Chalford
Encyclopedia
Chalford is a village in the Frome Valley
of the Cotswolds
in Gloucestershire
, England
. It is about 8 km upstream (4 miles east) of Stroud
. It gives its name to Chalford parish, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, France Lynch, Bussage and Brownshill, spread over 2 mi² (5 km²) of the Cotswold countryside. At this point the valley is also called the Golden Valley
.
s indicate that the plateau area of Chalford Hill, France Lynch and Bussage
has been an area of continuous settlement for probably at least 4,000 years. Stone Age
flints have been found in the area as well as the remains of a Roman Villa
. Several of the place names in the area are also Saxon
or Danish in origin.
The name Chalford may be derived from Calf (Way) Ford, or possibly from the Saxon cealj or Chalk and the Norman Ford: both possibilities have the same meaning. There were two ancient crossings at Chalford apart from the ford
from which the village was named: Stoneford, recorded from the later 12th century, was the crossing-point of a track up Cowcombe hill on the line of the later Cirencester
turnpike
and by 1413 another track crossed into Minchinhampton
by Stephen's bridge at Valley Corner.
Chalford Hill is a recent title for the western end of the hill: Its original name was Chalford Lynch. "Lynch" (lynchet
in modern English) means a cultivated terrace
following the contours of a hill.
The settling of displaced Flemish
Huguenot
weavers in the 17th and 18th centuries brought quality silk and woollen cloth manufacturing to the valley. It is thought that they gave their name to the neighbouring village of France Lynch.
At this point the Golden Valley is narrow and deep so many weavers' cottages were built clinging to the sides of the hills, giving the village an Alpine
air. It is sometimes still referred to as the 'Alpine village'. As the paths on the hillsides were too narrow for more conventional forms of transport donkeys were used to carry groceries and other goods to houses, this tradition continuing until as recently as the nineteen-fifties.
Chalford expanded rapidly with the opening of the Thames and Severn Canal
in 1789 and the village became one of the centres for the manufacture of broadcloth
. Its wealthy clothiers
lived close to their mills and built many fine houses which survive to this day.
In common with other towns and villages in the area buildings are generally constructed of Cotswold stone
, with local fields enclosed by dry stone walling
. The area is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
and the village itself is a designated conservation area
.
Chalford is noted for two fine Arts and Crafts movement
churches. Christ Church (Church of England
) contains work by Norman Jewson
, William Simmonds, Peter Waals
, Edward Barnsley
, Norman Bucknell, amongst other distinguished artists and craftsmen working in the Cotswold tradition. The Church of Our Lady of the Angels
(Roman Catholic), Brownshill, by W. D. Caroe (1930), contains outstanding stained glass
by Douglas Strachan
.
One of the most distinctive, and most photographed, features of the village is the Round House. It was built by the Thames and Severn Canal Company as a lengthman
's cottage and is one of five along the Thames and Severn Canal
. (The others are at Coates, Cerney Wick, Marston Meysey
and Inglesham.) A notable feature is that access is by way of steps up to the first floor as the ground floor would have originally been stabling for a horse. Apart from a relatively short break in the nineteen fifties when it was a museum it has fulfilled its function as a private residence, which it continues to do to this day.
Directly opposite the Round House is Chalford Place, a Grade II* listed building built on the site of the original home of the de Chalkfordes who are mentioned in documents as early as 1240. The house, formerly known as the Companys Arms, is one of the earlier houses in the valley. Built as a mill owner's house it became an inn in the nineteenth century. It owed its name Companys Arms to the East India Company
for which the mills of Chalford supplied much of its cloth. It remained an inn until the nineteen sixties, when it reverted to its former name of Chalford Place.
The house lay derelict for many years until it was recently purchased and is now being restored by the artist Damien Hurst
Listed buildings
On 5 September 2009 Chalford Community Stores allowed customers to purchase shares in the business. The store,
which has been running with the aid of a volunteer workforce since 2003, is now affiliated with the independent organisation Co-operatives UK, making the share issue possible.
Chalford is home to the national literacy charity Readathon.http://www.readathon.org
, the third Astronomer Royal
, who died in Chalford in 1762, and the 19th-century sculptor John Thomas
. Sir Henry Cooper lived in the village as a child, after being evacuated here during the second world war. The artist Damien Hirst
has a studio in the village. Lord Janvrin, former Private Secretary to H.M. the Queen, maintains a house in the village and on his retirement was gazetted as Baron Janvrin of Chalford Hill, on 10 October 2007. The Public Relations guru Mark Borkowski
lives at Oakridge.
River Frome, Stroud
The River Frome, once also known as the Stroudwater, is a small river in Gloucestershire, England. It is to be distinguished from another River Frome in Gloucestershire, the Bristol Frome....
of the Cotswolds
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is about 8 km upstream (4 miles east) of Stroud
Stroud, Gloucestershire
Stroud is a market town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.Situated below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture...
