Chalford is a large village in the Frome Valley of the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

, England. It is to the southeast of

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

about upstream. It gives its name to Chalford

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

, which covers the villages of Chalford, Chalford Hill, France Lynch, Bussage and Brownshill, spread over of the Cotswold countryside. At this point the valley is also called the Golden Valley.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

in the same name exists. This ward covers a similar area to the parish but extends to the Brimscombe and Thrupp ward. The total population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 6,509.

History

The remains, and known sites, of many barrows indicate that the plateau area of Chalford Hill, France Lynch and Bussage has been an area of continuous settlement for probably at least 4,000 years.

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

flints have been found in the area as well as the remains of a Roman Villa. Several of the place names in the area are also

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

in origin. The name Chalford may be derived from ''Calf'' ('Way') ''Ford'', or possibly from the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

, or 'Chalk', and ''Ford'' (river crossing point). There were two ancient crossings at Chalford apart from the ford from which the village was named: Stoneford, recorded from the later 12th century, was the crossing-point of a track up Cowcombe hill on the line of the later Cirencester

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powe ...

and by 1413 another track crossed into Minchinhampton by Stephen's bridge at Valley Corner. Chalford Hill is a recent title for the western end of the hill: Its original name was Chalford Lynch. "Lynch" (

lynchet A lynchet or linchet is an earth terrace found on the side of a hill. Lynchets are a feature of ancient field systems of the British Isles. They are commonly found in vertical rows and more commonly referred to as "strip lynchets". Lynchets appe ...

in modern English) means a cultivated

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

following the contours of a hill. Chalford Lynch and its extension France Lynch originated in the late 16th century as collections of stone cottages many built illegally on the peripheries of Bisley common as the mill expansion in the valley outstripped accommodation space in the valley. Many dwellings in Franch Lynch and Chalford Hill only became legitimate at the time of the parliamentary enclosures in 1869. The settling of displaced

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

weavers in the 17th and 18th centuries brought quality silk and woollen cloth manufacturing to the valley. Some say that they gave their name to the neighbouring village of France Lynch. It is more likely that the name comes from a non-conformist chapel, France Meeting that was displaced from the village in the valley to the Lynches above. At this point the Golden Valley is narrow and deep so many weavers' cottages were built clinging to the sides of the hills, giving the village an

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

air. It is sometimes still referred to as the 'Alpine village'. As the paths on the hillsides were too narrow for more conventional forms of transport donkeys were used to carry groceries and other goods to houses, this tradition continuing until as recently as the 1950s. Chalford expanded rapidly with the opening of the

Thames and Severn Canal The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south-west of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a cargo route from Bristol and the Midlands to London, linking England's two largest rivers for bett ...

in 1789 and the village became one of the centres for the manufacture of

broadcloth Broadcloth is a dense, plain woven cloth, historically made of wool. The defining characteristic of broadcloth is not its finished width but the fact that it was woven much wider (typically 50 to 75% wider than its finished width) and then he ...

. Its wealthy clothiers lived close to their mills and built many fine houses which survive to this day.

Architecture

In common with other towns and villages in the area, buildings are generally constructed of

Cotswold stone The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...

, with local fields enclosed by dry stone walling. The area is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the village itself is a designated

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

. Chalford is noted for two fine Arts and Crafts movement churches. Christ Church (

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 Brit ...

) contains work by Norman Jewson, William Simmonds,

Peter Waals Peter Waals (30 January 1870 – May 1937), born Pieter van der Waals, was a Dutch cabinet maker associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. Arts and Crafts Born in The Hague to Jan van der Waals and Lena Alida Maria Loorij, Peter Waals was ...

Edward Barnsley William Edward Barnsley (7 February 1900 2 December 1987) was an English designer and maker of furniture, teacher and important figure in the 20th-century British craft movement. Born in Duntisbourne Rouse, Gloucestershire, he was the son of ...

, Norman Bucknell, amongst other distinguished artists and craftsmen working in the Cotswold tradition. The Church of Our Lady of the Angels (

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

), Brownshill, by

W. D. Caroe W. may refer to: * SoHo (Australian TV channel) (previously W.), an Australian pay television channel * ''W.'' (film), a 2008 American biographical drama film based on the life of George W. Bush * "W.", the fifth track from Codeine's 1992 EP ''Bar ...

