Chipping, Lancashire

Chipping is a village and civil parish of the borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England, within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 1,046,[2] falling slightly to 1,043 at the 2011 Census.[1] This Lancashire village has won several best-kept village competitions over the years. The village also won the village section of the Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom competition in 2009 picking up RHS Tourism and Gold achievement awards in the process.

Chipping
Chipping is located in the Borough of Ribble Valley
Chipping
Chipping
Location in Ribble Valley Borough
Chipping is located in the Forest of Bowland
Chipping
Chipping
Location in the Forest of Bowland
Chipping is located in Lancashire
Chipping
Chipping
Location within Lancashire
Population1,043 (2011 census) [1]
OS grid referenceSD623434
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townPRESTON
Postcode districtPR3
Dialling code01995
PoliceLancashire
FireLancashire
AmbulanceNorth West
UK Parliament

History
See also: Lordship of Bowland

The village is known to be at least 1,000 years old and is mentioned in Domesday. It lies on the south-western edge of the ancient Forest of Bowland abutting the civil parish of Bowland-with-Leagram. Leagram Park, the site of one of the medieval deer parks of the Forest, is a short drive from the village. Despite this, Chipping was not a part of the ancient Forest and its manor did not fall within the powerful Lordship of Bowland.[3]

Chipping really thrived during the Industrial Revolution when there were seven mills located along Chipping Brook. The last survivor was Kirk Mill, the chair making factory of HJ Berry, but in 2010 the company went into administration, the factory closed,[4] and on 7 March 2011 the works were bought by 53N Bowland Ltd.[5]

Origin of the name

Chipping is named in the Domesday Book as Chippenden; the name is derived from the medieval Chepyn meaning market place. Chipping is a prefix used in a number of place names in England, and is probably derived from ceapen, an Old English word meaning 'marketplace', though the meaning may alternatively come from (or via) the Medieval English word chepynge with a more specific meaning of 'long market square'.

Local government

Chipping is a civil parish, and formerly an ancient parish that also included Thornley-with-Wheatley, which became a separate parish in the 19th century. Chipping was in Clitheroe Rural District from 1894 until the reorganisation of local government in 1974,[6]

It is now in Ribble Valley, a non-metropolitan district formed in 1974. The parish of Chipping is combined, with Bowland-with-Leagram and Bowland Forest High, into the ward of Chipping, which elects one councillor to Ribble Valley Borough Council.[7][8][9] Local elections are every four years.[10]

Chipping is part of the Longridge with Bowland ward of Lancashire County Council[11] and is in the Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency. At all three levels of government (district, county and parliament) Chipping is represented by the Conservative Party (as of 2012).

Religion
Entrance to St Bartholomew's

The village contains the Anglican Church of St Bartholomew and the Roman Catholic Chapel of St Mary, as well as a Congregational chapel.

St Bartholemew's

St Bartholomew's is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Whalley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn.[12] Its benefice is united with that of St Michael, Whitewell.[13] The church is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.[14]

The ancient yew tree in the churchyard is well known in the county and thought to be more than a century old.[15][16]

St Mary's

Until the Protestant Reformation all the people of the village worshipped at St. Bartholomew's. Those who remained devoted to the Roman Catholic Church practiced their religion in secret, although there was a Mass centre at Leagram Hall where the family remained Catholic.

By the beginning of the 19th century Catholics were now able to openly attend the chapel at Leagram. In the 1820s George Weld, who was squire of Leagram, donated land in the village for the construction of a church, a school, a priest's house and a cemetery. St Mary's Church was built at a cost of £1,130 (equivalent to £100,000 in 2021)[17] The day school, also built on the site, remained in use until 1967 when the new school was built. The old school is now a community centre for all the people of the village. In 1999 the church was fully redecorated and rearranged. The Priest in Charge is Fr. Anthony Grimshaw.

The organ was reputedly bought from Stonyhurst College in 1872 and it has been dated by experts from Preston and District Organist Association to be early 18th century, by Bishop Ltd of Ipswich. It was originally hand blown and contains 650 pipes. In 1944, when electric light was installed, a plate confirming its builder was discovered. It was further renovated in 1952, when an electric blower was installed, and a further inscription was found clarifying the re-building of the organ in 1872 by Henry Ainscough.[18]

Congregational Chapel
Congregational Church] doorway

The chapel now known as the Congregational Church was built in 1838 for use as an independent non-conformist place of worship. The dedication stone, on the front of the building, bears the inscription: PROVIDENT CHAPEL ERECTED BY SUBSCRIPTION MDCCCXXXVIII. After about 40 years the chapel declined. It closed in 1882 and remained so for about 18 years. After extensive restoration and cleaning, by members of the Grimshaw Street Congregational Church in Preston, however, it re-opened as a Congregational Church.

The church is currently active, with an average attendance at Sunday worship of approximately 60 with around 20 children meeting for Sunday school.[19] It meets twice on a Sunday, in the morning and evening,[20] and runs various groups for both young and old within the community.[21] In January 2014, the church appointed its first Pastor in over 50 years.[22]

Landmarks
Woolfen Hall

Chipping Craft Centre holds the honour of being the property which has been used as a shop for the longest continuous time in the UK.[23] The first shop was opened at this location in 1668 by a local wool merchant.[24] Since then it has been used as an undertakers, butchers and most recently as a Post Office, amongst other trades. It is a now a newsagents, tea shop and craft centre, however, and operates as a Post Office only two days a week.