. It gives its name to Chalford parish, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, France Lynch, Bussage and Brownshill, spread over 2 mi² (5 km²) of the Cotswold countryside. At this point the valley is also called the Golden Valley
Five Valleys
The Five Valleys are a group of valleys in Gloucestershire, England, which converge on the town of Stroud at the western edge of the Cotswolds. The valleys are as follows:* The Frome valley * The Nailsworth Valley...
.
History
The remains, and known sites, of many barrowTumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
s indicate that the plateau area of Chalford Hill, France Lynch and Bussage
Bussage
Bussage is a village in Gloucestershire, England in the district of Stroud.-Geography:There is an older part to the village and a newer part...
has been an area of continuous settlement for probably at least 4,000 years. Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
flints have been found in the area as well as the remains of a Roman Villa
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
. Several of the place names in the area are also Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
or Danish in origin.
The name Chalford may be derived from Calf (Way) Ford, or possibly from the Saxon cealj or Chalk and the Norman Ford: both possibilities have the same meaning. There were two ancient crossings at Chalford apart from the ford
Ford (crossing)
A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading or in a vehicle. A ford is mostly a natural phenomenon, in contrast to a low water crossing, which is an artificial bridge that allows crossing a river or stream when water is low.The names of many towns...
from which the village was named: Stoneford, recorded from the later 12th century, was the crossing-point of a track up Cowcombe hill on the line of the later Cirencester
Cirencester
Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...
turnpike
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
and by 1413 another track crossed into Minchinhampton
Minchinhampton
Minchinhampton is an ancient market town, located on a hilltop south-south-east of Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, in the Cotswolds. The town is twinned with Nkokoto, in Tanzania....
by Stephen's bridge at Valley Corner.
Chalford Hill is a recent title for the western end of the hill: Its original name was Chalford Lynch. "Lynch" (lynchet
Lynchet
A lynchet is a bank of earth that builds up on the downslope of a field ploughed over a long period of time. The disturbed soil slips down the hillside to create a positive lynchet while the area reduced in level becomes a negative lynchet. They are also referred to as strip lynchets.They are a...
in modern English) means a cultivated terrace
Terrace (agriculture)
Terraces are used in farming to cultivate sloped land. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease erosion and surface runoff, and are effective for growing crops requiring much water, such as rice...
following the contours of a hill.
The settling of displaced Flemish
Flemish people
The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...
Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
weavers in the 17th and 18th centuries brought quality silk and woollen cloth manufacturing to the valley. It is thought that they gave their name to the neighbouring village of France Lynch.
At this point the Golden Valley is narrow and deep so many weavers' cottages were built clinging to the sides of the hills, giving the village an Alpine
History of the Alps
The Alpine region has been populated since ancient times and, due to its central location, its history has always been closely entwined with that of Europe. Currently the Alps sprawl across eight countries...
air. It is sometimes still referred to as the 'Alpine village'. As the paths on the hillsides were too narrow for more conventional forms of transport donkeys were used to carry groceries and other goods to houses, this tradition continuing until as recently as the nineteen-fifties.
Chalford expanded rapidly with the opening of the Thames and Severn Canal
Thames and Severn Canal
The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a canal route from Bristol to London. At its eastern end, it connects to the River Thames at Inglesham Lock near Lechlade, while at its western end, it...
in 1789 and the village became one of the centres for the manufacture of broadcloth
Broadcloth
Broadcloth is a dense woollen cloth. Modern broadcloth can be composed of cotton, silk, or polyester, but traditionally broadcloth was made solely of wool. The dense weave lends sturdiness to the material....
. Its wealthy clothiers
Cloth merchant
Cloth merchant is, strictly speaking, like a draper, the term for any vendor of cloth. However, it is generally used for one who owned and/or ran a cloth manufacturing and/or wholesale import and/or export business in the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries...
lived close to their mills and built many fine houses which survive to this day.
Architecture
Cotswold stone
Cotswold stone is a yellow oolitic limestone quarried in many places in the Cotswold Hills in the south midlands of England. When weathered, the colour of buildings made or faced with this stone is often described as 'honey' or 'golden'....
, with local fields enclosed by dry stone walling
Dry stone
Dry stone is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their unique construction method, which is characterized by the presence of a load-bearing facade of carefully selected interlocking...
. The area is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
and the village itself is a designated conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
.
Chalford is noted for two fine Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
churches. Christ Church (Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
) contains work by Norman Jewson
Norman Jewson
Norman Jewson was an English architect-craftsman of the Arts and Crafts movement, who practiced in the Cotswolds. He was a distinguished, younger member of the group which had settled in Sapperton, Gloucestershire, a feudal village in rural southwest England, under the influence of Ernest Gimson...
