Chalfont St Giles
Encyclopedia
Chalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish within Chiltern district
in south east Buckinghamshire
, England
, on the edge of the Chilterns, 25 miles from London
, and near Seer Green
, Jordans, Chalfont St Peter
, Little Chalfont
and Amersham
.
Chalfont means chalk
spring
, in reference to the water
carrying capacities of the local terrain. The village has a duck
pond that is fed by River Misbourne
.
of Saint Giles
is Norman
and dates from the 12th century. It has a fine example of a lychgate
. The Bishop Francis Hare
is buried there.
In the Domesday Book
in 1086 Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter are listed as separate Manors with different owners. They were separate holding before the Norman Conquest.
Like most other rural parishes it managed its civil affairs through the vestry until the Local Government Act 1894 required all parishes of over 300 people to have a Parish council independent of the Church.
During the Great Plague of London
in 1665, John Milton
retired to Chalfont St Giles, which is where he completed his epic poem Paradise Lost
. Milton's Cottage
is still in the village, and is open to the public. The inspiration for Paradise Regained is said to have been found in this parish from a conversation with a former pupil, Thomas Ellwood
.
The birthplace of J.T. Hearne
, one of the greatest bowlers of the 1890s and 1900s, who died there in 1944, and of the actress Alexandra Gilbreath
.
Notable residents of the village have included Harry Golombek
, Brian Connolly
, Brian Cant
, Chicane
, Armando Iannucci
, Noel Gallagher
formerly of Oasis
and Nick Clegg
who became the Liberal Democrats
party leader in 2007 and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
in 2010.
The village has also given its name to Chalfont, Pennsylvania
, which is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
.
, which was promoted to the Hellenic Football League
Premier Division for the 2008-09 season. Chalfont St Giles has a tennis club, affiliated to the Lawn Tennis Association
.
The village is twinned
with Graft-De Rijp
in the Netherlands
.
in the 1971 film version
of Dad's Army
. John Laurie
, one of the main actors, lived in Chalfont St Peter. The Miller's Tale episode of the BBC Television
drama The Canterbury Tales
was filmed in and around Chalfont St Giles as was an episode of the BBC Television sitcom As Time Goes By
. It was the location for the filming of Episode 6 of Series 3 of Peep Show
.
rhyming slang for piles
, this is derived from Chalfont St Giles but, as is typical with Cockney rhyming slang, the part of the phrase which rhymes with the derivative is omitted. There is a Viz comic strip named Nobby's Piles
in which the protagonist, Nobby, uses a range of slang expressions when referring to his haemorrhoids including "Ooh, me chalfonts!"
in Chalfont St Giles parish include:
Chiltern (district)
Chiltern is one of four local government districts of Buckinghamshire in south central England. It is named after the Chiltern Hills on which the region sits.The main towns in the district are Amersham and Chesham...
in south east Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on the edge of the Chilterns, 25 miles from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and near Seer Green
Seer Green
Seer Green is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about a mile east of Beaconsfield and a mile south-west of Chalfont St Giles.-History:...
, Jordans, Chalfont St Peter
Chalfont St Peter
Chalfont St Peter is a village and civil parish in Chiltern district in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts which also includes Chalfont St Giles and Little Chalfont. The villages lie between High Wycombe and Rickmansworth. Chalfont St Peter is...
, Little Chalfont
Little Chalfont
Little Chalfont is a village and civil parish in Chiltern district in south east Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in a small group of villages called The Chalfonts which also consists of Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter...
and Amersham
Amersham
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. It is part of the London commuter belt....
.
Chalfont means chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
, in reference to the water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
carrying capacities of the local terrain. The village has a duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
pond that is fed by River Misbourne
River Misbourne
The River Misbourne rises in a field on the outskirts of Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, and flows down the Misbourne valley to join the River Colne just north of where the latter is crossed by the A40 Western Avenue....
.
