Chigwell is a town and
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 ...
in the
Epping Forest District
Epping Forest is a local government district in Essex, England. Situated in the west of the county, bordering northeastern Greater London, it is named after, and contains a large part of, Epping Forest.
The district, though wholly within the c ...
of
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 Grea ...
, England. It is part of the
urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
and
metropolitan area 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 is adjacent to the northern boundary of
Greater London. It is on the
Central line of the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
.
History
Toponymy
According to P. H. Reaney's ''Place-Names of Essex'' the name means 'Cicca's well', Cicca being an
Anglo-Saxon personal name. In medieval sources the name appears with a variety of spellings including "Cinghe uuella"
and Chikewelle". Folk etymology has sought to derive the name from a lost "king's well", supposed to have been to the south-east of the parish near the border of what is now the London Borough of Redbridge. There were several medicinal springs in Chigwell Row documented by Miller Christy in his book ''History of the mineral waters and medicinal springs of the county of Essex'', published in 1910. The 18th-century historian Nathaniel Salmon stated that the "-well" element in the name derives from Anglo-Saxon ''weald'' (wood).
The land registration map of Redbridge Council shows "Chig Well (site of)" as being located to the rear of the house located at 67 Brocket Way, Chigwell.
Economic development
Traditionally a rural farming community, but now largely suburban, Chigwell was mentioned 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 ...
''. It referred to by
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
in his novel ''
Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty''; the Maypole Inn is based on the King's Head inn, though the name was taken from the Maypole public house in Chigwell Row. It is likely Dickens was aware of both hostelries, since he frequently visited Chigwell, which he described in a letter to
John Forster as "the greatest place in the world ... Such a delicious old inn opposite the churchyard ... such beautiful forest scenery ... such an out of the way rural place...".
Local government
The Chigwell civil parish was part of
from 1894 to 1933, with local government split between Chigwell Parish Council, Epping Rural District Council and Essex County Council. Following a
county review order
The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales.
The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their boar ...
in 1933, Chigwell formed together with
Buckhurst Hill
Buckhurst Hill is an affluent suburban town in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and adjacent to the northern boundary of the London Borough of Redbridge. The area developed following the o ...
and
Loughton
Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...
the
Chigwell Urban District
Chigwell was a local government district in south west Essex, England.Vision of Britain Chigwell UDhistoric map ) It contained the settlements of Chigwell, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill; and formed part of the Metropolitan Police District.
Formati ...
, with the Chigwell Urban District Council replacing both the parish and rural district councils. When
Greater London was created in 1965 a small, more densely populated section to the southeast was transferred to the
London Borough of Redbridge; this area is now known as the Manford estate and continues to be within the Chigwell
post town
A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...
. The rest of Chigwell Urban District was incorporated into the
Epping Forest District
Epping Forest is a local government district in Essex, England. Situated in the west of the county, bordering northeastern Greater London, it is named after, and contains a large part of, Epping Forest.
The district, though wholly within the c ...
in 1974. Parish councils were re-established for Chigwell and
Loughton
Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...
, and for the first time in
Buckhurst Hill
Buckhurst Hill is an affluent suburban town in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and adjacent to the northern boundary of the London Borough of Redbridge. The area developed following the o ...
, in 1996.
RAF Chigwell
From 1933 to 1958 there was an
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
presence at Roding Valley Meadows (near what is now the David Lloyd Leisure Centre). It served first to provide
barrage balloon protection during the Second World War and was involved in the rollout of Britain's coastal nuclear early warning system during the
Cold War. In 1953 it briefly housed the RAF contingent taking part in the Coronation celebrations. Some of the RAF Chigwell site is now part of the
Local Nature Reserve, Roding Valley Meadows LNR.
Governance
The
local council of the civil parish is Chigwell Parish Council. The parish council originally existed from 1894 to 1933, and was created again in 1996. The parish council offices are located on Hainault Road. Councillors are elected from three wards: Grange Hill, Chigwell Row and Chigwell Village. Local councillors are also elected to
Epping Forest District Council Epping may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Epping railway station, Sydney
* Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
* Epping Forest, Kearns, a ...
and
Essex County Council
Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...
.
Geography
![St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/St._Mary%27s_Church%2C_Chigwell_-_geograph.org.uk_-_93143.jpg)
The hamlet of
Chigwell Row
Chigwell Row is a small village falling within the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located 12.9 miles (20.8 km) north east of Charing Cross. It has a London (020) area code, is served by London Buses route 150, and the closest London U ...
lies towards the east of Chigwell, near
Lambourne
Lambourne is a civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is located approximately 4.5 miles (7 km) South of Epping and 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Romford. It covers an area of , and in 2001 its population was 1, ...
