Chignall St James

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".^[1]

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.^[2][3] The Royal Mail uses the spelling "Chignal" in official postal addresses.^[4] The parish council uses the spelling Chignal on its website.^[5]

The area once included a Roman villa, the site of which was discovered in the 1970s.^[6][7]

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.^[8][9]

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,^[10] and the church of St Nicholas at Chignall Smealy was built in the early 16th century.^[11] A third church dedicated to St Mary is known to have formerly existed at Chignall, which had been demolished by the 18th century.^[12] The area came to be administered as the two parishes of Chignall St James and Chignall Smealy, with the latter sometimes called "Little Chignall".^[13]

In 1888 the parishes of Chignall St James and Chignall Smealy were merged into a new civil parish called Chignall, subject to some adjustments to the boundaries with the neighbouring parishes Broomfield and Writtle at the same time.^[14] At the 1881 census (the last before the abolition of the civil parish), Chignall St James had a population of 224.^[15]

In ecclesiastical terms, Chignall St James, Chignall Smealy and the neighbouring parish of Mashbury were united into a single benefice in 1930.^[16] 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.^[17] St James's Church was declared redundant in 1981; it was converted into a house a few years later.^[10]

The village formerly had a public house, the Three Elms, which closed in 2019.^[18]

Businesses providing employment in the area include Ashdown Engineering, Gardening Express^[19] and local farms.

Notable village landmarks include an old brick-built farm barn with a dove-cote thought^{[by whom?]} to be the oldest and only example of its type in Essex, an old red brick school (now a dwelling), the former church, and the Old Rectory.