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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Chignall, 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 Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

, in the

district, in the county of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

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

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

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 ''FlyPast'' is an aircraft magazine, published monthly, edited by Tom Allett, Steve Beebee and Jamie Ewan. History and profile The magazine started as a bi-monthly edition in May/June 1981 and its first editor was the late Mike Twite. It is ow ...

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

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

escorted by the Red Arrows.

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

* Villages in Essex Former civil parishes in Essex {{Essex-geo-stub