Chignal Smealy is a small village and former

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 authority ...

, now in the parish of

Chignall Chignall is a civil parish in the City of Chelmsford in Essex, England. The civil parish has 311 inhabitants (2011). The villages were recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cingehala''. The parish was created in 1888 from the parishes of Ch ...

, on the north-western outskirts of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England. The local church (St. Nicholas) is a red brick building, containing an unusual red brick

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

which has been used for many christenings. In 1881 the parish had a population of 134. On 24 March 1888 the parish was abolished to form Chignall. The village was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. The spelling of the village name is open to discussion. Sometimes it is spelt "Chignall Smealy" other times, it is spelt "Chignal Smealy".

The Queen's Birthday Flypast

The open views from the village give an opportunity to watch the Queen's Birthday

Flypast A flypast is a ceremonial or honorific flight by an aircraft or group of aircraft. The term flypast is used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In the United States, the terms flyover and flyby are used. Flypasts are often tied in w ...

in June each year. The route is classified but in previous years the flight has been routed over the village then on to Hainault Country Park,

Fairlop station Fairlop is a London Underground station in Fairlop in east London, England, which is on the Central line of the London Underground. It has been in Travelcard Zone 4 since 2 January 2007. It is on the north side of Forest Road, in Fairlop, just ...

and finally to the Mall. A flypast 14 miles long passed overhead at a speed of 310 mph, concluded by

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

escorted by the

Red Arrows The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-RAF team, replacing a number of unofficial teams ...

The Village

Chignall Smealy has a number of different clubs and groups including: Bowls Club, Chignal 4 Art, Cricket Club, Gardening Club, Wine Discovery, Women's Institute. The Pig and Whistle is a traditional rural village pub, dating back to the mid-19th centuryhttp://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/pub/chelmsford/pig-whistle.aspx .

References

External links

Chignal Parish Council Web Site
Villages in Essex Former civil parishes in Essex {{Essex-geo-stub