, William Simmonds, Peter Waals
Peter Waals
Peter Waals , also known as Peter van der Waals, was a Dutch cabinet maker associated with the Arts and Crafts movement.-Arts and Crafts:...
, Edward Barnsley
Barnsley brothers
Ernest and Sidney Barnsley were Arts and Crafts movement furniture designers and makers associated with Ernest Gimson. In the early 20th century they had workshops at Sapperton, Gloucestershire....
, Norman Bucknell, amongst other distinguished artists and craftsmen working in the Cotswold tradition. The Church of Our Lady of the Angels
St Mary of the Angels Church, Brownshill
St Mary of the Angels Church, Brownshill, is located to the south of the village of Brownshill in the parish of Chalford, Gloucestershire, England. It is a redundant Roman Catholic church vested in the Friends of Friendless Churches...
(Roman Catholic), Brownshill, by W. D. Caroe (1930), contains outstanding stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
by Douglas Strachan
Douglas Strachan
Dr. Douglas Strachan was considered the most significant Scottish designer of stained glass windows in the 20th Century. Schooled at Robert Gordon's, he studied art at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, at the Life School of the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, and the Royal Academy in London...
.
Lengthman
Lengthsman is a term used mainly in English National Parks and originally used in the Peak District National Park. It refers to a person who keeps a "length" of road neat and tidy. This person was responsible for a few miles of road. Employed by the local parish council, his job was to keep the...
's cottage and is one of five along the Thames and Severn Canal
Thames and Severn Canal
The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a canal route from Bristol to London. At its eastern end, it connects to the River Thames at Inglesham Lock near Lechlade, while at its western end, it...
. (The others are at Coates, Cerney Wick, Marston Meysey
Marston Meysey
Marston Meysey, pronounced and sometimes also spelt Marston Maisey, is a village in Wiltshire, England, lying three miles north east of Cricklade on the county boundary with Gloucestershire....
and Inglesham.) A notable feature is that access is by way of steps up to the first floor as the ground floor would have originally been stabling for a horse. Apart from a relatively short break in the nineteen fifties when it was a museum it has fulfilled its function as a private residence, which it continues to do to this day.
Directly opposite the Round House is Chalford Place, a Grade II* listed building built on the site of the original home of the de Chalkfordes who are mentioned in documents as early as 1240. The house, formerly known as the Companys Arms, is one of the earlier houses in the valley. Built as a mill owner's house it became an inn in the nineteenth century. It owed its name Companys Arms to the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
for which the mills of Chalford supplied much of its cloth. It remained an inn until the nineteen sixties, when it reverted to its former name of Chalford Place.
The house lay derelict for many years until it was recently purchased and is now being restored by the artist Damien Hurst
Surviving mills in Chalford parish.
The mill race of Ashmeads Mill remains, mill demolished early 1900s. | Notable former mill owners' houses.
|
Listed buildings
- Grade II* : Chalford Place, St John the Baptist, St Mary's House, Wing Cottage
- Grade II : Baptist Chapel, Church of St Michael and All Angels, Christ Church, France Congregational Church and Hall
Modern Chalford
In February 2008, Chalford hit the headlines when a community plan to reintroduce donkeys as a way of carrying shopping up the steep, narrow hills became public.On 5 September 2009 Chalford Community Stores allowed customers to purchase shares in the business. The store,
which has been running with the aid of a volunteer workforce since 2003, is now affiliated with the independent organisation Co-operatives UK, making the share issue possible.
Chalford is home to the national literacy charity Readathon.http://www.readathon.org
Residents
Notable residents include James BradleyJames Bradley
James Bradley FRS was an English astronomer and served as Astronomer Royal from 1742, succeeding Edmund Halley. He is best known for two fundamental discoveries in astronomy, the aberration of light , and the nutation of the Earth's axis...
, the third Astronomer Royal
Astronomer Royal
Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the second is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834....
, who died in Chalford in 1762, and the 19th-century sculptor John Thomas
John Thomas (sculptor)
John Thomas was a British sculptor and architect, who worked on Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster.John Thomas was born in Chalford, Gloucestershire....
. Sir Henry Cooper lived in the village as a child, after being evacuated here during the second world war. The artist Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
has a studio in the village. Lord Janvrin, former Private Secretary to H.M. the Queen, maintains a house in the village and on his retirement was gazetted as Baron Janvrin of Chalford Hill, on 10 October 2007. The Public Relations guru Mark Borkowski
Mark Borkowski
Mark Borkowski is a British PR agent and author with an interest in the history of public relations and the art of the publicity stunt. He attended King's Stanley Junior School and St Peters High School in Gloucester and began working in public relations at nineteen years old...
lives at Oakridge.