History
The Church of England parish churchChurch 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 the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
of Saint Giles
Saint Giles
Saint Giles was a Greek Christian hermit saint from Athens, whose legend is centered in Provence and Septimania. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in St-Gilles-du-Gard, became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the road that led from Arles to Santiago de Compostela, the...
is Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
and dates from the 12th century. It has a fine example of a lychgate
Lychgate
A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, or as two separate words lych gate, is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard.-Name:...
. The Bishop Francis Hare
Francis Hare (bishop)
Francis Hare was an English churchman and classical scholar, bishop of St Asaph from 1727 and bishop of Chichester from 1731.-Life:...
is buried there.
In the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
in 1086 Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter are listed as separate Manors with different owners. They were separate holding before the Norman Conquest.
Like most other rural parishes it managed its civil affairs through the vestry until the Local Government Act 1894 required all parishes of over 300 people to have a Parish council independent of the Church.
Great Plague of London
The Great Plague was a massive outbreak of disease in the Kingdom of England that killed an estimated 100,000 people, 20% of London's population. The disease is identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through a flea vector...
in 1665, John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
retired to Chalfont St Giles, which is where he completed his epic poem Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
. Milton's Cottage
Milton's Cottage
Milton's Cottage is a timber framed 16th century building located in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Giles.In 1665 John Milton and his wife, moved into the cottage to escape the Plague in London. Despite the fact that Milton spent less than a year at the cottage, it is important because...
is still in the village, and is open to the public. The inspiration for Paradise Regained is said to have been found in this parish from a conversation with a former pupil, Thomas Ellwood
Thomas Ellwood
Thomas Ellwood was an English religious writer.He was born in Oxfordshire, the son of a rural squire. Educated at Lord Williams's School, he later joined the Quakers and became a friend of William Penn and John Milton. However, he was persecuted for his faith and spent some time in prison. His...
.
The birthplace of J.T. Hearne
Jack Hearne (John Thomas Hearne)
John Thomas Hearne was a Middlesex and England medium-fast bowler...
, one of the greatest bowlers of the 1890s and 1900s, who died there in 1944, and of the actress Alexandra Gilbreath
Alexandra Gilbreath
Alexandra Gilbreath is an award-winning English actress.Gilbreath is widely known for her work both on stage and onscreen . She gained popularity with the Royal Shakespeare Company on such works as The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The Tamer Tamed, and The Winter's Tale and Merry Wives:...
.
Notable residents of the village have included Harry Golombek
Harry Golombek
Harry Golombek OBE , was a British chess International Master and honorary grandmaster, chess arbiter, and chess author. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. He became a grandmaster in 1985.He was the chess correspondent of The Times...
, Brian Connolly
Sweet (band)
Sweet was a British rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s as one of the most prominent glam rock acts, with the classic line-up of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker.Sweet was formed in 1968 and achieved their first...
, Brian Cant
Brian Cant
Brian Cant is an English actor, television presenter and writer.-Personal life:Born in Ipswich, he currently lives in Buckinghamshire and is married to writer and director Cherry Britton, sister of TV presenter Fern Britton and actor Jasper Britton. They have three children, daughter Rose, and...
, Chicane
Chicane (recording artist)
Chicane is a British electronic dance music act, and the guise of British musician, composer, songwriter and record producer, Nicholas Bracegirdle....
, Armando Iannucci
Armando Iannucci
Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
, Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
formerly of Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
and Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...
who became the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
party leader in 2007 and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a senior member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the Prime Minister, who may appoint to other offices...
in 2010.
The village has also given its name to Chalfont, Pennsylvania
Chalfont, Pennsylvania
Chalfont is a home rule municipality located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,009 at the 2010 census.Chalfont is named after Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, England...
, which is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- Industry and commerce :The boroughs of Bristol and Morrisville were prominent industrial centers along the Northeast Corridor during World War II. Suburban development accelerated in Lower Bucks in the 1950s with the opening of Levittown, Pennsylvania, the second such "Levittown" designed by...
.
Amenities
The local football club is Chalfont WaspsChalfont Wasps F.C.
