# Strip parish

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[Lincolnshire](/source/List_of_civil_parishes_in_Lincolnshire) has many clearly visible strip parishes.

A **strip parish** is a [parish](/source/Parish) with a narrow, elongated shape, formed typically during the [Anglo-Saxon](/source/Anglo-Saxons) and [early medieval](/source/Early_medieval) period. The shape is influenced by [landscape](/source/Landscape) and political and [economic](/source/Economic) factors. Evidence of such parishes can be found throughout England, although they seem to have been more common in a number of southern counties, particularly but not exclusively associated with locations including both [lowland](/source/Lowland) and [upland](/source/Highland_(geography)) [landscapes](/source/Landscape) or alternatively [coastal](/source/Coastal) communities.

## Origins of strip parishes

A number of common factors influenced the creation of strip parishes: the establishment of the parish unit, the [topography](/source/Topography) of the landscape and the scarcity of valuable resources.

With the fragmentation of the [hundreds](/source/Hundred_(country_subdivision)) in England during the [8th](/source/8th_century) and [9th centuries](/source/9th_century), due to the division of larger estates and the transfer of land, smaller [manorial](/source/Manorialism) estates gradually emerged. Other reasons for this were the endowment of lands for newly-established churches; the patronage of the lower levels of [nobility](/source/Nobility); the legal inheritance of land within families; and the beginning of [Norman](/source/Normans) rule. These resulted in the creation of a patchwork of parish units, the administrative boundaries of which were formalised alongside the re-assembling of manorial lands.

In places like the [Chilterns](/source/Chilterns), the [South Downs](/source/South_Downs) and coastal areas of [Devon](/source/Devon) and [Cornwall](/source/Cornwall), where resources were limited, there were more developments. For example, parish settlements in the lowland areas of the [Vale of Aylesbury](/source/Vale_of_Aylesbury) ([Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire)) and the [Thames Valley](/source/Thames_Valley) ([Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire)), bordering the [Chiltern Hills](/source/Chiltern_Hills), expanded by adding land in the adjoining largely uninhabited hillside, [scarp](/source/Escarpment) and hilltop areas to exploit scarce resources such as [woodland](/source/Woodland) and upland summer [pasture](/source/Pasture) (by [transhumance](/source/Transhumance)). This resulted in estates and parishes which were narrow elongated strips with a mix of land types, ensuring a greater availability of resources.

## Development of autonomous manors and parishes

Subsequent expansion of the temporary summer settlements resulted in the establishment of permanent communities, including the formation of autonomous manors or [hamlets](/source/Hamlet_(place)) with their own, initially modest, [chapels-of-ease](/source/Chapel-of-ease), which later became churches. Where topography did not allow a parish to expand uphill in one contiguous strip, it might acquire an exclave of upland territory: for example, [Marsworth](/source/Marsworth) and its detached manor of [Hawridge](/source/Hawridge). Usually, such an exclave was within the same [hundred](/source/Hundred_(county_division)) and [county](/source/Counties_of_the_United_Kingdom); but occasionally, as in [Tring](/source/Tring), Hertfordshire and its detached upland hamlet [Coleshill](/source/Coleshill%2C_Buckinghamshire) several miles away and in [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire), such detached communities could cross county boundaries.

As early as the late [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages) and as late as the 20th century, some of these "offspring" communities separated completely from their longer-established parent village miles away. Such separation sometimes caused the lowland community to relocate to a new village location. The upland communities sometimes became parishes in their own right, or amalgamated with other hilltop villages to create one or more new parishes.

A detailed account of the development of strip parishes in the Chiltern Hills can be found in *The Chilterns* by Leslie Hepple and Alison Doggett.

The parishes of [Westerham](/source/Westerham), [Brasted](/source/Brasted), and [Sundridge](/source/Sundridge_with_Ide_Hill) in the [Vale of Holmesdale](/source/Vale_of_Holmesdale), [North West Kent](/source/North_West_Kent) are examples of strip parishes that are large enough to have a detached hamlet. [Chartwell](/source/Chartwell) is the detached hamlet of Westerham; [Brasted Chart](/source/Brasted_Chart) is the detached hamlet for Brasted, and [Ide Hill](/source/Ide_Hill) is the detached hamlet for Sundridge.

