Chartridge is a village in Buckinghamshire, England situated 2 miles North West of

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

. Chartridge is also the name of a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Chiltern District Chiltern District was one of four local government districts of Buckinghamshire in south central England from 1974 to 2020. It was named after the Chiltern Hills on which the region sits. The main towns in the district were Amersham and Chesh ...

which also includes the village of Bellingdon and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s of Pednor, Hundridge and Asheridge. It was created in 1899 having previously been part of the parish of

. The village is 34 miles northwest of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and the closest town is

to the south with which it is closely associated. Until 1899 Chartridge was part of Chesham parish and post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

residential housing has resulted in ribbon development stretching out along the Chartridge Road from the town to the village. 11 miles to the northwest is the county town of Buckinghamshire, Aylesbury.

History

The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, 'Cærdan-hrycg' means Caerda's ridge, referring to the fact that the settlement sits on the top of a hill. There is no specific mention of Chartridge in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

. In

manorial Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...

rolls of 1191 it is recorded as 'Charderuge' presumed linked to the purchase of lands by Robert de Charderugge. By the late 12th century parts of Chartridge were owned by the Sifrewast family. By the 13th century it has become incorporated into the names of local landowners and is referred to in conveyances.Victoria County History Chesham British History online
Retrieved 23 February 2012 There was no church in Chartridge village as it was historically part of the ecclesiastical parish of Chesham. However, as early as 1311 a private house, Great Hundridge Manor, was recorded as providing a chapel dedicated to King Edward the Martyr. There has been a Baptist Chapel in the village since the 18th century. In 1811 a house was registered for meetings of the Lower Baptist Church in Chesham, now known as the Trinity Baptist Church. Today the Baptist Chapel in the village is a branch of Broadway Baptist Church in Chesham. Services commenced in the early 19th century and in 1844 land close to the Bell pub was given for a chapel which was subsequently replaced by a new chapel in 1885 that was financed by public subscription.Chesham Town Talk Winter 2011 - referenced from Bucks Free Press published 21 August 1885
, Retrieved 23 February 2012 Chartridge Lodge was greatly extended by the Franklin family who lived there from 1899. Today it is home to Chartridge Park, an 18-hole golf course, and a large Conference Centre. The Franklin family were also responsible for the building of several cottages within the village and conversion of a blacksmith's shop into a Reading Room in 1903 to mark the coronation of

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

. Subsequently, it was given by the family to the village and on becoming the village hall was used as a concert room, clubhouse and lending library and has been overseen from that time until the present by the Trustees of Chartridge Reading Room. Due to the absence of a parish church, from its earliest days the Reading Room was also used for religious services and a Sunday School associated with St. Mary's Church, Chesham. Regular services ran from 1964 until 1974 during which it was known as St Christopher's. During the 19th century the vast majority of employment was provided by agriculture. Directly employing labourers as well as supporting trades such as blacksmiths. Income earned would have been spent in the licensed public houses, the Bell and Portobello Arms, the latter now a private house. In the early part of the 20th century there were four pheasant breeding farms due to the popularity of game shooting and convenience of improved travel by railway from London to Chesham. At least one farm continued in business until the

. From 1783 there are records of a

Pest house A pest house, plague house, pesthouse or fever shed was a type of building used for persons afflicted with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, smallpox or typhus. Often used for forcible quarantine, many towns and cities had one ...

in operation. The predominant infection of the time being small pox.Chartridge Village website
Retrieved 23 February 2012

Education

An infant school opened in the 1850s providing education for 30 children. Today it is known as Chartridge Combined School and takes children from ages 5–11. The catchment area secondary schools are:- Chiltern Hills Academy and Chesham Grammar School in Chesham,

Dr Challoner's Grammar School Dr Challoner's Grammar School (also known as DCGS, Challoner's Boys or simply Challoner's) is a selective grammar school for boys, with a co-educational Sixth Form, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England. It was given academy status in January ...

for boys in Amersham and – Dr Challoner's High School for girls in

Little Chalfont Little Chalfont is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is one of a group of villages known collectively as The Chalfonts, which also comprises Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter. Little Chalfont is located ...

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire