Great Chishill
| Great Chishill | |
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 The windmill |
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 Great Chishill
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| Great Chishill shown within Cambridgeshire | |
| Population | 678 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | TL427386 |
| Civil parish |
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| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Royston |
| Postcode district | SG8 |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
Great Chishill is a village forming part of the civil parish of Great and Little Chishill in the south of the county of Cambridgeshire. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census is678. The church is in the Perpendicular style and is dedicated to Swithun. The West tower was entirely rebuilt in 1895, and a ringing floor added in 2000. The organ case is "pretty mid 18th century woodwork."
The highest point of Cambridgeshire, at 146 metres (479 ft) above sea level, is about 800 metres (2,625 ft) east of the church.
The highest point of Essex, Chrishall Common and the triple point of Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire lie close to each other and about 2 kilometres (1 mi) south of Great Chishill.
Until 1895, Chishill was in Essex but then the boundary was changed and it became Cambridgeshire, however the church is still in the Diocese of Chelmsford.
The Domesday Book of 1086 refers to Cishella which was held by Ulfeih, a freeman, and Little Cishella which was held by Sired, a freeman. William the Conqueror bestowed Cishella to Henry de Farers and Little Cishella to Count Eustace of Boulogne.
Great Chishill was divided into five manors, the Manor of Cardens, alias Bassets Hall, the Manor of Belknaps, the Manor of Tewes alias Lisles, the Manor of Friers alias Chishall-Grange and the Manor of Chishall alias Over Chishall-Hall. A farmhouse, Hall Farm, still occupies this latter site, on the east side of the village.
St. Swithun’s Church, a grade II* listed building situated on high ground at the crossroads, was founded in 1136 by Geffrey de Magnaville under the Monastery of (Saffron) Walden. The first recorded vicar was Anselm De Flempton, 14 May 1327. The church has collapsed and been re-built over the generations. In August 1892 the architect Alfred Powell cycled from Barrington to look at the collapsed tower. He recounted in a letter home, "The tower was all built of flints and had an iron band all round it which the vicar and churchwardens agreed in thinking very unslightly and so removed it!! with such consequences". The five bells were rung for the first time in 23 years on 12 September 1998 as the beginning of a village project to get them and the bell tower repaired in time to ring in the new millennium.
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Wikipedia