Chipping Norton

Chipping Norton
Chippy
Chipping Norton town centre, with the Town Hall on the left
Chipping Norton  Chipping Norton shown within Oxfordshire
Population	5,972 (2001 census)[1]
OS grid reference	SP309269
- London	74.5 miles (119.9 km)
Civil parish	Chipping Norton
District	West Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Chipping Norton
Postcode district	OX7
Dialling code	01608
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Witney
Website	Chipping Norton Town Council
List of places UK England Oxfordshire

Chipping Norton is a market town in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Banbury and 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Oxford.

History until the 17th century

St Mary the Virgin parish church, rebuilt circa 1485

The Rollright Stones, a stone circle 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Chipping Norton, is evidence of prehistoric habitation in the area.

The town's name means 'market north town', with "Chipping" (from Old English cēping) meaning 'market'. It is not clear what the original Saxon settlement was north of, but John Blair, Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, suggested in 2000 at a lecture in Chipping Norton Town Hall that Charlbury to the south, now a smaller town, was in the Anglo-Saxon era a more important minster town and that Chipping Norton's "nor-" prefix refers to this geographical and pastoral relationship with Charlbury.^{[citation needed]}

Chipping Norton began as a small settlement at the foot of a hill on which stand the motte-and-bailey Chipping Norton Castle. Only the earthworks of the castle remain.

The Church of England parish church of St. Mary the Virgin was built on the hill next to the castle. Parts of the present building may date from the 12th century.^[2] It certainly retains features from the 13th and 14th centuries.^[3] The nave was largely rebuilt in about 1485 with a Perpendicular Gothic clerestory.^[4] This rebuilding is believed to have been funded by John Ashfield, a wool merchant, making St. Mary's an example of a "wool church".^[4]

In July 1549 the vicar of Chipping Norton, Henry Joyes or Joyce, led his parishioners in a popular rising after the suppression of chantries and other religious reforms left him to minister alone to a congregation of 800, and reduced the budget available for schooling.^[5] The rising was brutally put down by Lord Grey de Wilton; Joyes was captured and subsequently hanged in chains from the tower of his own church.^[6]

The bell tower was rebuilt in 1825.^[2][7] The tower has a ring of eight bells, all of which were cast in 1907^[8] by Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. St Mary's has also a Sanctus bell that was cast in 1624 by Roger I Purdue^[8] of Bristol.^[9]

In the Middle Ages wool production made the Cotswolds one of the wealthiest parts of England. Many of the mediaeval buildings built in the town as a result of that trade still survive. It became the new centre of the town and remains so today. There is still a weekly market every Wednesday and the "Mop Fair" in September. In 1205 a new market place was laid out higher up the hill.

Later, sheep farming was largely displaced by arable, but agriculture remained important in this part of the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. Many of the original houses around the market place were re-faced in the 18th century with fashionable Georgian facades.

Chipping Norton Almshouses, founded in 1640

An inscription on the almshouses records that they were founded in 1640 as "The work and gift of Henry Cornish, gent".^[10]

History from the 18th century onwards

In 1796 James and William Hitchman founded Hitchman's Brewery in West Street. In 1849 the business built a larger brewery in Albion Street that included a malthouse and its own water wells. Three generations of Hitchmans ran the brewery, but in 1890 Alfred Hitchman sold the business as a limited company. The new company grew by buying other breweries in 1891 and 1917. In 1924 it merged with Hunt Edmunds of Banbury, and in 1931 Hunt Edmunds Hitchmans closed the brewery in Chipping Norton.^[11]

Other industries in the town included a wool mill (see below), a glove-making factory, a tannery and an iron foundry.

Chipping Norton had a workhouse by the 1770s. In 1836 the architect George Wilkinson built a new, larger workhouse. It had four wings radiating from an octagonal central building, similar to Witney workhouse, which also was built by Wilkinson. The architect G. E. Street added a chapel to Chipping Norton workhouse in 1856–57. It ceased to be a workhouse in 1929 and became a hospital in the Second World War. The National Health Service took it over in 1948, making it Cotshill Hospital which later served as a psychiatric hospital. The hospital was closed in 1983.^[12] and has since been redeveloped as private residences.

