Thankful Villages facts for kids

A special plaque in the church at Teigh, a village that was "thankful".

Imagine a village where every single person who went off to fight in a big war came back home safely. These special places are called Thankful Villages (or sometimes Blessed Villages). The name became popular thanks to a writer named Arthur Mee in the 1930s. He wrote that a Thankful Village was one where no men were lost in World War I because everyone who left to serve returned.

Arthur Mee first found 32 of these villages. Later, in 2013, researchers updated the list. They found 53 villages in England and Wales where all soldiers came home from World War I. So far, no Thankful Villages have been found in Scotland or Ireland.

Some villages are even more special. They are called "doubly thankful." This means they didn't lose any service members in World War I AND World War II. There are 14 of these amazing villages.

What Makes a Village Thankful?

A Thankful Village is a community where every person who joined the armed forces during World War I returned home alive. This is very rare, as many towns and villages lost many people during the war. These villages are a reminder of the incredible luck and relief their communities must have felt.

Doubly Thankful Villages

Some villages are known as "doubly thankful." This means they had no soldiers lost in both World War I and World War II. It's even rarer for a village to have this record. These villages are truly unique because they avoided losses in two major global conflicts.

List of Thankful Villages in England and Wales

Researchers have worked hard to find these special villages. Sometimes it's tricky to be sure, especially if a soldier lived in one place but served for another. Here is a list of some of the Thankful Villages. The ones marked with italic text are "doubly thankful" villages.

Thankful Villages in England

• Buckinghamshire
  • Stoke Hammond
• Cambridgeshire
  • Toft
• Cornwall
  • Herodsfoot
• Cumberland
  • Ousby
• Derbyshire
  • Bradbourne
• Dorset
  • Langton Herring
• Durham
  • Hunstanworth
• Essex
  • Strethall
• Gloucestershire
  • Coln Rogers
  • Little Sodbury
  • Upper Slaughter
• Herefordshire
  • Knill
  • Middleton-on-the-Hill
• Hertfordshire
  • Puttenham
• Kent
  • Knowlton
• Lancashire
  • Arkholme
  • Nether Kellet
• Leicestershire
  • Saxby
  • East Norton
  • Stretton en le Field
• Lincolnshire
  • Bigby
  • Flixborough
  • High Toynton
  • Minting
  • Allington
• Northamptonshire
  • East Carlton
  • Woodend
• Northumberland
  • Meldon
• Nottinghamshire
  • Cromwell
  • Maplebeck
  • Wigsley
  • Wysall
• Rutland
  • Teigh
• Shropshire
  • Harley
• Somerset
  • Aisholt
  • Chantry
  • Chelwood
  • Holywell Lake
  • Rodney Stoke
  • Shapwick
  • Stocklinch
  • Tellisford
  • Woolley
• Staffordshire
  • Butterton
• Suffolk
  • Culpho
  • Wordwell
  • South Elmham St Michael
• Sussex
  • East Wittering
• Yorkshire
  • Catwick
  • Cundall
  • Helperthorpe
  • Norton-le-Clay
  • Scruton

Thankful Villages in Wales

• Ceredigion
  • Llanfihangel y Creuddyn
• Glamorgan
  • Colwinston/Tregolwyn
• Pembrokeshire
  • Herbrandston

Tavernspite, in Pembrokeshire, might be another "doubly thankful" village in Wales, but it's still being checked.

Thankful Villages in France

France also had villages that didn't lose any men in World War I. This was even rarer there because France suffered huge losses in the war. Only twelve villages in all of France had no men lost. One of these, Thierville, is extra special. It also had no losses in the Franco-Prussian War and World War II.