Chipping Sodbury is a market town

Market town

Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

 in the county of South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...

, south-west 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...

, founded in the 12th century by William Crassus (or le Gros)

William le Gros, 1st Earl of Albemarle

William le Gros was the Count of Aumale , Earl of York, and Lord of Holderness. He was the eldest son of Stephen, Count of Aumale, and his spouse, Hawise, daughter of Ralph de Mortimer of Wigmore....

. The villages of Old Sodbury

Old Sodbury

Old Sodbury is a small village in the valley of the River Frome just below and to the west of the Cotswold escarpment and to the east of Chipping Sodbury and Yate in South Gloucestershire, England. The village extends from Chipping Sodbury in the West to the Cotswold Edge in the East and is on the...

 and Little Sodbury

Little Sodbury

Little Sodbury is an English village in South Gloucestershire, located between Chipping Sodbury, to the West, Old Sodbury to the South, Badminton, and the A46 road to the East and Horton and Hawkesbury Upton, to the north....

 are nearby. At the 2001 census the population of Chipping Sodbury was 5,066, but in the last decade the town has become part of a much larger built-up area due to the rapid expansion of nearby Yate

Yate

Yate is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, at the southwest extremity of the Cotswold Hills, 12 miles northeast of the city of Bristol. At the 2001 census the population was 21,789. The town of Chipping Sodbury is continuous with Yate to the east...

. At the census the combined population of Yate

Yate

Yate is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, at the southwest extremity of the Cotswold Hills, 12 miles northeast of the city of Bristol. At the 2001 census the population was 21,789. The town of Chipping Sodbury is continuous with Yate to the east...

 and Chipping Sodbury was 26,855.

Transport

East of the town is the Chipping Sodbury Tunnel

Chipping Sodbury Tunnel

Chipping Sodbury Tunnel sits on the South Wales Main Line. It was constructed around 1900 for the South Wales and Bristol Direct Railway and runs some 2½ miles west of Badminton railway station and Chipping Sodbury Yard....

 a railway tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

 under 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...

, 2 miles 924 yards (4.06 km) long, which was opened by the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 in 1902. The Chipping Sodbury tunnel is notorious for flooding in wet weather, often leading to disruption of services on the main railway line

South Wales Main Line

The South Wales Main Line , originally known as the London, Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway or simply as the Bristol and South Wales Direct Railway, is a branch of the Great Western Main Line in Great Britain...

 to and from South Wales

South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

. Chipping Sodbury had a railway station

Chipping Sodbury railway station

Chipping Sodbury railway station was a railway station on the South Wales Main Line serving the town of Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire.The station opened on 1 July 1903, and closed on 3 April 1961.- External links :*...

 from 1903 to 1961. Yate station

Yate railway station

Yate railway station serves the town of Yate in South Gloucestershire, in south west England. The station is located on the main Bristol to Birmingham line between Bristol Parkway and Cam & Dursley, and is operated by First Great Western....

, on the Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 to Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 main line, originally closed in January 1965 but reopened in May 1989.

Cultural activities

Chipping Sodbury hosts a twice yearly Mop Fair, usually the last weekends of March and September. The town also holds a Festival Week in early June. There is a farmers' market twice a month, on the second Saturday and last Thursday.

A Victorian Evening is held on the first Friday in December. The event starts in the afternoon when school choirs perform in the street. The evenings events begin with the arrival of Father Christmas when snow is guaranteed. The streets are lined with stalls from local charities and organisations and old time amusements, including a Ferris wheel, Helter Skelter and two children's rides. Choirs sing, bands play, and stalls bring a market feel. A Hog Roast is held.

The name Chipping Sodbury is considered humorous by those unfamiliar with it. The town is mentioned in the film comedy Nuns On The Run

Nuns on the Run

Nuns on the Run is a 1990 British comedy film starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, also featuring Camille Coduri and Janet Suzman. It was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn and produced by HandMade Films. Many of the outdoor scenes were shot in Chiswick...

by Robbie Coltrane

Robbie Coltrane

Robbie Coltrane, OBE is a Scottish actor, comedian and author. He is known both for his role as Dr...

's character, as he and Eric Idle

Eric Idle

Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

's character, disguised as nuns, try to hide in a convent, claiming they come from Chipping Sodbury ― (erroneously) assuming there is no convent there. Additionally in the film Carry on Cowboy

Carry On Cowboy

Carry On Cowboy is the eleventh in the Carry On series of films. It was released in 1965 and was the first film to feature series regulars Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw...