Hesketh End, on Judd Holmes Lane in the village, is a Grade I listed building, dating from 1591 and early 17th century, restored in 1907.[25]

Woolfen Hall, at the foot of nearby Parlick, is a Grade II listed building, possibly 16th-century but altered in 1867-8.[26]

Education

The village has the benefit of two primary schools; St Marys RC and Brabin's Endowed School. Brabin's Endowed was established in 1684.[27]

Culture and amenities

Chipping has its own local historical society.

Chipping Agricultural Show is a local country show that was first held in 1920. The show celebrates all aspects of farming and rural life with classes for sheep, cattle, light horses, ponies and shire horses plus poultry, pigeon and egg sections. There are also competitions for cheeses, handicrafts, cakes and preserves, a large horticultural section plus children's, dog and baby sections.

Originally held in 1998 and intended as a one-off fund raising event for a new Village Hall, Chipping Steam Fair has now become a firm fixture in the village calendar. The fair now regularly attracts around 20,000 visitors and upward of 500 exhibitors over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend each May.

Bowland Forest Gliding Club, looking northwest

One mile to the west of the village is Bowland Forest Gliding Club,[28] GB-0339,[29] which is used by winch-launched gliders.

The village has three public houses. The Sun is situated at the corner of Windy Street and Garstang Lane and The Tillotson's Arms is situated on Talbot Street. The Talbot Arms, also on Talbot Street, is currently closed for refurbishment. The Sun is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of scullery maid Lizzie Dean, who hung herself in the attic of the pub on 5 November 1835. She is buried at the entrance to the churchyard.[30] Also in the locality is the Gibbon Bridge Hotel.

The village's environmentally friendly public toilets have won the best in Lancashire award at the county's Best Kept Village competition every year since a renovation in 2009.[31]

Geography

Just to the north of the village the Forest of Bowland access areas of Clougha, Fair Snape, Wolf Fell and Saddle Fell have been opened up to the public by access agreements negotiated between Lancashire County Council and the owners. This means that over 3,260 acres (13.2 km2) of open country are now open to walkers.

Transport

Bus routes operated by Holmeswood Coaches connect Chipping to Blackburn, Clitheroe and Longridge.[32][33] A route operated by Stagecoach in Lancashire connected Chipping to Preston but since 2012 no longer serves Chipping as a result of a Lancashire County Council review of subsidised bus services.[34]

Chipping in fiction

The Wardstone Chronicles, written by Joseph Delaney, frequently features the village of Chipenden, which is based on the village of Chipping.[35]

See also

References
  1. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Chipping Parish (1170215101)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  2. "Parish headcount" (PDF). Lancashire County Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  3. Forest of Bowland official website
  4. Coates, David (16 February 2010). "'Phoenix' hope for HJ Berry factory". Lancashire Evening Post. Johnston Press. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  5. Kirk Mill, accessed 10 March 2011
  6. "Chipping Ch/AP/CP Lancashire through time – Administrative history of Parish-level unit". A Vision of Britain through Time. University of Portsmouth & others. 2008. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  7. "MARIO (Maps and Related Information Online)". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  8. "Councillors". Ribble Valley Borough Council. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  9. "Ribble Valley Councillors by Ward: Chipping". Ribble Valley Borough Council. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  10. "The Borough of Ribble Valley (Electoral Changes) Order 2001". Office of Public Sector Information. 13 July 2001. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  11. "The County of Lancashire (Electoral Changes) Order 2005 (No. 170)". Statute Law Database. Office of Public Sector Information. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  12. The parish of Chipping, British History Online, retrieved 3 May 2018
  13. St Bartholomew, Chipping, Church of England, retrieved 10 April 2013
  14. Historic England. "Church of Bartholomew, Chipping (1072279)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  15. Coates, Neil (September 2002). Yew Tree, Chipping. ISBN 9781850587996. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  16. "Ancient Yew Group". Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  17. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  18. "Saint Mary's". chippingvillage.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 August 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  19. "Chipping Congregational Church". Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  20. "Visit Us". Chipping Congregational Church. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  21. "What's On – Adults". Chipping Congregational Church. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  22. "Pastor and Church Team". Chipping Congregational Church. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  23. Bid to save post office in country's oldest shop
  24. Holman, T. (2101), A Lancashire Miscellany, Frances Lincoln Publishers, ISBN 978-0-7112-3093-4, p.107.
  25. Good Stuff (29 December 1952). "Hesketh End – Chipping – Lancashire – England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  26. "Wolfen Hall, Chipping". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  27. "Brabin's Endowed Primary School" Archived 22 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Chipping Village Website.
  28. Bowland Forest Gliding Club – official website
  29. GB-0339 – metar-taf.com
  30. Lizzie Dean (20 May 2008). "Lancashire – Spooky – Lizzie Dean". BBC. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  31. Robinson, Jon (26 September 2014). "Ribble Valley volunteers win best public toilets award – yet again". Lancashire Telegraph. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  32. "MARIO – Maps & Related Information Online". Lancashire County Council. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  33. "Leaflet 103: Bus times: Services: 5, 5A, 5B, 25, 35". Lancashire County Council. 25 June 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  34. "Bus service changes to the Ribble Valley Network" (PDF). Lancashire County Council. 24 June 2012.
  35. "The Spook's County". BBC. 9 July 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
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