Chigwell is a town 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 ...

in the Epping Forest District of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

. It is on the Central line of the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

. In 2011 the parish had a population of 12,987.

History

The manor of Chigwell was held by Earl Harold under

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

. From the 1550s it was the property of the Hicks Beach family. The parish church of St Mary the Virgin dates back to the 12th century and is a Grade II* listed building. Opposite the church is the Kings Head Hotel, a 17th century

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...

Toponymy

According to P. H. Reaney's ''Place-Names of Essex'' the name means 'Cicca's well', Cicca being an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

personal name. In medieval sources the name appears with a variety of spellings including "Cinghe uuella" and Chikewelle". Folk etymology has sought to derive the name from a lost "king's well", supposed to have been to the south-east of the parish near the border of what is now the London Borough of Redbridge. There were several medicinal springs in Chigwell Row documented by Miller Christy in his book ''History of the mineral waters and medicinal springs of the county of Essex'', published in 1910. The 18th-century historian Nathaniel Salmon stated that the "-well" element in the name derives from Anglo-Saxon ''weald'' (wood). The land registration map of Redbridge Council shows "Chig Well (site of)" as being located to the rear of the house located at 67 Brocket Way, Chigwell.

Economic development

Traditionally a rural farming community, but now largely suburban, Chigwell was mentioned in 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 ...

of 1086. It is referred to by

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

in his novel '' Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty''; the Maypole Inn is based on the King's Head inn, though the name was taken from the Maypole public house in Chigwell Row. It is likely Dickens was aware of both hostelries, since he frequently visited Chigwell, which he described in a letter to John Forster as "the greatest place in the world ... Such a delicious old inn opposite the churchyard ... such beautiful forest scenery ... such an out of the way rural place...".

Local government

The Chigwell civil parish was part of

Epping Rural District Epping was, from 1894 to 1955, a rural district in the administrative counties of England, administrative county of Essex, England.

from 1894 to 1933, with local government split between Chigwell Parish Council, Epping Rural District Council and Essex County Council. Following a county review order in 1933, Chigwell formed together with

Buckhurst Hill Buckhurst Hill is an affluent suburban town in Epping Forest District, Epping Forest, Essex, within the Greater London Urban Area and adjacent to the northern boundary of the London Borough of Redbridge. The area developed following the opening ...

and

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

the Chigwell Urban District, with the Chigwell Urban District Council replacing both the parish and rural district councils. When

was created in 1965 a small, more densely populated section to the southeast was transferred to the London Borough of Redbridge; this area is now known as the Manford estate and continues to be within the Chigwell

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

. The rest of Chigwell Urban District was incorporated into the Epping Forest District in 1974. Parish councils were re-established for Chigwell and

, and for the first time in

, in 1996.

RAF Chigwell

From 1933 to 1958 there was an RAF presence at Roding Valley Meadows (near what is now the David Lloyd Leisure Centre). It served first to provide

barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...

protection during the Second World War and was involved in the rollout of Britain's coastal nuclear early warning system during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. In 1953 it briefly housed the RAF contingent taking part in the Coronation celebrations. Some of the RAF Chigwell site is now part of the Local Nature Reserve, Roding Valley Meadows LNR.

Governance

The local council of the civil parish is Chigwell Parish Council. The parish council originally existed from 1894 to 1933, and was created again in 1996. The parish council offices are located on Hainault Road. Councillors are elected from three wards: Grange Hill, Chigwell Row and Chigwell Village. Local councillors are also elected to Epping Forest District Council and

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the non-metropolitan county excludes Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock which ...

Geography

The hamlet of Chigwell Row lies towards the east of Chigwell, near Lambourne; this part of the parish is well forested and mostly rural. Grange Hill is the area around the junction of Manor Road and Fencepiece Road/Hainault Road, extending as far as the boundary with Redbridge including the Limes Farm estate. Chigwell has a population of around 12,500 and is generally considered a wealthy area, characterised by large suburban houses, notably in Manor Road, Hainault Road and Chigwell High Road, which featured in the popular English situation comedy '' Birds of a Feather'' (although many of the outside locations used in that programme were not in Chigwell).

Education

Schools in the area include Chigwell Primary Academy, Limes Farm Infants School & Nursery, Limes Farm Junior School, Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College,

West Hatch High School West Hatch High School is a secondary school located in Chigwell, Epping Forest (district), Epping Forest, Essex (near Woodford Bridge). The area, now currently occupied by West Hatch, was previously the western gate (or hatch as it would hav ...

and Chigwell School, a

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

, which was founded from a bequest by Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York, in 1629, among whose past pupils are

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

, who later went on to found

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, and actor Sir Ian Holm. (Registration required). The diarist

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded (often for the first time) numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England ...

recorded that it was at Chigwell School that Penn had a mystical vision, which influenced his later conversion to Quakerism. The original 17th-century schoolroom where Penn was taught still stands, and is now the school library.