, Jim Dale

Jim Dale

Jim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...

's character Sheriff P. Knutt, purports to have been educated at Chipping Sodbury Technical College; no such institution exists. Also, the name is believed to have inspired "Effing Sodbury", a place name associated with the satirical pseudo-newspaper The Framley Examiner

The Framley Examiner

The Framley Examiner is a parody of a newspaper in a small provincial English town.Very little happens in Framley, so the highlights in the newspaper are the absurdist classified ads The Framley Examiner ('Framley's traditional favourite since 1978') is a parody of a newspaper in a small...

. The town is also mentioned in the chorus of the song 'Graham Greene' from John Cale's

John Cale

John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....

 1973 album Paris 1919

Paris 1919 (album)

Paris 1919 is a 1973 album by former Velvet Underground member John Cale. It was produced by Chris Thomas and features a backing band consisting largely of members of Little Feat. It is the most accessible and traditional of Cale's albums, and the most well-known of his work as a solo artist.A...

.

The town is served by a community radio station, GLOSS FM

GLOSS FM

GLOSS FM is a community radio station in the United Kingdom, which started broadcasting to the South Gloucestershire area on 19 April 2010.It is a member of the Community Radio Association....

 which broadcasts 365 days a year on its webcasts and twice a year on 87.7 MHz FM.

Education

Chipping Sodbury has two primary schools and a secondary school. St John' Mead Primary School is named after the church in the High Street. The other is Raysfield Infants and Junior schools. In 2008 the pass rate for Chipping Sodbury School (the secondary school) was 70% of 5 GCSEs A* to C.

Toponymy

The town's name is recorded in Old English (in the dative case) as Soppanbyrig = "Soppa's fort". "Chipping" (from Old English cēping) means that a market was held there.

Notable people

Edward Jenner

Edward Jenner

Edward Anthony Jenner was an English scientist who studied his natural surroundings in Berkeley, Gloucestershire...

, in the 18th century, started his medical training in Sodbury, observing people catching cowpox

Cowpox

Cowpox is a skin disease caused by a virus known as the Cowpox virus. The pox is related to the vaccinia virus and got its name from the distribution of the disease when dairymaids touched the udders of infected cows. The ailment manifests itself in the form of red blisters and is transmitted by...

 and then not catching smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

.

RC "Jack" Russell: former England cricket wicket keeper and artist.

Chris Sawyer

Chris Sawyer

Chris Sawyer is a Scottish computer game developer who is best known for designing and programming Transport Tycoon and the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.-Career:...

: creator of the Rollercoaster Tycoon

RollerCoaster Tycoon

RollerCoaster Tycoon may refer to:*RollerCoaster Tycoon - a series of video games in which a player must manage an amusement park**RollerCoaster Tycoon - the first game, which came out in 1999...

 and Transport Tycoon

Transport Tycoon

Transport Tycoon and Transport Tycoon Deluxe are computer games developed by Chris Sawyer and published by MicroProse in 1994 , and 1995...

 games and Chris Sawyer's Locomotion

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion is a computer game by independent game developer Chris Sawyer. In his words, it is "the spiritual successor to Transport Tycoon"....

.

Dr Alfred Grace, brother of legendary England cricketer W. G. Grace

W. G. Grace

William Gilbert Grace, MRCS, LRCP was an English amateur cricketer who is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest players of all time, having a special significance in terms of his importance to the development of the sport...

, was a resident of Chipping Sodbury in the late 19th century. He captained Chipping Sodbury Cricket Club, as did his son Alfie (W.G. played some of his early cricket for the club).

Sir James Dyson

James Dyson

Sir James Dyson is a British industrial designer and founder of the Dyson company.He is best known as the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation. His net worth in 2011 was said to be £1.45 billion.-Early life:Dyson was born in...

, inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, lives at Dodington Park

Dodington Park

Dodington Park is a country house and estate in Dodington, Gloucestershire, England.The Codrington family acquired the estate in the late 16th century, when there was a large gables Elizabethan house and adjoining church...

 just outside Chipping Sodbury.

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of novels, was born in Chipping Sodbury maternity hospital, and lived on Horse Street for the first few years of her life.