Chipping Warden is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Chipping Warden and Edgcote, in the

West Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, and was created in 2021. It contains the county town of Northampton, as wel ...

district, in the county of

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, England, about northeast of the

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

town of

Banbury Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...

. The parish is bounded to the east and south by the River Cherwell, to the west by the boundary with Oxfordshire and to the north by field boundaries. On 1 October 2008 the parish was abolished and merged with Edgcote to form "Chipping Warden & Edgcote". The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 529 in 234 households, increasing to 537 in the

of Chipping Warden and Edgcote at the 2011 census.

Toponymy

'Warden' means 'Watch hill', referring to Warden Hill a mile northeast of the village. It had a 'market' from the late 14th century hence the 'Chipping' addition. The hundred is named after Chipping Warden.

Archaeology

Just south of Chipping Warden village is Arbury Banks, the remains of an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

. It is about in diameterPevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 149 and has been heavily damaged by centuries of ploughing. At Blackgrounds about east of the village are the remains of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

beside the River Cherwell. An investigation in 1849 found a Roman bathhouse long by wide, and four human burials have been found that may be related to the settlement.

Roman coins Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum#Numismatics, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction during the Roman Republic, Republic, in the third century BC, through Roman Empire, Imperial ...

found at the site indicate that it was inhabited in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

has placed the villa on its

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

, citing threats from ploughing and a risk of collapse.

Geology

east of the village is Upper Cherwell at Trafford House at the confluence of the river Cherwell and Eydon Brook, which is designated as a SSSI due to its importance in the development of the theory of underfit streams.

Manor

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

records that in 1086 the manor of Chipping Warden was the ''

caput A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may not ...

'' of the estates of Guy de Raimbeaucourt (or Reimbercourt, Reinbuedcurth or Reinbuedcurt), a baron from Raimbeaucourt in northern France. There was also a

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Chipping Warden that administered the southern part of Northamptonshire. Guy was succeeded by his son Richard de Raimbeaucourt (''circa'' 1093–1120). Richard left no male heir so the barony of Chipping Warden passed ''via'' his daughter Margaret (born 1121) to his son-in-law Robert Foliot (''circa'' 1118–1172), to whom

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

conceded the barony of Chipping Warden in the middle of the 12th century. As Robert had a wife and son, presumably he is not the Robert Foliot who was

Archdeacon of Oxford The Archdeacon of Oxford is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Oxford, Church of England, England. The office responsibility includes the care of clergy and church buildings within the area of the ''Archdeaconry of Oxford.'' Hist ...

and later

Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. Until 1534, the Diocese of Hereford was in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and two of its bishop ...

. The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

"Chipping" is derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''cēping'' meaning "market". In 1238

Robert Grosseteste Robert Grosseteste ( ; ; 8 or 9 October 1253), also known as Robert Greathead or Robert of Lincoln, was an Kingdom of England, English statesman, scholasticism, scholastic philosopher, theologian, scientist and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of ...

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

obtained royal letters from Henry III revoking Chipping Warden's right to hold a market.Crossley, 1972, pages 49-71 This was because the Bishops of Lincoln controlled the market at Banbury and earned tolls from it, and Grosseteste feared that Chipping Warden was drawing trade away from Banbury.

Parish church

In the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

of St. Peter and St. Paul the north wall of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

contains two blocked-up Norman arches that suggest the building may date from about 1200. The chancel contains a window that pre-dates 1300, but is probably not in its original position.Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 148 Other features from the

Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

period include the windows of the south

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

and the east window of a room to the north of the chancel. The east window of the chancel and the four-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

arcades between the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and the north and south aisles are from the early part of the

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

period. The bell tower is also Perpendicular Gothic. The parish is now part of the Church of England benefice of Culworth with

Sulgrave Sulgrave is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north of Brackley. The village is just south of a stream that rises in the parish and flows east to join the River Tove, a tributary of t ...

and Thorpe Mandeville and Chipping Warden with Edgcote and Moreton Pinkney.

Social and economic history

open field system The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acr ...

of farming prevailed in the parish until an act of Parliament, the ( 6 Geo. 2. c. ''6'' ), was passed in May 1733 enabling Chipping Warden's common lands to be enclosed. In May 1744 a bill was moved in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

to dissolve the marriage between

Henry Scudamore, 3rd Duke of Beaufort Henry Somerset-Scudamore, 3rd Duke of Beaufort (23 March 1707 – 26 February 1745), born Lord Henry Somerset, was an English nobleman and peer who supported Jacobitism. Life He was the elder son of Henry Somerset, 2nd Duke of Beaufort and ...

and Frances Scudamore.''Journal of the House of Lords'', 26, pages 286-287 Among witnesses who testified under oath before their Lordships was John Pargiter, a farmer of Chipping Warden, who stated:

''"That, in the Beginning of June, 1741, he observed a Man (whom he described), and afterwards found it was Lord Talbot, to meet the Dutchess as she was walking alone in the Fields near that Place; and thereupon mentioned adulterous Familiarities which passed between them."''

Witnesses William Douglas and Thomas Bonham corroborated Pargiter's evidence. The ''Journal of the House of Lords'' delicately omits the details of the ''"adulterous Familiarities"'' but records that subsequent witnesses testified ''"as to the sending for a Midwife to the Dutchess; her being delivered or brought to Bed of a Daughter"''. After hearing this and evidence of the duchess's further adultery with Lord Talbot, the Lords passed the bill for the duke and duchess to be divorced, which became the Duke of Beaufort's Divorce Act 1743 ( 17 Geo. 2. c. ''2'' ). RAF Chipping Warden, just northwest of the village, was built during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and commissioned in either 1941 or 1943 as a

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

Operational Training Unit. It was decommissioned in 1946. Its buildings are now an industrial estate.

Amenities

Chipping Warden has two

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

s, The Griffin Inn and The Rose and Crown. The village has a primary school.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Northamptonshire Former civil parishes in Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire District