Topics
Click on a photograph or article title to read more.
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Chris Cranwell’s Memories of Rabbit Shows
A small pink card with a picture of a rabbit is all we have in the collection now but there was a time when rabbit shows were a big thing in the village. Chris Cranwell, who lived in Crawley End, recalls his memories of keeping rabbits as a boy. “Yes dad and I had the…
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Plants and folklore in village life
I am a keen gardener and love plants and flowers. I am fascinated too by the names and histories of wildflowers, many of which were perceived very differently by our forebears. Common plants we barely glance at today were once revered (or indeed feared) for their religious, magical or healing properties. Did you know, for example, that lady’s…
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A Chrishall Christmas 1850
Mr Robert Brand lived at Martinholme on the green where he ran the village store. A keen writer he recorded many of his activities, which is how we know what he was doing on Christmas Day one hundred and seventy years ago… “Attended to my home and answered about twenty people that called for trifles…
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Chrishall in the Second World War
I am writing this article on the 80th anniversary of VE day (8 May 1945) so it seems only fitting to look back on Chrishall’s experience of the Second World War. When I was a child in the 1960s, memories of the war were still vivid and its legacy, the Cold War, very much part of the…
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The 1379 Court Case of John Helion: A Historical Review
I would like to tell you a story around a court case. This is based on the report of an inquisition held at Saffron Walden in 1401 and was a writ for proof of age. Chrishall is at the centre of this story as the case hinges on a baptism held at Chrishall Church and…
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Exploring History at Chrishall Church
The following article was written by Irene Cranwell: If you want to see – and touch – real history, go into the church. At the back of the pulpit, in the angle of the wall, you will see what appears to be a little semi-circular stone shelf. Gaze upon it in awe, for you are…
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Chapel Gallery
Enjoy the photographs in our gallery below. Click on a photograph to see the enlarged version. Arrows will appear either side of the photograph so that you can move forward, or backwards, through the gallery. Or you can click the cross to the top right of the photograph to close the enlargement.
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The Vicarage
The Vicarage at Chrishall. 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…
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Exploring Historical Field Names on Our Village 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…
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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 as he was a bit…
