Chipperfield
Encyclopedia
Chipperfield is a village and civil parish
in the Dacorum
district of Hertfordshire
, England
, about 5 miles southwest of Hemel Hempstead
and 5 miles north of Watford
. The parish includes the hamlet of Tower Hill.
The village centre is a large green on the edge of nearby Chipperfield common. The former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
can trace his family roots to John Carter of Jeffries Farm in Chipperfield.
, Thomas Sayers
and Bob Fitzsimmons
who sparred in the Club Room and took their runs round the nearby Chipperfield Common.
In addition to the Two Brewers, there are Four other pubs, Blackwells Cafe & Bar, The Boot, The Royal Oak and The Windmill. Other facilities in the village include four shops (one of which is an award winning delicatessen, the Chipperfield Larder), and two garden centres.
Chipperfield has three churches - Church of England
, Catholic
and Baptist
. It also has a primary school, St Pauls C of E, with strong ties to the church, which is located adjacent to the school. The school won the 7-a-side football dacorum primary school cup in 2008 and 2009. Also next to the school is a village club called Blackwell's, and tennis courts owned by CTC. Every year, a pantomime
is held in the Village Hall, which is organised by the Chipperfield Theatre Group.
consisting only of houses. However by the 1830s Chipperfield was large enough to warrant the building of both Anglican and Baptist
churches and became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1848.
Since the end of World War II
the village has dramatically expanded with housing estates during the 1940s and an extensive council estate to the east of Croft Lane in the 1960s. However, since the 1980s the rate of new building has considerably diminished.
For a number of years the Lords of the Manor were the Blackwell family, of Cross and Blackwell. They were great benefactors to the village. Two of Samuel and Elizabeth Blackwell's sons, Charles and William Gordon, were killed during World War One. In memory of them they gave the village the village club, which remained a club until quite recently. It’s now been renamed Blackwells and it's both a club and cafe next to the common.
Samuel and Elizabeth were equally devastated by the loss of two sons. Charles Blackwell was wounded at the second battle of Ypres and died in France in July, 1915. William Gordon Blackwell, the younger of the two brothers, was killed in action on October 5, 1916.”
The village's common also holds an interesting history. Up until the early 1900's, the local people reported strange 'happenings' in the woods on the village's common. These happenings included sightings of strange, humanoid like beings that would only ever appear at night.
Whilst these 'spirits' were seen quite regularly, the sightings abruptly stopped in late October, 1911; the reason to the sudden disappearance to these beings is unclear but the local people have been reported speculating that George V, ruling Monarch at the time, had an exorcism conducted in the woods on Chipperfield common due to an 'incident' one of his advisers had whilst riding through the woods one night.
The King vowed that not a single one of these "spirits" would haunt the woods with their presence for the next one hundred years.
Mostly, this is just folk tale and superstition, but these stories have been passed down through generations of the local people and are still believed, by most, to this day.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the Dacorum
Dacorum
The Borough of Dacorum is a local government district in Hertfordshire, England that includes the towns of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring and Kings Langley. The district, which was formed in 1974, had a population of 137,799 in 2001...
district of Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, 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...
, about 5 miles southwest of Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
and 5 miles north of Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
. The parish includes the hamlet of Tower Hill.
The village centre is a large green on the edge of nearby Chipperfield common. The former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
can trace his family roots to John Carter of Jeffries Farm in Chipperfield.
Pubs,shops and cafe
The Two Brewers stands adjacent to the common and is a popular summer meeting place to drink out of doors. It was founded by Robert Waller as an ale house in 1799, originally the middle one of a row of three cottages. It eventually took over its neighbours to make a long frontage on the green. A modern hotel extension has been built to the rear. The pub acquired fame as the training quarters for many notable 19th century prize-fighters such as Jem MaceJem Mace
Jem Mace was an English boxing champion. He was born at Beeston, Norfolk. Although nicknamed "The Gypsy", he denied Romani ethnicity in his autobiography...
, Thomas Sayers
Thomas Sayers
Tom Sayers was an English bare-knuckle prize fighter. There were no formal weight divisions at the time, and although Sayers was only five feet eight inches tall and never weighed much more than 150 pounds, he frequently fought much bigger men...
and Bob Fitzsimmons
Bob Fitzsimmons
Robert James "Bob" Fitzsimmons , was a British boxer who made boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion. He also achieved fame for beating Gentleman Jim Corbett, the man who beat John L. Sullivan, and is in The Guinness Book of World Records as the Lightest heavyweight...
who sparred in the Club Room and took their runs round the nearby Chipperfield Common.
In addition to the Two Brewers, there are Four other pubs, Blackwells Cafe & Bar, The Boot, The Royal Oak and The Windmill. Other facilities in the village include four shops (one of which is an award winning delicatessen, the Chipperfield Larder), and two garden centres.
Chipperfield has three churches - 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...
, Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
. It also has a primary school, St Pauls C of E, with strong ties to the church, which is located adjacent to the school. The school won the 7-a-side football dacorum primary school cup in 2008 and 2009. Also next to the school is a village club called Blackwell's, and tennis courts owned by CTC. Every year, a pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
is held in the Village Hall, which is organised by the Chipperfield Theatre Group.
The History of Chipperfield
For centuries Chipperfield was an outlying settlement of Kings LangleyKings Langley
Kings Langley is a historic English village and civil parish northwest of central London on the southern edge of the Chiltern Hills and now part of the London commuter belt. The major western portion lies in the borough of Dacorum and the east is in the Three Rivers district, both in the county of...
consisting only of houses. However by the 1830s Chipperfield was large enough to warrant the building of both Anglican and Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
churches and became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1848.
Since the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the village has dramatically expanded with housing estates during the 1940s and an extensive council estate to the east of Croft Lane in the 1960s. However, since the 1980s the rate of new building has considerably diminished.
For a number of years the Lords of the Manor were the Blackwell family, of Cross and Blackwell. They were great benefactors to the village. Two of Samuel and Elizabeth Blackwell's sons, Charles and William Gordon, were killed during World War One. In memory of them they gave the village the village club, which remained a club until quite recently. It’s now been renamed Blackwells and it's both a club and cafe next to the common.
Samuel and Elizabeth were equally devastated by the loss of two sons. Charles Blackwell was wounded at the second battle of Ypres and died in France in July, 1915. William Gordon Blackwell, the younger of the two brothers, was killed in action on October 5, 1916.”
The village's common also holds an interesting history. Up until the early 1900's, the local people reported strange 'happenings' in the woods on the village's common. These happenings included sightings of strange, humanoid like beings that would only ever appear at night.
Whilst these 'spirits' were seen quite regularly, the sightings abruptly stopped in late October, 1911; the reason to the sudden disappearance to these beings is unclear but the local people have been reported speculating that George V, ruling Monarch at the time, had an exorcism conducted in the woods on Chipperfield common due to an 'incident' one of his advisers had whilst riding through the woods one night.
The King vowed that not a single one of these "spirits" would haunt the woods with their presence for the next one hundred years.
Mostly, this is just folk tale and superstition, but these stories have been passed down through generations of the local people and are still believed, by most, to this day.
External links
- This link contains a vast amount of information about the village and photos of the notable landmarks and views.