Chipping Norton Town Hall, built in 1842

Chipping Norton was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Its neoclassical town hall was built in 1842.

Holy Trinity Roman Catholic church is also neoclassical. It was built in 1836 by the architect John Adey Repton, a grandson of the English garden designer Humphry Repton.

Chipping Norton railway station, opened in 1855, pictured here in the early 1900s

The Chipping Norton Railway opened in 1855, linking the town with Kingham on the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway.^[13] In 1887 a second railway opened, linking Chipping Norton to the Oxford and Rugby Railway at King's Sutton, and the CNR became part of the resulting Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway. Extending the railway from Chipping Norton involved digging a tunnel 685 yards (626 m) long^[14] under Elmsfield Farm to the west of the town.

In May 1873 rioting took place following the conviction and sentencing of the Ascott Martyrs, sixteen local women accused of trying to interfere with strikebreakers at a farm.

In 1951, British Railways withdrew passenger services between Chipping Norton and Banbury. In 1962 BR closed Chipping Norton railway station and withdrew passenger services between Chipping Norton and Kingham. In 1964 BR closed the B&CDR to freight traffic, and thereafter dismantled the line. The disused railway tunnel is now bricked up at both ends to prevent access, both for people's safety and to protect any bats that may roost inside. (See Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981)

Bliss Mill, built in 1872

Bliss Mill, on the west side of the town, was built as a tweed mill by William Bliss in 1872. In 1913 to 1914 the millworkers struck for eight months. The mill closed in 1980 and has since been converted into flats. It remains a local landmark, clearly visible from Worcester Road.

The town lost its status as a municipal borough in 1974, when the Local Government Act 1972 made it a successor parish within the district of West Oxfordshire.

Chipping Norton Recording Studios

The former British Schools building at 28–30 New Street, subsequently Chipping Norton Recording Studios.

Between 1972 and 1999 the former British Schools building in New Street was Chipping Norton Recording Studios. Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, In The Army Now by Status Quo, Too Shy by Kagagoogoo, I Should Have Known Better by Jim Diamond, Perfect by Fairground Attraction, I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight by Cutting Crew and Bye Bye Baby by the Bay City Rollers were all recorded here. Jeff Beck, Barbara Dickson, Duran Duran, Marianne Faithfull, Alison Moyet, Nektar, Radiohead, The Supernaturals, Wet Wet Wet and XTC were also clients.

Government

Chipping Norton is in the Witney parliamentary constituency, a safe Conservative Party seat. The Member of Parliament for Witney since 2001 is David Cameron, who has been Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2010 and the leader of the Conservative Party since 2005. The town is part of the South East England constituency for the European Parliament. One Conservative councillor and two Labour councillors represent the town on West Oxfordshire District Council, making it the least Conservative part of the Prime Minister's constituency.^[15]

Notable residents

This list includes notable persons who were born or have lived in Chipping Norton.

• Ronnie Barker, resident after retirement from show business in 1987.
• Rebekah Brooks, former editor of The Sun newspaper and former chief executive of News International.
• Geoffrey Burbidge, astronomy professor.
• Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear presenter, journalist and writer.
• James Hind, highwayman born 1616 and executed for high treason in 1652.
• Conroy Maddox, surrealist painter resident 1929–33.
• Janice Meek, World record holding ocean rower.
• Wentworth Miller, American actor who was born there.
• Keith Moon, The Who drummer once owned the Crown and Cushion Hotel in High Street.
• Simon Nicol, guitarist and vocalist with Fairport Convention.
• Dominic Sandbrook, historian.
• Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party attended school in the 1850s.^{[citation needed]}
• Reverend Edward Stone, discoverer of aspirin, was a curate in the town.
• Barbara Toy, travel writer and playwright.^[16]
• Rachel Ward, actress.
• Elizabeth Jane Weston, Neo-Latin poet also known as Westonia born 1581.
• David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, personal residence.

