Chilswell is a small settlement in the parish of Cumnor

Cumnor

Cumnor is a village and civil parish west of the centre of Oxford, England. The parish of Cumnor includes Cumnor Hill, , Chawley , the Dean Court area on the edge of Botley and the outlying settlements of Chilswell, Farmoor and Swinford...

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

. It lies between the village of South Hinksey

South Hinksey

South Hinksey is a village and civil parish just over south of the centre of Oxford. The parish includes the residential area of Hinksey Hill about south of the village....

 and Boars Hill

Boars Hill

Boars Hill is a hill hamlet southwest of Oxford, straddling the boundariy between the civil parishes of Sunningwell and Wootton. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-History:...

. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire.

The place was first mentioned in 1180 as Chiefleswelle. The name is of Old English origin, and appears to mean 'the stream of a man called Cifel'. An older form of the name is Childsworth, and the place is mentioned by that name in the poem Thyrsis

Thyrsis

Thyrsis is the title of a poem written by Matthew Arnold in December 1865 to commemorate his friend, the poet Arthur Hugh Clough, who had died in November 1861 aged only 42....

by Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...

. Arnold's "signal elm" is in a field nearby, bought by the Oxford Preservation Trust

Oxford Preservation Trust

The Oxford Preservation Trust was founded in 1928 to preserve the city of Oxford, England. The Trust seeks to enhance Oxford by encouraging thoughtful development and new design, while protecting historic buildings and green open spaces....

 from All Souls College, Oxford

All Souls College, Oxford

The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....

 in 2009.

The remains of a Roman villa have been found nearby.

Chilswell House, on the edge of Boars Hill, was once the home of the poet Robert Bridges

Robert Bridges

Robert Seymour Bridges, OM, was a British poet, and poet laureate from 1913 to 1930.-Personal and professional life:...

.

Chilswell Valley (also known as Happy Valley), between Chilswell and South Hinksey, is the site of a Local Nature Reserve

Local Nature Reserve

Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...

 managed by Oxford City Council

Oxford City Council

The Oxford City Council provides local government for the city of Oxford in England.- Overview :Between the 2004 local elections, and 2010 the council was in minority administration, first by councillors from the Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats being the official opposition...

.