Clophill

Clophill is a village and civil parish clustered on the north bank of the Flit,[lower-alpha 1] Bedfordshire, England. It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Clopelle; clop, ostensibly surviving the Great Vowel Shift likely means tree-stump in old English, which however has cognate terms for clay, with which the soil of mid Bedfordshire is rich.

The Old Rectory

Clophill

Clophill
Clophill
Location within Bedfordshire
Population1,750 [1]
1,738 (2011 Census)[2]
OS grid referenceTL086380
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBEDFORD
Postcode districtMK45
Dialling code01525
PoliceBedfordshire
FireBedfordshire and Luton
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament

Extent and demography

In the 1851 census, the men of the parish numbered 560; of these, 238 were agricultural labourers; women numbered. In the 2011 Census the population was 1,750.

Entering Clophill

The contiguous housing of Clophill Road and its side streets falls into the civil and ecclesiatical parishes of Maulden.[3]

Church

St Mary's old church
St Mary's old church

The old St Marys Church was built around 1350, and replaced by a new church in the 1840s (250 m SSW). It gradually fell into ruin, and as an inactive church, had restoration carried out for secular purposes in the early 2010s.[4]

Active churches

The new St Mary's church is in the High Street, built 1848-1849. The current rector is Rev. Dean Henley. It is the only church of the Church of England parish, which reflects the civil parish having the A6 Bedford Road as its western limit.[5]

Clophill Methodist Church has an active congregation, social meetings on site and in the schoolroom and was built in about the year 1930.[6] It joins with St Marys Church in some major services.

Public houses and restaurants
on the Green/High Street
  • The Flying Horse
  • The Green Man - La Stalla (restaurant)
on Back Street
  • The Stone Jug

Notable residents

Sports and Leisure Facilities

The Greensand Ridge Walk and the Greensand Cycle Way pass through Clophill.

The village has a youth football club called Clophill United FC. The 2017/18 season saw five teams (U12s to 10s) playing in the Chiltern Junior 7s league.

Notes and References
  1. A sub-tributary of the Great Ouse
  1. Central Bedfordshire Council, Population of Central Bedfordshire Archived 10 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine, estimate for 2009.
  2. "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  3. Parish Map: Maulden The Church of England
  4. "Locals campaign to restore Clophill church ruins". BBC Online. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
  5. Parish Map: Clophill The Church of England
  6. https://www.northbedsmethodist.org.uk/cgi-bin/churchpagegen.pl?c=6

Further reading
  • Watt, Colin (28 September 2012). "Lost Heritage". Clophill History.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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