Chignall St James
| Chignall St James | |
|---|---|
Former parish church of St James, now converted to a house | |
Chignall St James Location within Essex | |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHELMSFORD |
| Postcode district | CM1 |
| Dialling code | 01245 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
Chignall St James is a village in the civil parish of Chignall, in the Chelmsford district of Essex, England. The village is situated 3 miles (5 km) north-west of the centre of Chelmsford.
Toponymy
The meaning of Chignall is uncertain. The second syllable indicates "nook of land", indicating perhaps an area of dry land in a marsh, or an area otherwise separated from its parent territory. The first syllable may come from a personal name "Cicca", or alternatively it may come from "chicken".[1]
The legal name of the parish uses the spelling "Chignall", which is therefore used on Ordnance Survey maps and by the Office for National Statistics.[2][3] The Royal Mail uses the spelling "Chignal" in official postal addresses.[4] The parish council uses the spelling Chignal on its website.[5]
History
The area once included a Roman villa, the site of which was discovered in the 1970s.[6][7]
In Saxon times, Chignall appears to have been a single vill. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cingehala in the Chelmsford hundred of Essex. The vill was at that time split between two owners.[8][9]
A priest is mentioned in one of the Domesday entries for Chignall, implying it may have then been a parish. It is unclear where the church was at that time. The church of St James at Chignall St James dates back to at least the 13th century,[10] and the church of St Nicholas at Chignall Smealy was built in the early 16th century.[11] A third church dedicated to St Mary is known to have formerly existed at Chignall, which had been demolished by the 18th century.[12] The area came to be administered as the two parishes of Chignall St James and Chignall Smealy, with the latter sometimes called "Little Chignall".[13]
In 1888 the parishes of Chignall St James and Chignall Smealy were merged into a new civil parish called Chignall, subject to some adjustments to the boundaries with the neighbouring parishes Broomfield and Writtle at the same time.[14] At the 1881 census (the last before the abolition of the civil parish), Chignall St James had a population of 224.[15]
In ecclesiastical terms, Chignall St James, Chignall Smealy and the neighbouring parish of Mashbury were united into a single benefice in 1930.[16] They were later formally united into a single ecclesiastical parish called "The Chignals with Mashbury", which uses St Nicholas's Church at Chignall Smealy as its parish church.[17] St James's Church was declared redundant in 1981; it was converted into a house a few years later.[10]
The village formerly had a public house, the Three Elms, which closed in 2019.[18]
Geography
Businesses providing employment in the area include Ashdown Engineering, Gardening Express[19] and local farms.
Notable village landmarks include an old brick-built farm barn with a dove-cote thought to be the oldest and only example of its type in Essex, an old red brick school (now a dwelling), the former church, and the Old Rectory.
References
- ^ "Chignall Smealey and St James". Key to English Place-Names. University of Nottingham. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ^ "Election Maps". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ^ "2021 Census Parish Profiles". NOMIS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 March 2025. (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)
- ^ "Find an address". Royal Mail. Retrieved 7 November 2025. (See for example postcodes CM1 4TY or CM1 4TA.
- ^ "Chignal Parish". Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ^ SEAX - Essex Record Office - Reference: C/DZ 7/4
- ^ "BBC - Domesday Reloaded - Roman Villa at Chignal St James". Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- ^ Powell-Smith, Anna. "Chignall". Open Domesday. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ^ The Domesday Book online. "Essex A-C". Retrieved 14 May 2016.
- ^ a b Historic England. "Former Church of St James (Grade II*) (1122199)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Nicholas (Grade II*) (1170018)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Rodwell, Warwick; Rodwell, Kirsty (1977). Historic Churches: A wasting asset (PDF). The Council for British Archaeology. p. 16. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ^ Kelly's Directory of Essex. 1914. p. 133. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ^ "Chelmsford Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ "Chignall St James AP/CP through time". A Vision of Britain. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ "No. 33606". The London Gazette. 16 May 1930. p. 3036.
- ^ "Chignal Smealey: St Nicholas". A Church near you. The Church of England. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ^ "Three Elms, Chignal St James". Campaign for Real Ale. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
- ^ "Buy Garden Plants from Online Garden Centre Gardening Express The UK's No.1: GardeningExpress.co.uk". Gardening Express. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
External links
Media related to Chignall St James at Wikimedia Commons