Chacombe

---

title: "Chacombe" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["civil-parishes-in-northamptonshire", "villages-in-northamptonshire", "west-northamptonshire-district"] description: "Village in Northamptonshire, England" topic_path: "general/civil-parishes-in-northamptonshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacombe" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in Northamptonshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
official_name	Chacombe
static_image_name	Church of St Peter and St Paul, Chacombe (geograph 3028532).jpg
static_image_caption	SS Peter & Paul parish church
coordinates
os_grid_reference	SP4943
population	659
population_ref	(2011 Census)
civil_parish	Chacombe
unitary_england	West Northamptonshire
lieutenancy_england	Northamptonshire
region	East Midlands
country	England
post_town	Banbury
postcode_district	OX17
postcode_area	OX
dial_code	01295
constituency_westminster	Daventry
website	Chacombe Parish Council
::

|official_name = Chacombe |static_image_name = Church of St Peter and St Paul, Chacombe (geograph 3028532).jpg |static_image_caption = SS Peter & Paul parish church |coordinates = |os_grid_reference = SP4943 |london_distance = |population = 659 |population_ref = (2011 Census) |civil_parish = Chacombe |unitary_england = West Northamptonshire |lieutenancy_england = Northamptonshire |region = East Midlands |country = England |post_town = Banbury |postcode_district = OX17 |postcode_area = OX |dial_code = 01295 |constituency_westminster = Daventry |website = Chacombe Parish Council Chacombe (sometimes Chalcombe in the past) is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about 3 mi north-east of Banbury. It is bounded to the west by the River Cherwell, to the north by a tributary and to the south-east by the Banbury–Syresham road. The 2011 Census gave a parish population of 659 and a 2019 estimate 693.

Etymology

In 1086 the Domesday Book recorded the toponym as Cewecumbe. In most later Medieval documents it is recorded as Chaucumba. The name is thought to be from Old English: a compound of a personal name Ceawa and the word cumb, meaning "valley". Thus the name meant "Ceawa's valley".

Manor

In the mid-11th-century reign of Edward the Confessor, a certain Bardi held the manor of Chacombe "freely" (i.e. without a feudal overlord). However, the Domesday Book of 1086 records that after the Norman Conquest of England one Godfrey held the manor of Cewecumbe of Remigius de Fécamp, Bishop of Lincoln. This had four hides of arable land, nine acres of meadow and three watermills. In the 12th century the manor was still assessed as four hides and still held from the Bishop of Lincoln.

The manor house has been demolished. It was on the north-west side of the village, just east of the parish church, in Berry Field, now called Berry Close.

Priory

Main article: Chacombe Priory

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/The_Priory,Chacombe-geograph.org.uk-_202592.jpg" caption="[[Chacombe Priory"] ::

Hugh of Chalcombe, lord of the manor of Chacombe, founded the Augustinian Chacombe Priory in the reign of Henry II (1154–1189). It was just west of the present village.

In 1536 the Priory was suppressed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and a set of medieval fishponds, although at least three medieval stone coffin slabs, one from the 13th century, have been found in the priory grounds.

Part of the priory site is now occupied by a house, also called Chacombe Priory. The house has a large Elizabethan porch and a late 17th-century staircase, and was remodelled in the Georgian era.

Parish church

The earliest part of the Church of England parish church of Saints Peter and Paul is the Norman font. It is one of only two wall paintings of Saint Peter's crucifixion known in England, the other being in the parish church at Ickleton in Cambridgeshire. The church is a Grade I listed building.

The bell tower has a ring of six bells. William Bagley of Chacombe cast four of them including the treble bell in 1694. John Briant of Hertford cast the present fifth bell in 1790; the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the present tenor bell in 2009.

The parish is a member of the Chenderit Benefice, which also covers the parishes of Greatworth, Marston St. Lawrence, Middleton Cheney, Thenford and Warkworth.

Social and economic history

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Thatching_in_Chacombe_-geograph.org.uk-_202586.jpg" caption="A cottage in Silver Street being thatched in 2006"] ::

By the 13th century many of the hundreds in Northamptonshire listed in Domesday had been consolidated, with Chacombe parish within (King's) Sutton Hundred.