Culture

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club had its training facilities in the area until May 2012, when it moved to a new facility in Enfield, northeast London. Leyton Orient Football Club also have a training ground in Chigwell, adjacent to Chigwell School's fields. A David Lloyd Leisure Centre, situated off Roding Road by the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the A406 road, North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14 road (Great Britain), A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans ...

, contains indoor and outdoor tennis courts, swimming pools and gymnasium. Also in the area are a Holmes Place Health Club, Topgolf playing Centre and Chigwell Golf Club. Chigwell Cricket Club is based at the Old Chigwellians Club in Roding Lane. Chigwell also plays host to the Old Loughtonians Hockey Club. There are two pubs, the King William IV and the Two Brewers. Ye Olde King's Head, which was operated as a pub until 2011, is said to be the Maypole Inn in Dickens' ''

Barnaby Rudge ''Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty'' (commonly known as ''Barnaby Rudge'') is a historical novel by English novelist Charles Dickens. ''Barnaby Rudge'' was one of two novels (the other was ''The Old Curiosity Shop'') that Dickens pub ...

''. The building was subsequently sold to local resident Lord Sugar's property company Amsprop which now leases the Grade II* Listed building to the Sheesh Turkish restaurant. Until their closure in 2002, Chigwell had night clubs, known collectively as the Epping Forest Country Club. There is a Local Nature Reserve at Roding Valley Meadows off Roding Lane which follows the

River Roding The River Roding () is a river that rises at Molehill Green, Essex, England, then flows south through Essex and London and forms Barking Creek as it reaches the River Thames. Course The river leaves Molehill Green and passes through or near a ...

up to

. The TV series '' Birds of a Feather'' was set in Chigwell.

Transport

All bus services are

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

services, except the 804. Route 150 just penetrates into Chigwell Row. Routes 362 and 462 serve only

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...

. Route 275 just passes through Tomswood Road and the westernmost section of Manor Road. Chigwell is served by Chigwell station and Grange Hill station (further south bordering Hainault), both on the Central line of the London Underground. For a more frequent service to London there are also nearby

, Woodford,

and Hainault stations as services between Grange Hill and Woodford are limited to three trains per hour in each direction, with an increased service during morning peak hours.

Notable people

* Thomas Edwards, recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

for actions at the Battle of Tamai, is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's. * Sally Gunnell, athlete, pupil at

* Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey,Harvey, Sir Eliab
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'', J. K. Laughton Royal Navy officer, lived at Rolls (demolished 1953) *

Simon Harris Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish Fine Gael politician serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister for Defence since January 2025, having previously served as Taoiseach from 2024 to 2025. He has ...

, music producer * Scott Kashket (born 1996), England, striker for Wycombe Wanderers * Harriet King, Victorian poetCatherine W. Reilly. ''Mid-Victorian Poetry: An Annotated Biobibliography''. Londen: Mansell Publishing Limited, 2000, p. 257. *Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Lloyd (1853-1926), lived latterly at Rolls Park in Chigwell.Lieutenant General Sir Francis Lloyd lived at Chigwell's Rolls Park during the First World War
Epping Forest Guardian, 25 February 2010 *

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA ...

, footballer, captain of the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

-winning England team *

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional Association football, footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he became the first player to score a Hat-trick#Association football, hat-trick in a ...

, member of 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning team, also lived in the town while at West Ham United *Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Charles Newman, recipient of the

for actions at the

St Nazaire Raid The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Louis Joubert Lock, Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German occupation of France during World War II, German-occupied France during the Second ...

, was born in the town. *

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a m ...

, snooker player * Ruth Rendell, crime writer, worked as a journalist on the Chigwell Times * George Shillibeer, creator of the London omnibus, plaque at St Mary's parish church * Alan Sugar, billionaire entrepreneur, former owner of

Amstrad Amstrad plc was a British consumer electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar. During the 1980s, the company was known for its Home computer, home computers beginning with the Amstrad CPC and later also the ZX Spectrum range after the ...

, host of '' The Apprentice''. *General Sir John Watson, recipient of the

for actions at

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

during the Indian Mutiny, was born in the town. * Vicki Michelle Actress, born in Chigwell. * Dave Gahan singer, member of group Depeche Mode born in Chigwell. * Joey Essex television personality.

References

External links

Chigwell Parish Council website
{{authority control Civil parishes in Essex Towns in Essex Epping Forest District