Some current famous residents of the town and its local area, including David Cameron whose constituency home is in nearby Dean, are commonly referred to as the "Chipping Norton set" by the British media.^[17]

Amenities

The town is a retail and leisure centre for its area, with a supermarket and numerous shops including branches of a number of national chain stores. It has a number of public houses and a theatre.^[18]

The town has three schools. Holy Trinity Roman Catholic School^[19] and St Mary's Church of England School^[20] are primary schools. Chipping Norton School^[21] is the town's secondary school and has a sixth form.

Chipping Norton Golf Club is the oldest in Oxfordshire. The course was started in 1890 on Chipping Norton Common.^[22]

Chipping Norton Rugby Union Football Club^[23] first XV plays in the Southern Counties North League and was the league champion for the 2007–2008 season. Chipping Norton Town F.C. who play at Walterbush Road, used to play in the Hellenic Football League premier division.^[24] Chipping Norton Town Cricket Club plays in Oxfordshire Cricket Association Division 6. The town also has a bowls club.^[25]

Chipping Norton has a Women's Institute,^[26] and a Rotary Club.^[27]

Transport

Until 1963 Chipping Norton railway station served the town. Now the nearest railway stations are at Banbury, Charlbury and Kingham.

See also

• RAF Chipping Norton
• Chipping Norton set

References

Sources

• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Books Penguin. pp. 536–541. ISBN 0-14-071045-0. 
• Volkin, Michael, ed. (2000). Nuffield Advanced Chemistry Students Book. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-32835-7. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.

• Official Town Website
• Chipping Norton Tourist Information
• Chipping Norton – 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article.
• Chipping Norton Literary Festival
• Chipping Norton on the Open Directory Project

v t e The District of West Oxfordshire Oxfordshire County Council elections District Council elections Witney County Constituency Towns Burford Signet Upton Carterton Charlbury Chipping Norton Southcombe Witney Cogges Madley Park Woodstock Large villages Aston, Cote, Shifford and Chimney Aston Cote Shifford Chimney Bampton Lower Haddon Weald Brize Norton Ducklington Enstone Church Enstone Neat Enstone Chalford Cleveley Fulwell Gagingwell Lidstone Radford Eynsham Barnard Gate Freeland Hailey New Yatt Hanborough Church Hanborough Long Hanborough Milton-under-Wychwood Minster Lovell North Leigh East End Wilcote Shipton-under-Wychwood Standlake Brighthampton Steeple Barton Middle Barton Stonesfield Other civil parishes (Component villages and hamlets) Alvescot Ascott-under-Wychwood Ascott d'Oyley Ascott Earl Asthall Asthall Leigh Worsham Black Bourton Bladon Blenheim Broadwell Bruern Cassington Worton Chadlington Chastleton Chilson Shorthampton Churchill and Sarsden Clanfield Combe Cornbury and Wychwood Cornbury Wychwood Cornwell Crawley Curbridge and Lew Fawler Fifield Filkins and Broughton Poggs Filkins Broughton Poggs Finstock Fulbrook Glympton Grafton and Radcot Grafton Radcot Great Tew Hardwick-with-Yelford Hardwick Yelford Heythrop Dunthrop Holwell Idbury Bould Foscot Kelmscott Kencot Kiddington with Asterleigh Asterleigh Kiddington Over Kiddington Kingham Langford Leafield Little Faringdon Little Tew Lyneham Northmoor Over Norton Ramsden Mount Skippett Rollright Great Rollright Little Rollright Rousham Salford Sandford St. Martin Ledwell Shilton South Leigh Spelsbury Dean Taston Stanton Harcourt Swerford Swinbrook and Widford Swinbrook Widford Tackley Taynton Westcott Barton Westwell Wootton Dornford Hordley Worton Nether Worton Over Worton Former districts and boroughs Chipping Norton Rural District Municipal Borough of Chipping Norton Witney Urban District Witney Rural District Municipal Borough of Woodstock Woodstock Rural District Former constituencies Oxfordshire County Constituency Woodstock Borough Constituency Mid Oxfordshire or Woodstock County Constituency Banbury County Constituency Henley County Constituency Mid Oxfordshire County Constituency List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire List of places in Oxfordshire List of civil parishes in Oxfordshire