Chalfont Wasps F.C. are a football club based in Chalfont St. Giles, near Amersham, England. They were established in 1922 and were founding members of the Chiltonian League in 1984...
, which was promoted to the Hellenic Football League
Hellenic Football League
The Hellenic Football League is an English football league covering an area including the English counties of Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, southern Buckinghamshire, southern Herefordshire, western Greater London, and northern Wiltshire. There is also one team from Hampshire.The league...
Premier Division for the 2008-09 season. Chalfont St Giles has a tennis club, affiliated to the Lawn Tennis Association
Lawn Tennis Association
The Lawn Tennis Association is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.As the governing body, the LTA is responsible for the coaching and development of junior players, offering courses and qualifications on coaching, as well as the...
.
The village is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with Graft-De Rijp
Graft-De Rijp
Graft-De Rijp is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.It is twinned with Chalfont St Giles in England.-Population centres :...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Film and television
Chalfont St Giles has been the location of several film and television programmes. It doubled as Walmington-on-SeaWalmington-on-Sea
Walmington-on-Sea is a fictional seaside resort where the BBC Television sitcom, BBC radio series and film Dad's Army was based.Located on the channel coast of England in the county of Kent, the national "front line" following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk during...
in the 1971 film version
Dad's Army (film)
Dad's Army is a 1971 feature film based on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. Directed by Norman Cohen, it was filmed between series three and four and was based upon material from the early episodes of the television series...
of Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
. John Laurie
John Laurie
John Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
, one of the main actors, lived in Chalfont St Peter. The Miller's Tale episode of the BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
drama The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales (TV Series)
The Canterbury Tales is a series of six single dramas that originally aired on BBC One in 2003. Each story is an adaptation of one of Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th century Canterbury Tales which are transferred to a modern, 21st century setting, but still set along the traditional Pilgrims' route to...
was filmed in and around Chalfont St Giles as was an episode of the BBC Television sitcom As Time Goes By
As Time Goes By (TV series)
As Time Goes By is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One from 1992 to 2005. Starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, it follows the relationship between two former lovers who meet unexpectedly after not having been in contact for 38 years....
. It was the location for the filming of Episode 6 of Series 3 of Peep Show
Peep Show (TV series)
Peep Show is a British sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The television programme is written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb themselves, amongst others. It has been broadcast on Channel 4 since 2003. The show's seventh series makes it...
.
Rhyming Slang
"Chalfonts" is one of many variations of CockneyCockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
rhyming slang for piles
Hemorrhoid
Hemorrhoids or haemorrhoids , are vascular structures in the anal canal which help with stool control. They become pathological or piles when swollen or inflamed. In their physiological state they act as a cushion composed of arterio-venous channels and connective tissue that aid the passage of...
, this is derived from Chalfont St Giles but, as is typical with Cockney rhyming slang, the part of the phrase which rhymes with the derivative is omitted. There is a Viz comic strip named Nobby's Piles
Nobby's Piles
Nobby's Piles is the name of a cartoon in the British comic Viz. It is one of the longest running strips, having been appearing with some regularity since the mid-1980s....
in which the protagonist, Nobby, uses a range of slang expressions when referring to his haemorrhoids including "Ooh, me chalfonts!"
Hamlets
HamletsHamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
in Chalfont St Giles parish include:
- Bottrells Close, located along Bottrells Lane to the west of the village. Bottrells Close Cottage is the location of the ancient hamlet.
- Chalfont Grove, located to the south of the village along Narcot Lane. It is the location of the British Forces Broadcasting ServiceBritish Forces Broadcasting ServiceThe British Forces Broadcasting Service provides radio and television programmes for HM Forces, and their dependents, in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kosovo, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Tristan da Cunha as well as a live satellite...
. - Jordans, located south west of the main village, near Seer GreenSeer GreenSeer Green is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about a mile east of Beaconsfield and a mile south-west of Chalfont St Giles.-History:...
. - Stratton Chase, located to the north of Mill Lane.