John Lucas, Village Constable

On a Spring morning, just over 350 years ago, we know precisely what one of Chrishall’s farmers was doing. Was he on his farmland in Church Road instructing his men on the crops he wanted planted? No. He was in Newport. For John Lucas, a yeoman farmer of Chrishall,...

Chishill Well and a local water diviner

While rummaging through a file of articles recently I found this fascinating article about the digging of Chishill well. We don't know where the well was, or where Twelve Acres was for that matter. Someone must know?? We also don't know the name of the water diviner...

Wenden Lofts Mill

Wenden Lofts’ Mill “Miss Nellie Smith who lived at Hamlet House, Pond Street, is shown on the photograph as a young girl on the steps of the Mill. Her family lived at Hope Farm and farmed the land round about. The Mill was taken down very soon after the First World...

Chrishall Windmill

For nearly three hundred years Chrishall had it’s own windmill*. It stood next to Mill House on Mill Causeway and was a post mill, probably very similar to Chishill Mill. The mill was made of wood and could be turned around a main central post so that the sails were...

A period of unrest leads to road improvements!

1830 Wheat 64s 3d per quarter. A changeable summer. Accounts of the harvest vary, some recording a good harvest and some estimating it as less than average. Blizzards in mid-January and severe frosts in February, March was fine, warm and excellent for sowing. July was...

The Royal Observer Corps

The following article was written by Joe Hagger who was one of the village cobblers or shoe-makers and lived in the cottage that faces the green next to The Red Cow. (This article is published as written and the language reflects the time at which Mr Hagger was...

Chrishall at work

Trying something a little new for you today - a flip book of some "Chrishall Industry".  Give it a moment or two to load, particularly if you are on a slow connection.  

The Chrishall connection to the Linton Explosion

On the evening of the 15th of June 1904 a steam engine team from Pamplin Brother’s Engineers, Cherry Hinton, was ploughing a field at Catley Park, Great Chesterford.

Traction Engines: George Swann

George Swann was another of the Drage & Kent drivers.  While he didn't live in Chrishall he worked with many of the men who did of course. Summer 1928 - George Swann driver, aged about 16 These photographs are kindly reproduced with the permission of Clive Flack...

Ploughing, Drage and Kent 1950

Three more photographs of Drage and Kent engines in work. The largest photo below was taken in 1950 and the gentleman standing on the left is Charles Cranwell who can also be seen on the 1917 photograph here where you can also see an excellent film showing how this...

 

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…

Chrishall Archive Group logo

“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.)

Events Calendar 2025

Wednesday 9th April, 7.30pm. Chrishall Archive AGM Brand Pavilion
     

Featured articles and content:

Chrishall village walks

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...

The Vicarage

The Vicarage

The Church and its Vicarage seem such a staple of village life and it seems odd to think it was ever any other way. But in fact, as this article from Irene Cranwell goes to prove, The Vicarage wasn’t always the same house, or the house that housed the vicar, in the...

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Field Names Map

Field Names Map

Below is a map of the field names traced so far. You can zoom in and out of the map using the plus and minus signs on the bottom left. This is just the names. The stories will come in due course! Names change over the years of course. Many of the names on this map...

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Church Seating Plans

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...

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Mr Guthrie, Evangelist

In the 1950s Mr Guthrie, a local JMVC evangelist would come to the village and hold children’s Bible meetings in the field between Wire Farm and Barleymans. This is remembered by Bruce Drury and mentioned in a document on the Saffron Walden Community Church website.

Counting the Acres

The number of Acres in the Parish of Chreshall taken from the Surveyors Papers and Accounts 1778 Arable inclosed 616 Meadow ground 167 Common-Field Arable 985 Pasture or Feeding ground 270 Total 2039

Sorting the tythes

Memorandum Jary 5th 1721

I obtained an Order from the Justices of the Peace at ye Petty Sessions held this day at Newport that the occupior of the Mill in Chrishall shall pay yearly for Tythe eight shillings to the Vicar the Mill having payed Tythe before …. whether this be sufficient but ’twas all that could be Recovered by Me

Tho: Melvill. Vicar.

Bronze Age Hoard

Items from a Bronze Age Hoard that was found between Chrishall and Elmdon in the 18th century can be seen on the British Museum’s website here.

Music in the Church

William Cranwell stoolBefore 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!

Bonfires on Jigneys

We used to have huge bonfires on Jigneys for Bonfire Night.  Mr Crocker would provide tyres to burn! (1930’s/40s. ER.)

Circus at Broad Green

I remember there being a circus once on the small field on the corner between Broad Green and Palmers Lane.  (1930’s. BR.)

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