Clophill is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

clustered on the north bank of the River Flit,

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, England. It is recorded 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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 as ''Clopelle''. "Clop" likely means 'tree-stump' in Old English. However, it also has cognate terms for clay, with which the soil of mid Bedfordshire is rich. Oldrectory clophill

Extent and demography

In the 1851 census, the men of the parish numbered 560; of these, 238 were agricultural labourers; women numbered. In the 2011 Census the population was 1,750. Clophillsign

The contiguous housing of Clophill Road and its side streets falls into the civil and ecclesiastical parishes of Maulden.

Church

St Mary's old church

The old St Mary's Church was built around 1350, and replaced by a new church in the 1840s (250 m SSW). It gradually fell into ruin, and as an inactive church, had restoration carried out for secular purposes in the early 2010s.

Active churches

The new St Mary's church is in the High Street, built 1848–1849. The current

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

is Lynda Klimas. It is the only church of the Church of England

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

, which reflects the civil parish having the A6 Bedford Road as its western limit. Clophill Methodist Church has an active congregation, social meetings on site and in the schoolroom and was built in about the year 1930. It joins with St Mary's Church in some major services.

Public houses and restaurants

;on the Green/High Street * ''The Flying Horse'' * ''The Green Man - La Stalla (restaurant)'' - closed August 2020 ;on Back Street * ''The Stone Jug''

Notable residents

Boss Meyer Rollo John Oliver Meyer (15 March 1905 – 9 March 1991) was an English educationalist who founded Millfield School (1935) and Millfield Preparatory School (1946) in Somerset; he was also an all-round sportsman who played cricket at first-c ...

, educator and cricketer. Founder of Millfield School. *

David L. Englin David Lawrence Englin (born August 15, 1974) was a state legislator in the Virginia House of Delegates through the 2012 session, and is the Interim Chief Executive Officer for the American Red Cross Los Angeles Region. Political career A Demo ...

, politician * Jimmy Husband, (born 15 October 1947), retired professional footballer * John van Weenen, OMT MBE, (born 26 August 1941, Enfield, Middlesex), 8th Dan karateka and humanitarian * Sir Douglas Frederick Howard, KCMG, MC, (15 February 1897 – 26 December 1987), diplomat

Sports and Leisure Facilities

The Greensand Ridge Walk and the Greensand Cycle Way pass through Clophill. The village has a youth football club calle
Clophill United FC
The 2020/21 season has five teams (U15s to 11s) playing in the Beds Youth Saturday League and the Chiltern Junior 7s.

Notes and References

External links

Official Clophill Parish Council WebsiteClophill pages
at the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service
Official Clophill Village Church Website
*British History article on Clophill, excerpt from 'A History of the County of Bedford Vol 2', written 1908 by William Pag
Clophill HistoryOfficial Clophill United FC Website (Youth Teams)
{{authority control Villages in Bedfordshire Civil parishes in Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire District