Welcome to this website about the community of Chrishall in Essex.
Chrishall is a small village on a hilltop in the very north west of Essex, close to the borders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, in the East of England. This website is particularly aimed at the local community and the genealogist who perhaps has never visited Chrishall and wishes to visualise the kind of community whence his or her ancestor came. It is run by…
“I stumbled accidentally across some aspects of its history, and began to learn and think more about it, but then – as I studied the records – people began to rise up out of them. Where before I had seen only names on lists, individual characters began to shake their shoulders and stand up. It was as though these dead were being awakened, resurrected. They seemed close, as though they had something to say.”
(quote from In a Country Churchyard by Ronald Fletcher. Although this quote refers to Westleton in Suffolk, we hope you come to feel the same about Chrishall charcters and history.)
Featured articles and content:
Village Walks
If you are in Chrishall why not enjoy one of our local Village Walks? These short walks take you around the local area following an area of interest. If you want more information there are QR codes with each walk which connect with articles on the website here.If you...
Church Seating Plans
Robert Brand, farmer, who farmed Builden End farm in the 1800s was also a writer. He wrote down everything, and what is more he kept it. Although we only have part of his collection of papers he gives us a wealth of information about Chrishall, as well as other places...
Mr Brand and the Church Band
Before 1870 the church did not have an organ to provide music for the church services. Instead there was a church band. It seems that various people played various instruments, the most common being the Bass Viol, the Harmonium, flute, clarinet and violin or viola....
Chrishall Women’s Institute
(This article was first written for the Chrishall Scrapbook in the 1950s. You can see copies of the scrapbook on our open days.) The Chrishall Womens' Institute was formed in February 1926, and it has plodded on staunchly and steadily, without let or hindrance, ever...
Recent updates to existing content:
- October 2022
- Update to the War Memorial page to include names of local special constables
- March 2022:
- February 2022:
- Keepers Cottage with some memories
- Update and more information on Church Road Garage
- December 2021: updates to the following:
- Current research (can you help?)
Music in the Church
Before the Church had an organ, singing was accompanied by William Cranwell on clarinet, and two of his brothers, John on the bass viol and Clear on the viola or violin.
Pictured left is the little stool that William used to sit on to play his clarinet.
Spooky Tales
Spooky tales? It seems that Chrishall was the place that MR James based his ghost story “The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance”, according to several sources including this one. A copy can be purchased from Amazon if you are feeling brave!
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