; this part of the parish is well forested and mostly rural. Grange Hill is the area around the junction of Manor Road and Fencepiece Road/Hainault Road, extending as far as the boundary with Redbridge including the Limes Farm estate. Chigwell has a population of around 12,500 and is generally considered a wealthy area,
which since the TV series ''
Essex Wives
''Essex Wives'' was a television documentary series about married women socialising together in Essex, England. It ran for a single series in 2002 and launched the career of Jodie Marsh.
Format
The ITV programme featured the daily lives of a n ...
''. The area is characterised by large suburban houses, notably in Manor Road, Hainault Road and Chigwell High Road, which featured in the popular English situation comedy
Birds of a Feather (although many of the outside locations used in that programme were not in Chigwell).
Education
![Chigwell School 1904](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Chigwell_School_1904.jpg)
Schools in the area include Chigwell Primary Academy, Limes Farm Infants School & Nursery, Limes Farm Junior School,
Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College
Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College is an independent faith school in Chigwell, 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, Hertfor ...
,
West Hatch High School
West Hatch High School is a secondary school located in Chigwell, Epping Forest, Essex (near Woodford Bridge). The area now occupied by West Hatch was previously the western gate (or hatch as it would have been known) into Epping Forest; it ...
and
Chigwell School
Chigwell School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition located in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It consists of a pre-prep (ages 4–7), Junior School (ages 7–11), Sen ...
, an
independent school, which was founded from a bequest by
Samuel Harsnett
Samuel Harsnett (or Harsnet) (June 1561 – May 1631), born Samuel Halsnoth, was an English writer on religion and Archbishop of York from 1629.
Early life
Born in St Botolph's parish, Colchester, Essex, the son of William Halsnoth, a baker, ...
,
Archbishop of York, in 1629, among whose past pupils are
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
, who later went on to found
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, and actor
Sir Ian Holm.
[
(Registration required).
] The diarist
John Aubrey
John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the '' Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist ...
recorded that it was at Chigwell School that Penn had a mystical vision, which influenced his later conversion to
Quakerism. The original 17th-century schoolroom where Penn was taught still stands, and is now the school library.
Culture
![ECR(1851) p57b - Chigwell](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/ECR%281851%29_p57b_-_Chigwell.jpg)
Until May 2012
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...
Football Club had its training facilities in the area,
when they moved to a new facility in Enfield, north east London, However the club still runs training sessions for local youth on the Limes Farm estate through the summer months. Many past and present players and staff have homes in the area.
Leyton Orient Football Club
Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...
also have a training ground in Chigwell, adjacent to Chigwell School's fields.
A
David Lloyd Leisure Centre is situated off Roding Road by the
M11 motorway, which contains indoor and outdoor tennis courts, swimming pools and gymnasium. Also in the area are a Holmes Place Health Club,
Topgolf
Topgolf is a golf driving range game with electronically tracked golfballs and automatically scored drives that started in 2000 and grew to become a multinational sports entertainment company. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, it has locations i ...
playing Centre and
Chigwell Golf Club
Chigwell is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of London, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London. It is on the Central line of the London ...
. Chigwell Cricket Club is based at the Old Chigwellians Club in Roding Lane. Chigwell also plays host to the
Old Loughtonians Hockey Club
Old Loughtonians Hockey Club is a field hockey club based at the Roding Sports Centre, Luxborough Lane in Chigwell.
Club
The club runs ten men's and five women's teams in addition to junior teams from u8s to u18s. The men's first XI play in the Di ...
. The town is also included in a number of London loop walks, which start in the city and pass through the outskirts of the capital.
There are two pubs, The King William IV and the Two Brewers.
Ye Olde King's Head, which was operated as a pub until 2011 is said to be the Maypole Inn in
Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
' ''
Barnaby Rudge
''Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty'' (commonly known as ''Barnaby Rudge'') is a historical novel by British novelist Charles Dickens. ''Barnaby Rudge'' was one of two novels (the other was ''The Old Curiosity Shop'') that Dickens publ ...
''.
The building was subsequently sold to local resident Lord Sugar's property company Amsprop which now leases the Grade 1 building to the Sheesh Turkish restaurant.
Until their closure in 2002, Chigwell had night clubs, known collectively as the
Epping Forest Country Club. There is a
Local Nature Reserve at Roding Valley Meadows off Roding Lane which follows the
River Roding
The River Roding () rises at Molehill Green, Essex, England, then flows south through Essex and London and forms Barking Creek as it reaches the River Thames.
Course
The river leaves Molehill Green and passes through or near a group of eight ...
up to
Loughton
Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...
.
The TV series ''
Birds of a Feather'' was set in Chigwell.
Transport
![Chigwell stn building](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Chigwell_stn_building.JPG)
All bus services are
Transport for London services, except the 804. Route 150 just penetrates into
Chigwell Row
Chigwell Row is a small village falling within the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located 12.9 miles (20.8 km) north east of Charing Cross. It has a London (020) area code, is served by London Buses route 150, and the closest London U ...