The ridge and furrow patterns of Chacombe's former open field system can be traced in much of the parish, particularly from the air. The common fields were enclosed long before the 18th century and without a parliamentary inclosure act. In about 1720 John Bridges wrote that the whole lordship [of Chacombe] was then enclosed and had been so "for near a 100 years".

Before 1901, the hundred court was disused and Chacombe parish part of the Southern Division of Northamptonshire. In 1900 the Great Central Railway branch line between and was built along the northern edge of Chacombe parish. In 1911 the railway opened just north of the village on Wardington Road. British Railways closed this in 1956 and the whole line in 1966.

The Conservative politician and government minister Norman St John-Stevas, Lord St John of Fawsley, died at Chacombe House care home on 2 March 2012, at the age of 82.

Bell-foundry

From 1605 until 1785 the Bagley family of Chacombe were bellfounders, casting more than 440 bells for churches in England, including the four 1694 bells in Chacombe parish church. Master-founders at Chacombe included Henry I Bagley (active 1630–1684), Matthew I Bagley (active 1679–1690), Henry II Bagley (active 1679–1703), William Bagley (active 1687–1712), Henry III Bagley (active 1706–1746) and Matthew III Bagley (active 1740–1782).

Henry II Bagley also ran a foundry at Ecton and Henry III Bagley one at Witney.

School and amenities

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Chacombe_Village_sign.jpg" caption="Sign at the entrance to the village"] ::

The parish school in Chacombe was founded in 1868. The school is now known as Chacombe CEVA Primary Academy.

The village has a village hall and a public house, the George and Dragon. There is also a care home for the elderly.

Cherwell Edge Golf Club is southeast of the village.

References

Sources

References

1. [https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/eastmidlands/northamptonshire/E34000282__chacombe/ City Population. Retrieved 21 December 2020.]
2. {{harvnb. Adkins. Serjeantson. 1902
3. [https://opendomesday.org/place/SP4943/chacombe/Open Domesday Online: Chacombe]{{Dead link. (July 2020)
4. {{PastScape. (November 2019)
5. Pevsner. Cherry. 1973
6. "Medieval Wall Painting in the English Parish Church: Martyrdom of St. Peter: Chacombe, Northants (Peterborough) c. 14". Paintedchurch.org.
7. {{NHLE
8. "Chacombe: Church Guide". Chacombeparish.co.uk.
9. Dovemaster. (31 October 2012). "Bell Founders". [[Central Council of Church Bell Ringers]].
10. Dawson, George. (23 March 2009). "Chacombe SS Peter & Paul". [[Central Council of Church Bell Ringers]].
11. Archbishops' Council. (2015). "Benefice of Chenderit". [[Church of England]].
12. [http://www.northamptonshirerecordsociety.org.uk/eBooks/Militia1777/KingsSutton.pdf Northamptonshire Militia Lists 1777: Kings Sutton Hundred]. Northamptonshire Record Society, accessed February 2019.
13. [https://ukga.org/england/Northamptonshire/hundreds.html Hundreds and Liberties in Northamptonshire]. University of Kentucky Genealogy Archive, accessed February 2019.
14. {{harvnb. RCHME. 1982. Bridges. 1791
15. [https://ukga.org/gazetteer/england/Northamptonshire/ University of Kentucky Genealogy Archives: Northamptonshire] {{Webarchive. link. (16 October 2015 , accessed February 2019.)
16. {{harvnb. Kavanagh. 2016. (May 2023)
17. "Chacombe: Church Guide: Bagley bell-founders".
18. M@. (9 October 2015). "London's Forgotten Disasters: Explosion In Moorfields". Londonist.
19. "Chacombe: Timeline".
20. "Diary & News". Chacombe CEVA Primary Academy.
21. "Welcome". Chacombe Parish Council.
22. "Chacombe Park Care Home".
23. "Cherwell Edge – Parkland Course & Driving Range".

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