Chippenham is a market town and civil parish in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, where some form of settlement is believed to have existed since before Roman times. It was a royal vill and probably a royal hunting lodge, under Alfred the Great. The town continued to grow when the Great Western Railway arrived in 1841. In 2021 the parish had a population of 36,548.
History Etymology The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the town as Cippanhamme: this could refer to a person called Cippa who had his hamm, an enclosure in a river meadow. An alternative theory suggests that the name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word ceap, meaning 'market'. The name is recorded variously as Cippanhamm (878), Cepen (1042), Cheppeham (1155), Chippenham (1227), Shippenham (1319) and Chippyngham (1541). In John Speed's map of Wiltshire (1611), the name is spelt both "Chippenham" (for the hundred) and "Chipnam" (for the town).
Early settlements Remains of Romano-British settlements are visible in the wall behind the former magistrates' court, and recent redevelopments of the town have shown up other evidence of early settlements.
The town (not counting the Roman villages now within its boundaries) is believed to have been founded by Anglo-Saxons around AD 600. The first record of the town dates from 853, when Æthelswith, daughter of King Æthelwulf of Wessex was given in marriage to King Burgred of Mercia at the ‘royal estate (villa regia) called Chippenham, and the marriage was conducted in royal style’. According to Bishop Asser's Life of King Alfred, Chippenham was, under Alfred's reign, a royal vill; historians have also argued, from its proximity to the royal forests at Melksham and Barden, that it was probably a hunting lodge.
Danish Vikings successfully besieged Chippenham in 878. Later that year, at the Battle of Ethandun, Alfred decisively defeated the Danes, whose forces then surrendered to Alfred at Chippenham (ushering in the establishment of the Danelaw).
In 1042, the royal holding in Chippenham makes mention of a church. The 1086 Domesday Book listed Chippenham as Chepeham, with a substantial population of 177 households.
High and Late Medieval In Norman times, the royal properties were separated into the manors of Sheldon, Rowden and Lowden. Records show that the town expanded into Langstret (now the Causeway) from 1245, and from 1406 into Le Newstret (now the New Road area of town). Throughout this period, Chippenham continued to have a thriving market in the town centre.
The A4 that runs through Chippenham incorporates parts of the 14th-century medieval road network that linked London to Bristol. This was an important road for the English cloth trade, and so its upkeep was funded in part by Bristol cloth merchants.
Chippenham was represented in the Parliament of England from 1295, and Queen Mary granted the town a Charter of Incorporation in 1554.
Analysis of the wood used to build the Yelde Hall indicates that the market hall was built around 1450. The Shambles and Buttercross were built after 1570. The Shambles were destroyed in a fire in 1856 but the Yelde Hall survived.
The parish of Chippenham Without encompasses the deserted medieval village of Sheldon, devastated by plague; all that remains today is Sheldon Manor, Wiltshire's oldest inhabited manor house, dating from 1282.
16th to 18th centuries The wool industry took off in the 16th century, partly due to the river. The plague hit the town hard in 1611 and 1636. This, a recession in the woollen industry, and a drop in corn production in 1622 and 1623, caused massive hardship for the town's population. The trade in cloth faced further problems during the English Civil War due to a Royalist proclamation that prohibited the sale of cloth to the Parliamentarian-controlled London.
In 1747, a bribery and corruption scandal (involving two members of parliament for Chippenham) led to the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole's government.
19th and 20th centuries A branch to Chippenham off the Wilts & Berks Canal was built in 1798, terminating at a wharf at Timber Street near the marketplace; the main commodity traded was coal. The site of the wharf is now the town's bus station, and part of Pewsham Way follows the line of the branch. The Great Western Railway arrived in Chippenham in 1841, and in turn attracted many new businesses. The arrival of these businesses required new housing which led to the expansion of the town into land north of the railway, which in turn led to the growth of further industries to support the building work.
The arrival of the railway promoted the growth of industrial agricultural businesses. In the middle of the 19th century, Chippenham was a major centre for the production of dairy and ham products; this led, later, to Nestlé and Matteson's having factories in the town centre. The railway also led to the growth of railway engineering works in Chippenham: the first of these was Roland Brotherhood in 1842. A variety of companies then took over part or all of the business on the site, until in 1935 Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company Ltd took over the site fully. The signalling side of the business remains at the Chippenham site and is now owned by Siemens Rail Automation Group; the brakes business was taken over by the German company Knorr-Bremse, and is in nearby Melksham.
On 17 April 1960, American singers Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, and songwriter Sharon Sheeley, were involved in a car crash in Chippenham at Rowden Hill. Cochran died as a result of his injuries and a memorial plaque was erected near the site.
On 13 February 1998, two unexploded bombs from World War II were discovered in the field behind Hardens Mead during preparations for the building of Abbeyfield School. About 1,100 residents in the east of Chippenham had to be evacuated for two nights until the army carried out a controlled explosion. The Army initially tried to defuse the larger device, but it was decided that owing to the bomb's orientation in the ground this would be too dangerous.
