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Chinnor is situated at the base of the Chiltern Hills, 18 miles east of Oxford
and just five miles from the M40. There has probably been a settlement here for
many centuries because of the proximity of the ancient Icknield Way running from
Lincolnshire down to Wiltshire, which is thought to be pre-Roman and was
certainly used during the Middle Ages for driving cattle and sheep.
Still standing in the village today is the mostly 14th century church of St
Andrew, although parts of it go back to the 12th and 13th centuries. The wooden
screen is reputed to be the sixth oldest in England and a splendid collection of
wall-mounted brasses include a foliated cross from about 1338. The stained glass
windows date from 1350 through to modern. The bells link the Elizabethan reigns,
the tenor having been cast during Elizabeth I’s time and the sanctus in 1965.
The church is undergoing much needed restoration.
There is also a Congregational church built of brick and flint, the local
building material, opened in 1805, the year of the battle of Trafalgar. The
Methodist church is the most recent of the three places of worship, having been
rebuilt in 1873 after blowing down the previous year two months after opening.
Because of Chinnor’s position near Oxford a certain amount of Civil War activity
took place in the vicinity. Oral tradition maintains that Prince Rupert was
involved in a skirmish in the High Street before the battle of Chalgrove Field
in 1643.
Industries based in and around Chinnor included lacemaking, chair-making and
agriculture. There were four lace schools in Chinnor in the early 19th century.
Among the 268 lacemakers there were many children working to supplement the very
low agricultural wages. Timber for chairmaking was known to be stored in the
barn at Chairmakers, a 16th century property in the High Street. ‘Bodgers’ were
the men working the beech woods in the surrounding hills.
In more recent times the cement works opened in 1908 which brought facilities to
the village earlier than in surrounding areas. The village is the centre today
for several small industries including a sawmill and a funeral director. In The
Parish Pump, the monthly village newspaper, there are many advertisements for
professional people working locally.
The Reading Rooms in the High Street were originally built in 1878 as an
alternative centre for the men of the parish to read or play billiards. In the
1920s it was changed to a public hail and women were at last allowed to use it.
Nowadays Chinnor, with its population of approximately 8,000, serves as a base
for people working virtually anywhere in the Central Midlands/South corridor.
With the opening of the M40 extension towards Birmingham there will probably be
people in the future based here with an eye to the North Midlands.
Expansion in Chinnor began with new housing estates being built around the
village from the 1960s onwards and it now supports various playgroups and two
primary schools, one of which has a special unit for autistic children. There is
a village dentist, an optician and two doctor’s surgeries, one of which won a
design award in 1967. There is sheltered housing for the elderly in Leverkus
House and a private nursing home at Hempton Field.
Culturally there is a branch of the county library next to St Andrew’s School, a
thriving evening class programme, a cricket field, football pitches and
playgrounds in the village centre and Mill Lane. For entertainment there are
many societies locally, including the Chinnor Players and Chinnor Operatic.
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