Christian Malford is a village 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 authority ...
in the county of
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England. The village lies about northeast of the town of
Chippenham
Chippenham is a market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...
. The
Bristol Avon
The River Avon is a river in the south west of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is a cognate of the Welsh word , meaning 'river'.
The Avon ...
forms most of the northern and eastern boundaries of the parish. The hamlets of Thornend and Upper Town lie within the parish.
The unusual name is evidently a corruption of ''Christ mal Ford'', Old English ''moel, mal'' being a mark: "Christ’s mal" is Christ's mark or sign, the cross. Thus the name signified "Cross Ford". Deeds from
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.
The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It wa ...
cartulary relate to Christmalford Manor: in AD 940
King Edmund granted Christmalford to
St Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury. In 1086 the Abbey of Glastonbury remained tenant-in-chief of ''Cristemeleforee'' in the ancient
Domesday
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 manusc ...
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
of ''Sterchelai'' (Startley). Christian Malford and the other parishes of Startley hundred were amalgamated with additional parishes to form the
hundred of Malmesbury.
Fossils
The village is known to
palaeontologists as a rediscovered
Lagerstätte
A Lagerstätte (, from ''Lager'' 'storage, lair' '' Stätte'' 'place'; plural ''Lagerstätten'') is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These for ...
, a site of remarkably preserved fossils, in this case in the Middle
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
Oxford clay
The Oxford Clay (or Oxford Clay Formation) is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock formation underlying much of southeast England, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as Yorkshire. The Oxford Clay Formation dates to the Jurassic, specifical ...
, in which a chance discovery in the 19th century uncovered thousands of exquisitely preserved
ammonite
Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...
s, fish and crustaceans. The site, whose exact location had not been publicly disclosed, became most famous for squid-like
cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...
s and
belemnites, complete with their
phosphatized Phosphatic fossilization has occurred in unusual circumstances to preserve some extremely high-resolution microfossils in which careful preparation can even reveal preserved cellular structures. Such microscopic fossils are only visible under the sc ...
soft parts. The site was rediscovered in 2008.
Religious sites
Parish church
The
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
of All Saints, close to the river, is a
Grade I listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
building. The church dates from c. 1300 but has evidence of an earlier building. The south aisle and chapel were added in the 14th century; the tower is 18th-century with 14th-century lower stages. Inside, the font is c. 1200 and the chapel screen from the 15th century is richly carved. Several windows have fragments of 15th-century glass.
The church underwent
restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
in the 19th century and was re-ordered in the 1990s. The parish is now part of the Draycot Benefice.
Congregational chapel
A
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
chapel named Shecaniah was built in 1836, near the main road on the western outskirts of the village, not far from the river bridge.
William Jay (1769-1853), later an eminent preacher, was pastor here during his early career in the late 1780s. A schoolroom was added in 1909 and later in the century the congregation joined the
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
. The chapel closed in 1998, then was converted for residential use.
Transport
Christian Malford is near a crossing point of the
Avon, which in this area flows south from
Malmesbury
Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...
to Chippenham. The centre of settlement is to the south of the main road, which in the past was the
A420 from Chippenham to
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
(via
Lyneham and
Royal Wootton Bassett
Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...
). The
M4 motorway
The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
, built in 1971 and passing less than a mile north of the village centre, became the preferred route for traffic to and from Swindon, and in the late 1980s the A420 was redesignated as the B4069.
The
Wilts & Berks Canal
The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Abingdon. ...
, built across the southeast of the parish, to the east of Thornend, opened in this area in 1801. Completed in 1810, the canal carried goods including Somerset coal to Wootton Bassett, Swindon and beyond; it was abandoned in 1914.
The
Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the or ...
, the railway from London to
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, followed a similar route to the canal but further west, passing between Christian Malford and Thornend. The line opened in 1841 and in 1869 station opened at Dauntsey Lock, just over the eastern boundary of the parish. In 1926 a small station, , was opened to serve the village. The station closed in 1965 when local services were withdrawn. The line remains open, with the nearest railway station being at .
Amenities
The village has a small primary school, near the church; its first building dates from 1835.
There is a village hall and a
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, the ''Rising Sun''.
References
External links
Village website*
{{authority control
Villages in Wiltshire
Civil parishes in Wiltshire
Lagerstätten
Paleontology in the United Kingdom