Chigwell

Coordinates: 51°37′21″N 0°04′20″E / 51.6225°N 0.07227°E / 51.6225; 0.07227

Chigwell
Chigwell  Chigwell shown within Essex
Population	12,449 [1]
OS grid reference	TQ435935
District	Epping Forest
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHIGWELL
Postcode district	IG7
Dialling code	020
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	Epping Forest
List of places: UK • England • Essex

Chigwell is a civil parish and town in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located 11.6 miles (18.7 km) north east of Charing Cross. It is served by two London Underground stations and has a London (020) area code.

Etymology

According to P. H. Reaney's Place-Names of Essex, the standard guide to etymology in the county, the name means 'Cicca's well', Cicca being an Anglo-Saxon personal name. In medieval sources the name appears with a wide variety of spellings including "Cinghe uuella"^[2] 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 proposal by 18th-century local historian Nathaniel Salmon that that the "-well" element in the name derives from Anglo-Saxon weald (forest), indicating Chigwell's location in a royal demesne^[2] rather than Anglo-Saxon wielle (well) has long been superseded by modern onomastic study and is no longer credible.

History

Traditionally a rural farming community, but now largely suburban, Chigwell was mentioned in the Domesday Book and later lauded by Charles Dickens in the 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; and it is likely Dickens visited both hostelries. Charles Dickens frequently visited Chigwell, which he described in a letter as "the greatest place in the world...Such a delicious old inn opposite the church...such beautiful forest scenery...such an out of the way rural place!".

From 1933 to 1974 Chigwell formed together with Buckhurst Hill and Loughton the Chigwell Urban District. Parish councils were re-established for the parishes of Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell, and Loughton in 1996.

A small area of the original parish was attached to London Borough of Redbridge when it was created in 1965; this area is now known as the Manford estate which still uses the Chigwell area name and postcode.

The hamlet of Chigwell Row lies towards the east of Chigwell near Lambourne; 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 is twinned with Mantes-la-Ville, a suburb of Paris, France.

Property

Chigwell has a population of around 12,500 and is generally considered a wealthy area,^[3] which since the TV series Essex Wives, journalists have called (with Loughton and Buckhurst Hill), the Essex golden triangle. 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 c. 1904

Schools in the area include Chigwell Primary School, Limes Farm Infants & Junior School, West Hatch High School and most notably Chigwell School, a public school, which was founded from a bequest by Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York, in 1629, among whose many famous past pupils are William Penn, who later went on to found Pennsylvania, and actor Sir Ian Holm.^[3] The diarist John Aubrey 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.

Sport and leisure

Tottenham Hotspur football club has its training facilities in the area,^[3] and runs training sessions for local youth on the Limes Farm estate through the summer months. Many past and present players and staff have homes on the area.^[3]

A David Lloyd Leisure Centre is situated off Roding Road by the M11 motorway, which offers indoor and outdoor tennis courts, swimming pools and gymnasium. Also in the area are a Holmes Place Health Club, Top Golf playing Centre and Chigwell Golf Club. The town is also included in a number of London loop walks, which start in the city and passes through the outskirts of the capital.^[3]

There are a number of pubs, including the King William IV, The Bald Hind and Ye Olde King's Head, which is said to be the Maypole Inn in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge.^[3]

Transport

Bus

All bus services are TfL services, except school routes 43 and 804. Routes 43 and 804 do not accept Travelcards, Oyster Pay-as-you-Go or any other TfL form of payment.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Route Number	Route	Serving	Operator
43 School	Chigwell Row to Debden Debden Park High School via Chigwell	Chigwell Row, Manor Road, Limes Farm Estate, High Road (South), Chigwell Station, High Road (North).	TWH Bus & Coach
150	Chigwell Row to Becontree Heath via Ilford	Chigwell Row	First London
167	Debden Broadway to Ilford Hainault Street via Barkingside	Chigwell Rise, Chigwell Station, Hainault Road, Fencepiece Road	Docklands Buses
362	Grange Hill Station to King George Hospital via Marks Gate	Grange Hill Station	Blue Triangle
462	Hainault The Lowe to Ilford Hainault Street via Barkingside	Manor Road, Limes Farm Estate, Fencepiece Road	Arriva London
667 School	West Hatch High School to Ilford Hainault Street via Barkingside	Fencepiece Road, Hainault Road, Chigwell Station, High Road (South)	Arriva London
804 School	West Hatch High School to Debden Broadway via Loughton	Chigwell Rise, Chigwell Station, Hainault Road, Manor Road, High Road (South)	Blue Triangle

Also see List of bus routes in Essex and List of bus routes in London.

Chigwell Station, opened 1903 by the Great Eastern Railway

London Underground

Chigwell is served by Chigwell station and Grange Hill station (further south bordering Hainault), both on the Central line of the London Underground. For a more frequent service to London there is also nearby Buckhurst Hill, Loughton and Hainault stations since services between Grange Hill and Woodford are limited, most terminating at Hainault.

Famous residents

• David Bentley, footballer
• Roy Carroll, footballer
• Ashley Cole, footballer
• Alan Davies, actor, comedian and panellist on QI
• Jermain Defoe, footballer
• Paolo Di Canio, footballer
• Heurelho Gomes, footballer
• Katie Griffiths , actress, Clo Granger in Waterloo Road, born in Chigwell
• Sally Gunnell, 1992 Olympic Games 400m hurdles Gold Medallist, pupil at West Hatch High School
• Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey, captain of the Fighting Temeraire at the Battle of Trafalgar, lived at Rolls (demolished 1953)
• Simon Harris, music producer
• Tim Howard, footballer
• Sir Geoff Hurst, footballer, only person to score a hat trick in a World Cup Final, 1966
• Don Lewin, owner of Clinton Cards
• Gary Lucy, actor, plays PC Will Fletcher in ITV's The Bill
• Bobby Moore, footballer, captain of the 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning England team
• Lucas Neill, footballer
• Ronnie O'Sullivan, snooker player
• John Paintsil, footballer
• Kimi Räikkönen, Formula One racing driver
• Sergei Rebrov, footballer
• Teddy Sheringham, footballer
• George Shillibeer, inventor of the London megabus, buried at St. Mary's, the parish church
• Kate Silverton BBC newsreader, pupil at West Hatch High School
• Sir Alan Sugar, entrepreneur, former owner of Amstrad, host of The Apprentice
• Adel Taarabt, footballer
• Didier Zokora, footballer

See also

• Loughton
• Epping Forest
• List of bus routes in Essex

References

External links

• Chigwell Parish Council website
• Chigwell School website
• All Saints Church Chigwell Row

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