Geography
Location Chippenham is in western Wiltshire, at a prominent crossing of the River Avon. It is located between the Marlborough Downs to the east, the southern Cotswolds to the north and west, and Salisbury Plain to the south-east.
The town is surrounded by sparsely populated countryside and there are several woodlands in or very near the town, such as Bird's Marsh, Vincients Wood and Briars Wood.
Suburbs Suburbs include Cepen Park (North & South), Hardenhuish, Monkton, Lowden, Pewsham, Primrose Hill, Englands, Frogwell, Derriads, The Folly, Redland, Queens Crescent, Lackham, Fenway Park and Hill Rise; these loosely correspond to local government wards.
Landmarks
The original Buttercross, a stone structure, was erected in c. 1570 and stood at the centre of the Shambles at the current location of Barclays Bank. It was used for the sale of meat and dairy products. In 1889, Mr E.C. Lowndes bought the structure for £6 and re-erected it as a gazebo in the kitchen garden of the manor house at Castle Combe, where it fell into disrepair. The Buttercross was re-erected in 1995 by the Chippenham Civic Society, funded by many local people and organisations.From the inscription on the Buttercross. It currently stands as the centre-piece of the pedestrianised area of the town centre, where a market is held each Friday and Saturday.
The Yelde Hall is one of very few remaining medieval timber framed buildings in the town. It originally was divided internally for use as a market hall. Both the hall and its meeting room upstairs were used by the burgess and bailiff for a variety of meetings and trials as well as for Council meetings. The space under the Council Chamber was used as the town jail.
Climate
Population
The population of Chippenham civil parish recorded at the 2021 census was 36,548.
Chippenham's population grew rapidly in the 1990s, from 25,376 in 1991 to 28,065 at the 2001 census, an increase of 11%. This reflected the development of large housing estates (indeed, entirely new suburbs) such as Cepen Park to the west of the town, and the Pewsham development to the east (named for the small village of Pewsham, further east). Governance
The offices of North Wiltshire District Council were in the town until 2009, when a unitary authority was created for the whole of Wiltshire. The offices in Monkton Park were taken over by Wiltshire Council, which has its headquarters in Trowbridge.
The office of Town Mayor was established in 1835, before which Chippenham was governed by a bailiff supported by burgesses. Elected annually by the Town Council, the Mayor is generally appointed to office in May each year, at the "Mayor Making" ceremony. As part of their duties as the first citizen of a town, the Mayor visits organisations, charities and groups representing all parts of the local community, acting as a figurehead to promote goodwill, cultural exchange, trade and commerce. The Mayor also nominates a charity which they will support throughout their year of office. Other tasks include presiding over Town Council meetings and acting as president of various local organisations, such as the Twinning Association and the Sea Cadets.
In 1812, Sir Robert Peel, the creator of the modern police force, served as one of the two Members of Parliament (MPs) for Chippenham.
Until 2010, the town was within the parliamentary constituency of North Wiltshire, traditionally a Conservative stronghold, although in the 19th century some Liberal members were elected. Boundary changes for the 2010 general election saw Liberal Democrat candidate Duncan Hames become the Member of Parliament for Chippenham, a newly created constituency formed from parts of three neighbouring constituencies. In 2015, Chippenham was won for the Conservatives by Michelle Donelan, who held it until 2024 when Sarah Gibson of the Liberal Democrats won the seat, after further significant boundary changes.
Chippenham Town Council, which is based at Chippenham Town Hall, is responsible for some public services in the town. For 2020–21 they set the 13th highest council tax of any lowest tier (parish/town) council in England at £262.05 per Band D property, and proposed to increase this to £270.44 for 2021–22. Unlike most town and parish councils, the Town Council employs a Chief Executive rather than a Town Clerk.
Economy
Historically a market town, Chippenham's economy has since changed to that of a commuter town with residents travelling to workplaces in Bath, Bristol, Swindon and even London (almost 100 miles to the east).
Several large businesses have been located in the region, with the biggest former employer being Westinghouse, now owned by Siemens, whose factory complex lies next to the railway station. The company undertakes railway signalling contracts for Network Rail, London Underground as well as railway operators in other parts of the world, e.g. Beijing Subway, Oslo Public Transport Administration, SMRT Corporation, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, MTR Corporation and many others. Parts of the Westinghouse site are occupied by a range of companies. There are a number of other industrial sites around the town, Bumpers Farm being the largest.
In 2005, Wincanton PLC, Europe's second-largest logistics organisation, consolidated its head office operations and moved to the newly developed Methuen Park office development in west Chippenham, where it employs around 350 people. In 2025, work began on a rail signalling facility on the outskirts of the town. Siemens are due to relocate once the building is completed.
Market