Chrishall (pronounced ''Chris hall'') is a small 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Uttlesford Uttlesford is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Essex, England. Its council is based in the town of Saffron Walden. The district also includes the town of Great Dunmow and numerous villages, including Stansted Mountfitchet ...

district 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 village lies close to the borders with

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

and

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, south of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and equidistant [] between the two medieval market towns of Saffron Walden and Royston, Hertfordshire, Royston. The village was listed in the Domesday Book as ''Cristeshalla'', or "nook of land dedicated to Christ". In 1422 (1 Henry VI), it appears in a record as "Cristeshale". The

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, withi ...

, a Neolithic track, passes through the parish. Chrishall's location is key to its character; as the village sits at the highest point in Essex, at above sea level, road construction has avoided this high ground and therefore Chrishall is off the beaten track. Despite its relative isolation the village retains facilities such as a pre-school as well as a primary school. The village also boasts a sports field, a new playground, a church, a village hall and many clubs and societies as well as the Red Cow

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

. Chrishall's population has remained largely unchanged over the last 170 years. In 1841 it totalled 518 and today about 450 people live in the village. Notable residents include the English composer,

John Rutter Sir John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. Biography Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, R ...

History

Following the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, the area around Chrishall was given to Eustace of Boulogne, who built and occupied a house on a hill to the south of the current church. He named the house "Flanders", and it was there that his daughter

Matilda of Boulogne Matilda I of Boulogne ( – 3 May 1152) was Countess of Boulogne in her own right from 1125 and Queen of England from the accession of her husband, King Stephen, in 1135 until her death in 1152. She supported Stephen in his struggle for th ...

, later wife of King Stephen, was raised. A letter survives that the queen wrote to Hubert the Chamberlain, ordering that the residents of Chrishall be looked after. The house survived until the 15th century, and is believed to have stood on the site of Chiswick Hall, itself built in the 17th century by Sir John James (d.1676). The village has been home to a church for over a thousand years. Prior to the Norman invasion a small church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was situated on the site of the present church. The current church was begun in the 12th century. It consists of a nave and aisles, a chancel, and a stone tower containing six bells. It was appropriated, at an early period, to

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

. The church contains a number of

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...

es, including a notable one in memory of Sir John de la Pole and his wife, dating from 1380.

Chrishall Common

At the edge of the parish is Chrishall Common, a hill which at is a

County Top The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...

: the highest point in Essex, and also of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

.https://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/mountaindetails.php?qu=S&rf=5460, Hill bagging website (Chrishall Common, County Top)

Buildings

The village has a pub, church, primary school, village hall and adventure playground. The barn attached to The Red Cow public house is the oldest building in Chrishall apart from the church, and is believed to date to 1500. There was once a village shop in front of the pub, however this is now closed. Holy Trinity Church, a 12th-century Grade I Listed Building, is situated on the edge of the main village. A comprehensive set of images and the detailed history of Holy Trinity appear on the parish website. In the centre of the village lies Chrishall Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas C of E Primary School, Jigney's meadow and the adventure playground. The village hall has recently been relocated to the Methodist chapel in Crawley End.

Literature

Chrishall is the presumed location featuring in the short ghost story " The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance" by

M.R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English Medieval studies, medievalist scholar and author who served as provost (education), provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as w ...

, published in '' A Thin Ghost and Others'' in 1919. This is an

epistolary Epistolary means "relating to an epistle or letter". It may refer to: * Epistolary (), a Christian liturgical book containing set readings for church services from the New Testament Epistles * Epistolary novel, a novel written as a series of lette ...

short story, and the first of its four letters is sent from 'Great Chrishall'.

References

External links