{{Short description|Civil parish in Essex, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox UK place |country= England |official_name= Chignall |coordinates= {{coord|51|45|54|N|0|25|22|E|display=inline,title}} |population= 621 | population_ref = (Parish, 2021)<ref name=2021census>{{cite web |title=2021 Census Parish Profiles |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/sources/census_2021_pp |website=NOMIS |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=31 March 2025}} (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)</ref> |civil_parish= Chignall |shire_district= Chelmsford |shire_county= Essex |region= East of England |constituency_westminster= Chelmsford |post_town= CHELMSFORD |postcode_district= CM1 |postcode_area= CM |dial_code= 01245 |os_grid_reference= | static_image = St Nicholas, Chignal Smealey - geograph.org.uk - 3282210.jpg | static_image_caption = Church of St Nicholas at Chignall Smealy }}
'''Chignall''' is a civil parish in the Chelmsford district of Essex, England. The parish includes the two small villages of Chignall St James and Chignall Smealy and surrounding rural areas. In the south-eastern tip of the parish it also includes some recent developments on the edge of the built up area of the city of Chelmsford. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 621.
==Toponymy== The meaning of Chignall is uncertain. The second syllable indicates "nook of land", indicating perhaps an area of dry land in a marsh, or an area otherwise separated from its parent territory. The first syllable may come from a personal name "Cicca", or alternatively it may come from "chicken".<ref>{{cite web |title=Chignall Smealey and St James |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Essex/Chignall%20Smealey%20and%20St.%20James |website=Key to English Place-Names |publisher=University of Nottingham |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref>
The legal name of the parish uses the spelling "Chignall", which is therefore used on Ordnance Survey maps and by the Office for National Statistics. The Ordnance Survey also uses the spelling "Smealy" in that village's name.<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/index.html |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref><ref name=2021census/> The Royal Mail uses the spelling "Chignal" for official postal addresses in both villages, and also uses the spelling "Smealey".<ref>{{cite web |title=Find an address |url=https://www.royalmail.com/find-a-postcode |publisher=Royal Mail |access-date=7 November 2025}} (See for example postcodes CM1 4TY or CM1 4TA.</ref> The parish council uses the spelling Chignal on its website.<ref name=pc>{{cite web |title=Chignal Parish |url=https://www.chignalparish.org.uk/details/parish-council/ |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref>
==History== In Saxon times, Chignall appears to have been a single vill. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cingehala'' in the Chelmsford hundred of Essex. The vill was at that time split between two owners.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Powell-Smith |first1=Anna |title=Chignall |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TL6610/chignall/ |website=Open Domesday |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Essex A-C|url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/essex1.html#chignall|author=The Domesday Book online|accessdate=2016-05-14}}</ref>
A priest is mentioned in one of the Domesday entries for Chignall, implying it may have then been a parish. It is unclear where the church was at that time. The church of St James at Chignall St James dates back to at least the 13th century,<ref name=James>{{NHLE|desc=Former Church of St James|grade=II*|num=1122199}}</ref> and the church of St Nicholas at Chignall Smealy was built in the early 16th century.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Church of St Nicholas|grade=II*|num=1170018}}</ref> A third church dedicated to St Mary is known to have formerly existed at Chignall, which had been demolished by the 18th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rodwell |first1=Warwick |last2=Rodwell |first2=Kirsty |title=Historic Churches: A wasting asset |date=1977 |publisher=The Council for British Archaeology |page=16 |url=https://colchesterheritage.co.uk/api/LibraryLinkWebServiceProxy/FetchResource/1497/full_1497.pdf |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref> The area came to be administered as the two parishes of Chignall St James and Chignall Smealy, with the latter sometimes called "Little Chignall".<ref name=Kelly>{{cite book |title=Kelly's Directory of Essex |date=1914 |page=133 |url=https://leicester.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/60723/rec/2 |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref>
Chignall St James and Chignall Smealy were merged into a new civil parish called Chignall in 1888, although they remained separate ecclesiastical parishes.<ref name=Kelly/><ref>{{cite web|title=Chignall|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/essex/vol2/pp44-46|author=British History Online|accessdate=2016-05-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10236307|title=Relationships and changes Chignall CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain|accessdate=8 October 2020}}</ref>
In ecclesiastical terms, Chignall St James, Chignall Smealy and the neighbouring parish of Mashbury were united into a single benefice in 1930.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33606|page=3036|date=16 May 1930}}</ref> They were later formally united into a single ecclesiastical parish called "The Chignals with Mashbury", which uses St Nicholas's Church at Chignall Smealy as its parish church.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chignal Smealey: St Nicholas |url=https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/6639/more-information/ |website=A Church near you |publisher=The Church of England |access-date=7 November 2025}}</ref> St James's Church was declared redundant in 1981; it was converted into a house a few years later.<ref name=James/>
==Governance== The parish council is based at the village hall on Mashbury Road in Chignall St James.<ref name=pc/>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Civil parishes in Essex Category:City of Chelmsford
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