Chipping Campden Tourist Information and Travel Guide

Chipping Campden Tourist Information Guide

Chipping Campden is one of the loveliest small towns in the Cotswolds and a gilded masterpiece of limestone and craftsmanship. The main street curves in a shallow arc lined with a succession of ancient houses each grafted to the next but each with its own distinctive embellishments.

Pevsner described Chipping Campden as ‘the best piece of townscape
in Gloucestershire, arguably one of the best in England’.

As the name suggests ("Chipping" means market or market place from the old English "Ceping"). Chipping Campden was one of the most important of the medieval wool towns and famous throughout Europe. This legacy of fame and prosperity is everything that give the town its character.

Campden was already established in the 7th century and derives its name from the Saxon "Campa-denu" or "Campadene", meaning a valley with fields or enclosures of cultivated land.

Chipping Campden's church, St. James, at the north end of the town, is perhaps, the finest 'wool' church in the Cotswolds, with a magnificent 120ft (36 metre) tower and a very spacious interior. The church is famed for having one of the oldest altar tapestries (pre-reformation) and largest brass in England.

In 1970 the High Street and much of the rest of the town was officially designated a conservation area to preserve the ancient town for centuries to come.

To day Chipping Campden has a population of circa 2000.

Chipping Campden's 17th-century Market Hall (picture below) was built by the town's benefactor, Sir Baptist Hicks.

This house is the oldest in Chipping Campden and was built by William Grevel in about 1380. The house would have been one of the first to have chimneys instead of just holes in the roof.

William Grevel was one of the country's most influential wool merchants, a citizen of London and financier to
King Richard II.

Chipping Campden's wealth came from the Wool Trade.

For many visitors, Chipping Campden is the quintessential Cotswold town. It has a variety of building styles that have survived from all ages. Chipping Campden was one of the Cotswold's main wool markets.

Chipping Campden has important links with the Arts and Crafts movement. C.R. Ashbee set up his Guild of Handicrafts here in 1902. His workshop in the old silk mill in Sheep Street is now a small museum.

Read the strange story of a mother and her two sons in the 1600's being hanged for a murder that never happened - known as 'The Campden Wonder'.

NB: Please note American visitors quite often incorrectly spell Campden as 'Camden'.

Visiting Famous Gardens

There are several famous gardens within 15 minutes car journey of Chipping Campden including Hidcote Manor, Snowshill Manor, Bourton House, Sezincote, Hidcote Manor, