Chiddingfold
village and civil parish in Surrey, England, UK
Chiddingfold is a village and civil parish in the Weald in the Waverley district of Surrey, England. It lies on the A283 road between Milford and Petworth. The parish includes the hamlets of Ansteadbrook, High Street Green and Combe Common.
Chiddingfold Forest, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, lies mostly within its boundaries.
History
The name of Chiddingfold 'Chadynge's fold', Chiddingefoulde, is derived from the Saxon, probably meaning the fold (enclosure for animals) "in the hollow".
Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Chiddingfold was a centre for glass-making. Window glass was made in the village in the 1350s for St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster and St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
The village appears on Ignazio Danti's 1565 map of the British Isles, which is on display at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy.
The Guy Fawkes festivities saw in 1887 the village policeman's house attacked by a mob – he was later transferred elsewhere – he may have set the fire early or failed to prevent it from being lit before time.
The public source identifies “Chiddingfold” as village and civil parish in Surrey, England, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Chiddingfold, village and civil.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Chiddingfold”, the useful work is to connect “village and civil parish in Surrey, England, UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1776354. The first chronological checks are 1565 and 1887.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Chiddingfold”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Chiddingfold primary sources, Chiddingfold archive and Chiddingfold research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chiddingfold”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Chiddingfold” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.