. Routes 362 and 462 serve only
Grange Hill
''Grange Hill'' is a British children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical comprehensive school. The show began its run on 8 February 1978 on BBC1, and was one of the longest-running progra ...
. Route 275 just passes through Tomswood Road and the westernmost section of Manor Road. Chigwell is served by
Chigwell station and
Grange Hill station
Grange Hill is a London Underground station on the Central line which lies in the parish of Chigwell in the Epping Forest district of Essex. The boundary with the London Borough of Redbridge is immediately to the east of the station buildings. ...
(further south bordering Hainault), both on the
Central line of the London Underground. For a more frequent service to London there are also nearby
Buckhurst Hill
Buckhurst Hill is an affluent suburban town in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and adjacent to the northern boundary of the London Borough of Redbridge. The area developed following the o ...
,
Woodford Woodford may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Woodford, New South Wales
*Woodford, Queensland, a town in the Moreton Bay Region
*Woodford, Victoria
Canada
* Woodford, Ontario
England
*Woodford, Cornwall
* Woodford, Gloucestershire
*Woodford, Greate ...
,
Loughton
Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...
and
Hainault stations as services between Grange Hill and Woodford are limited to three trains per hour in each direction, with an increased service during morning peak hours.
Notable people
*
Thomas Edwards, recipient of the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
for actions at the
Battle of Tamai, is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's.
*
Sally Gunnell
Sally Jane Janet Gunnell (born 29 July 1966) is a British former track and field athlete, active between 1984 and 1997, who won the 1992 Olympic gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles. During a golden 24-month period between 1992 and 1994, Gunn ...
, athlete, pupil at
West Hatch High School
West Hatch High School is a secondary school located in Chigwell, Epping Forest, Essex (near Woodford Bridge). The area now occupied by West Hatch was previously the western gate (or hatch as it would have been known) into Epping Forest; it ...
*
Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey
Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey (5 December 1758 – 20 February 1830) was an eccentric and hot-tempered officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars who was as distinguished for his gambling and dueling as fo ...
,
[Harvey, Sir Eliab](_blank)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', J. K. Laughton
Sir John Knox Laughton (23 April 1830 – 14 September 1915) was a British naval historian and arguably the first to delineate the importance of the subject of Naval history as an independent field of study. Beginning his working life as a mathe ...
Royal Navy officer, lived at Rolls (demolished 1953)
*
Simon Harris
Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael since 2024. A TD for the Wicklow constituency since 2011, he has served as a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016 and f ...
, music producer
*
Scott Kashket (born 1996), England, striker for
Wycombe Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...
*
Harriet King, Victorian poet
[Catherine W. Reilly. ''Mid-Victorian Poetry: An Annotated Biobibliography''. Londen: Mansell Publishing Limited, 2000, p. 257.]
*Lieutenant-General
Sir Francis Lloyd (1853-1926), lived latterly at Rolls Park in Chigwell.
[Lieutenant General Sir Francis Lloyd lived at Chigwell's Rolls Park during the First World War]
Epping Forest Guardian, 25 February 2010
*
Bobby Moore, footballer, captain of the
1966 FIFA World Cup-winning England team
*
Geoff Hurst
Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley S ...
, member of 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning team, also lived in the town while at West Ham United
*Lieutenant Colonel
Augustus Charles Newman, recipient of the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
for actions at the
St Nazaire Raid, was born in the town.
*
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...
, snooker player
*
George Shillibeer
George Shillibeer (11 August 1797 – 21 August 1866) was an English coachbuilder.
Biography
Shillibeer was born in St Marylebone, London the son of Abraham and Elizabeth Shillibeer. Christened in St Marys Church, Marylebone on 22 October ...
, creator of the
London omnibus, plaque at St Mary's parish church
*
Alan Sugar
Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician and political adviser. In 1968, he started what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics com ...
, billionaire entrepreneur, former owner of
Amstrad
Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstra ...
, host of ''
The Apprentice
''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States.
Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...
''.
*General Sir
John Watson,
recipient of the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
for actions at
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
during the
Indian Mutiny, was born in the town.
*
Vicki Michelle
Vicki Michelle, (born 14 December 1950) is an English actress, radio presenter, businesswoman, film producer and former model. She is best known for her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche in the BBC television comedy series Allo 'Allo!'' and as ...
Actress, born in Chigwell.
*
Dave Gahan Dave may refer to:
Film, television, and theater
* ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver
* ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film
* Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...
singer, member of groupe Depeche Mode born in Chigwell.
References
External links
Chigwell Parish Council website
{{authority control
Civil parishes in Essex
Towns in Essex
Epping Forest District