(1930), contains outstanding

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

by Douglas Strachan. France Lynch, part of the civil parish but a separate ecclesiastical parish has a splendid listed church, St John the Baptist, built by George Frederick Bodley who went on to build Washington National Cathedral in Washington DC. Christchurch Chalford

One of the most distinctive, and most photographed, features of the village is the Round House. It was built by the Thames and Severn Canal Company as a lengthman's cottage and is one of five along the

.Chalford Guide. Pub. Chalford Parish Council 1990 (The others are at Coates, Cerney Wick, Marston Meysey and Inglesham.) A notable feature is that access is by way of steps up to the first floor as the ground floor would have originally been stabling for a horse. Apart from a relatively short break in the 1950s when it was a museum it has fulfilled its function as a private residence, which it continues to do to this day. Directly opposite the Round House is Chalford Place, a Grade II*

listed building 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 I ...

built on the site of the original home of the ''de Chalkfordes'' who are mentioned in documents as early as 1240. The house, formerly known as the Companys Arms, is one of the earlier houses in the valley. Built as a mill owner's house it became an inn in the 19th century. It owed its name Companys Arms to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

for which the mills of Chalford supplied much of its cloth. It remained an inn until the 1960s when it reverted to its former name of Chalford Place. The house lay derelict for many years until it was recently purchased and is now being restored by the artist Damien Hirst

Surviving mills in Chalford parish

* St Mary's Mill * Clayfields/Ballingers Mill * Iles Mill * Belvedere Mill * Bliss Mills (Bliss, New, Mugmore, Spring and Wood.) Now part of the Chalford industrial estate. * Woolings Mill (including Sevilles upper mill.) * Smart Mill (formerly known as Stoneford, Bidmeads, Hoptons and Halliday Mill.) * Valley or Morton's Mill The mill race of Ashmeads Mill remains; the mill itself was demolished in the early 1900s.

Notable former mill owners' houses

* Brookside * Belvedere Mill House * Chalford Place * Chestnut House (Smarts Mill House) * Green Court * Old Valley Inn (formerly Clothier's Arms) * Sevilles House * Springfield House * St Mary's Mill House * Vale House

Listed buildings

* Grade II*: Chalford Place, St John the Baptist, St Mary's House, Wing Cottage * Grade II: Baptist Chapel, Church of St Michael and All Angels, Christ Church, France Congregational Church and Hall

Modern Chalford

In February 2008, Chalford hit the headlines when a community plan to reintroduce donkeys as a way of carrying shopping up the steep, narrow hills became public. On 5 September 2009 Chalford Community Stores allowed customers to purchase shares in the business. The store, which has been running with the aid of a volunteer workforce since 2003, is now affiliated with the independent organisation Co-operatives UK, making the share issue possible. On 4 March 2012 the store and the donkey were featured in an episode of Countryfile. The store prospered within the local church hall but returned to the High Street in May 2014 and now thrives in the former Seventh Day Adventist Hall. This was made possible by a second community share issue which raised in excess of £50,000 alongside a bank loan and various grants.

Notable residents

Notable residents include James Bradley, the third Astronomer Royal, who died in Chalford in 1762, and the 19th-century sculptor John Thomas.

Henry Cooper Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 19341 May 2011) was a British heavyweight boxer, best remembered internationally for a 1963 fight in which he knocked down a young Cassius Clay before the fight was stopped because of a cut eye from Clay's punches. C ...

lived in the village as a child, after being evacuated to Chalford during the Second World War. The artist Damien Hirst has a studio in the village. Lord Janvrin, former Private Secretary to

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

, maintains a house in the village and on his retirement was gazetted as Baron Janvrin of Chalford Hill, on 10 October 2007. The Public Relations guru Mark Borkowski lives at Oakridge.

Brownshill

The sub-village of Brownshill is home to the Monastery of Our Lady and St Bernard, a community of eight Bernardine Cistercian nuns. There is a sister community at the Monastery of Our Lady of Hyning at Warton, near

Carnforth Carnforth is a market town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, situated at the north-east end of Morecambe Bay. The parish of Carnforth had a population of 5,560 in the 2011 census, an increase from the 5,350 rec ...

. St Mary of the Angels is a small Roman Catholic church built at Brownshill in the 1930s with funds from two former nurses, Bertha Kessler and Katherine Hudson. The architect was

, with windows by Douglas Strachan.

Golden Valley

The valley from Chalford to Stroud, known as the Golden Valley, is one of Stroud's

Five Valleys The Five Valleys are a group of valleys in Gloucestershire, England, which converge on the town of Stroud at the western edge of the Cotswolds. The Five Valleys are notable both for the landscape, which attracts visitors, and their role in indu ...

; it carries the Stroud-Swindon railway (known informally as the Golden Valley line) and the

towards the

Notes

References

External links

Chalford Hill

Stroud Voices (Chalford filter) - oral history site
{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Stroud District Civil parishes in Gloucestershire