## Geological features

The geological structure of the underlying rock found in a strip parish can sometimes be indicated by the variety of local rock used to build the parish church: for example the rocks found in the church buildings in Westerham and Brasted are [sandstone](/source/Sandstone), Melbourne rock (hard chalk), [flint](/source/Flint), and [chert](/source/Chert). Details of the local geology can be found in local geological maps: for example the rocks cited above are indicated on the Dartford geological survey.

## Agricultural influences

The combination of soils that form as a result of this variety of underlying bedrock promotes prosperity because it allows several different types of agriculture in a small area: [alluvium](/source/Alluvium) (holding water, promoting lush pastures for feeding cattle), chalk (well drained, dry for sheep), sandstone ridge (infertile, but still suitable for woodland to provide charcoal and fuel for cooking and heating).

The benefits can be enhanced if the local land profile is sloping, because the washdown from the valley sides transports the base minerals to the shelter of the valley, where they are mixed to form a fertile soil suitable for growing cereals and root crops.

## Some strip parishes in England

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2022)

Parish County Detached hamlets/parishes Eaton Bray Bedfordshire Formerly Boston Rural District Toddington Bedfordshire Totternhoe Bedfordshire Boxford Berkshire East Garston Berkshire East Shefford Berkshire Welford Berkshire Aston Clinton Buckinghamshire St Leonards Bledlow Buckinghamshire Buckland Buckinghamshire Buckland Common Drayton Beauchamp Buckinghamshire Cholesbury Great Kimble Buckinghamshire Little Kimble, Ellesborough Horsenden Buckinghamshire Marsworth Buckinghamshire Hawridge Monks Risborough Buckinghamshire Pitstone Buckinghamshire Princes Risborough Buckinghamshire Saunderton Buckinghamshire Stoke Mandeville Buckinghamshire The Hampdens, part of Taplow Buckinghamshire Penn Weston Turville Buckinghamshire The Lee Buckinghamshire Lympstone Devon Ridge Hertfordshire Shenley Hertfordshire Tring Hertfordshire Coleshill (Bucks) Wigginton Hertfordshire Aisthorpe Lincolnshire Barkston Lincolnshire Barlings Lincolnshire Bishop Norton Lincolnshire Blankney Lincolnshire Blyborough Lincolnshire Bonby Lincolnshire Brattleby Lincolnshire Burton Lincolnshire Caenby Lincolnshire Cammeringham Lincolnshire Caythorpe Lincolnshire Dunsby Lincolnshire Dunston Lincolnshire Fillingham Lincolnshire Fulbeck Lincolnshire Glentham Lincolnshire Glentworth Lincolnshire Grayingham Lincolnshire Hacconby Lincolnshire Normanby by Spital Lincolnshire North Carlton Lincolnshire North Coates Lincolnshire Nocton Lincolnshire Marshchapel Lincolnshire Martin Lincolnshire Metheringham Lincolnshire Morton Lincolnshire Owmby-by-Spital Lincolnshire Potterhanworth Lincolnshire Saxby Lincolnshire Saxby All Saints Lincolnshire Scampton Lincolnshire Scotter Lincolnshire Snitterby Lincolnshire Somerby Lincolnshire South Carlton Lincolnshire Spridlington Lincolnshire Stallingborough Lincolnshire Syston Lincolnshire Timberland Lincolnshire Waddingham Lincolnshire Welton Lincolnshire West Firsby Lincolnshire Willoughton Lincolnshire Winterton Lincolnshire Worlaby Lincolnshire Aston Rowant Oxfordshire Stokenchurch Checkendon Oxfordshire Chinnor Oxfordshire Ipsden Oxfordshire Kingston Bagpuize Oxfordshire Lewknor Oxfordshire Ackhampstead, Bucks Mongewell Oxfordshire Newnham Murren Oxfordshire Nuffield Oxfordshire Pyrton Oxfordshire Stonor Shirburn Oxfordshire South Stoke Oxfordshire Woodcote Watlington Oxfordshire Warmscombe Ewell Surrey Leigh Surrey Banstead Oxted Surrey Staines Surrey Arundel Sussex Ditchling Sussex Lewes Sussex Lodsworth Sussex Midhurst Sussex Petworth Sussex Steyning Sussex Charlton Wiltshire Fittleton cum Haxton Wiltshire

## Further reading

- Hepple & Doggett, Leslie & Alison (1971). [*The Chilterns*](https://archive.org/details/chilterns0000hepp). England: Phillimore & Co Ltd. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-85033-833-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-85033-833-6).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Strip parish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_parish) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_parish?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.