Chedworth is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, southwest England, in the Cotswolds. It is known as the location of Chedworth Roman Villa, administered since 1924 by the National Trust. Chedworth Stream rises close to the village and flows east for about in a narrow valley before joining the River Coln at the point where it is crossed by the ancient Fosse Way.

Roman villa

The villa is a 1,700-year-old farmstead between Yanworth and Withington, about 3 miles (5.5 km) from Chedworth village by road, although it sits to the south of the River Coln and so is within Chedworth parish. It is connected with Chedworth village by two long-distance footpaths, the Macmillan Way and the Monarch's Way, both about 1 mile in walking distance. The villa was discovered by chance in 1864. It is the remains of one of the largest

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

s in England, featuring several

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s, two bathhouses, hypocausts (underfloor heating), a water-shrine and a latrine. The water shrine became very special as the Romans used it to worship the goddess of the natural spring that gives it an endless amount of water. New visitor facilities opened in 2014.

History

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

church of St Andrew is of 12th century Norman origin, but was much rebuilt in the second half of the 15th century. The south doorway has been described as "a most notable piece of rich

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

work" and the south range of five Perpendicular windows has also been admired: "The interior is very charming because these great Perpendicular windows are like a wall of clear tinted glass which reflects the light onto the plastered walls." The medieval judge and cleric Thomas de Chaddesworth, or de Chedworth, Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and an unsuccessful candidate to be

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin () is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: ...

, was born here in about 1230, and took his surname from the village. He died in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in 1311. Between 1892 and 1961, the village had a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on the

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' t ...

. In 1930, Rose Cottage in Chedworth was bought by Henry Ford, who paid for it to be dismantled and transported to

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

, United States.

Governance

Until the 2015 district council elections, there was an electoral ward in the same name. This ward started in the south at Chedworth and stretched north to end at Dowdeswell. The total ward population taken at the 2011 census was 1,705. Chedworth Parish Council was formed under the Local Government Act of 1894. Its first preliminary meeting was held on 4 December 1894, and the first full meeting on 3 January 1895, chaired by the Rev. Sackett Hope. Fifteen candidates stood for election to the seven seats available. Subsequently, in 1904 again 15 candidates stood for the seven seats, and none of the previous incumbents was re-elected. The Parish Council still has seven members, with the last election in 2023. The council holds monthly meetings on the second Monday of each month at the Village Hall.

Amenities

The Seven Tuns Inn is close to the church at the far western, "upper" end of the village. The "tuns" are variously chimneys or barrels, both of which have featured on the pub sign at different times. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Chedworth had a post office and village store for over 120 years before the final postmistress, Miss Lait, closed her Fields Road establishment in 1993, leaving Chedworth with no retail outlets. Following a vigorous campaign by local residents, Chedworth Farm Shop opened in 2006, using former dairy buildings at Denfurlong Farm on Fields Road. However, the farm shop closed permanently on 27 February 2021.

References

External links