Chinnor

Coordinates: 51°42′07″N 0°54′40″W / 51.702°N 0.911°W / 51.702; -0.911

Chinnor
Parish church of St. Andrew
Chinnor  Chinnor shown within Oxfordshire
Population	5,857  (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	SP7500
Parish	Chinnor
District	South Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Chinnor
Postcode district	OX39
Dialling code	01844
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
European Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Henley
Website: Chinnor Parish Council
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

Chinnor is a village on the Icknield Way below the Chiltern escarpment in South Oxfordshire. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Thame. It was formerly home to a cement works and artisans supporting High Wycombe's furniture making industry, but in the 21st century is primarily a dormitory for Thame, High Wycombe, Aylesbury and London.

History

Chinnor dates from Saxon times. Over the centuries ts toponym has variously been spelt Ceonna, Chennore and then Chynor.

On 18 June 1643 during the English Civil War a Royalist force of 1,800 men led by Prince Rupert arrived from Oxford, overcame the Parliamentarian garrisons at Postcombe and Chinnor and took 120 men prisoner. A pursuing Parliamentarian force intercepted them 7 miles (11 km) away near Chalgrove, but in the resulting Battle of Chalgrove Field the Royalists fought off their pursuers and returned with their prisoners to Oxford.

Chinnor has a 1789 post mill at the west side of the village, off Whites Field. It was dismantled in 1965 and is currently being rebuilt by the Chinnor Windmill Restoration Society. It is unusual in having 3 crosstrees and 6 quarterbars.^[1]

The architect Richard Pace built Saint Andrew's Rectory in 1813.^[2]

Chinnor grew fastest in the 1960s - from a population of 1,961 in the 1951 Census to 4,471 in the 1971 Census. Chinnor was then largely concentrated around the main 'square' of Station Road, Lower Road, High Street, and Church Road (actually rectangular). The hamlet of Oakley to the southwest was subsumed into the village around this time, when building along Oakley Road and the Mill Lane estate more than doubled the physical size of the village. Today the population is around 7,300, though the 2001 census records details on only 6,850.^{[citation needed]}

U2 rock musician Adam Clayton was born in Chinnor.^{[citation needed]}

Schools

Chinnor has two schools: St. Andrew's Church of England Primary^[3] and Mill Lane Community Primary.^[4] Secondary school pupils are schooled in Thame or Watlington, and sixth formers in Henley or Thame.

Transport

British Railways closed the original railway through Chinnor between Princes Risborough and Watlington to passengers in 1957 and to freight in 1961. The section between Princes Risborough and Chinnor remained open to serve Chinnor cement works until 1989. Since 1994 Chinnor railway station has been the terminus of the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway heritage railway line. Steam locomotives are run on some weekends and bank holidays.

There are direct bus links to Thame, High Wycombe, and to Princes Risborough railway station on the Chiltern Main Line.

Churches

Chinnor has three churches: the Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew,^[5] Chinnor Methodist Church^[6] and Chinnor Congregational Church.^[7]

Gallery

Chinnor village hall

The Crown public house

Chinnor cement works, which has now been demolished

Sources

• H.M. Colvin (1997). A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 764. ISBN 0-300-07207-4. 
• Lobel, Mary D. (1969). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 8: Lewknor and Pyrton Hundreds. p. 55-80. 
• Oppitz, Leslie (2000). Lost Railways of the Chilterns. Newbury: Countryside Books. p. 20-23. ISBN 1 85306 643 5. 
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 534-536. ISBN 0 14 071045 0. 

References

v • d • e The District of South Oxfordshire Oxfordshire • County Council elections • District Council elections • Henley County Constituency • Wantage County Constituency Towns Didcot • Henley-on-Thames • Thame (Moreton) • Wallingford • Watlington (Christmas Common, Northend) Large Villages Benson (Preston Crowmarsh) • Berinsfield • Brightwell-cum-Sotwell • Chalgrove • Chinnor (Henton, Oakley) • Cholsey (Winterbrook) • Crowmarsh (Crowmarsh Gifford, North Stoke, Mongewell, Newnham Murren) • Ewelme • Garsington • Goring-on-Thames • Great Milton • Horspath (Bullingdon Green) • Sandford-on-Thames • Shiplake (Lower Shiplake) • Sonning Common • Wheatley • Woodcote Other Civil Parishes (Component Villages and Hamlets) Adwell • Aston Rowant • Aston Tirrold • Aston Upthorpe • Beckley and Stowood (Beckley, Stowood) • Berrick Salome (Berrick Prior, Roke, Rokemarsh) • Binfield Heath • Bix and Assendon (Bix, Bix Bottom, Lower Assendon, Middle Assendon) • Brightwell Baldwin • Britwell Salome • Checkendon • Clifton Hampden (Burcot) • Crowell • Cuddesdon and Denton (Cuddesdon, Denton) • Culham • Cuxham with Easington (Cuxham, Easington) • Dorchester • Drayton St. Leonard • East Hagbourne (Coscote) • Elsfield • Eye and Dunsden (Sonning Eye, Dunsden Green, Playhatch) • Forest Hill with Shotover (Forest Hill, Shotover) • Goring Heath (Whitchurch Hill, Cray's Pond) • Great Haseley • Harpsden • Highmoor • Holton • Ipsden • Kidmore End (Gallowstree Common) • Lewknor (Postcombe, South Weston) • Little Milton • Little Wittenham • Long Wittenham • Mapledurham (Trench Green, Chazey Heath) • Marsh Baldon (Baldon Row) • Moulsford • Nettlebed • Newington (Great Holcombe) • North Moreton • Nuffield • Nuneham Courtenay • Pishill with Stonor (Pishill, Stonor, Russell's Water) • Pyrton • Rotherfield Greys • Rotherfield Peppard • Shirburn • South Moreton (Fulscot) • South Stoke (Littlestoke) • Stadhampton (Chiselhampton, Brookhampton, Ascott) • Stanton St. John (Woodperry) • Stoke Row • Stoke Talmage • Swyncombe • Sydenham (Emmington, Kingston Stert) • Tetsworth • Tiddington-with-Albury (Tiddington, Albury) • Toot Baldon • Towersey • Warborough (Shillingford) • Waterstock • West Hagbourne • Wheatfield • Whitchurch-on-Thames • Woodeaton • Waterperry with Thomley (Waterperry, Thomley) Former Districts and Boroughs Bullingdon Rural District • Municipal Borough of Henley-on-Thames • Henley Rural District • Thame Urban District • Municipal Borough of Wallingford • Wallingford Rural District Crowmarsh Rural District • Culham Rural District • Goring Rural District • Headington Rural District • Thame Rural District Former Constituencies Oxfordshire County Constituency • Wallingford Borough Constituency • Abingdon Borough Constituency • Berkshire North or Abingdon County Constituency • Abingdon County Constituency List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire • List of places in Oxfordshire • List of civil parishes in Oxfordshire