshouses. The tomb chest of Thomas and that of his wife Matilda Burghersh are topped with memorial brasses showing him in plate armour and her in mantle, veil and wimple with their respective crests at their feet. Alice's alabaster tomb, almost undamaged by time, consists of a canopy of panelled stone, below which is the recumbent effigy of the Duchess on top of the tomb chest which contains her remains; the space beneath the chest encloses her sculpted cadaver, which is viewed through elaborate reticulated arches. Her effigy was examined by Queen Victoria's commissioners in order to discover how a woman should wear the insignia of the Order of the Garter. William de la Pole was Alice's third husband; she was married first to Sir John Philip, and second to Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury. Her five-year-old step-great-granddaughter, Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick, also died at Ewelme, but was buried at Reading Abbey. Jerome K. Jerome, author of Three Men In A Boat, lived at Gould's Grove just southeast of Ewelme. He and his wife Ettie are buried in St. Mary's churchyard; their tombstone reads "For we are labourers together with God". Scenes in the 2012 film Les Misérables were filmed at the parish church of Ewelme.
Amenities
The village is dominated by the nearby buildings belonging to Benson Airfield. Ewelme has a public house, the Shepherd's Hut, controlled by Greene King Brewery. The village shop is run by volunteers on a not-for-profit basis. Ewelme Cricket Club was founded in 1933. Since 2006 Ewelme has hosted the annual Chiltern Chase, a charity run of two multi-terrain courses: one of and the other of. Both races start and finish on Cow Common. Normally two charities benefit equally from the proceeds of the event.
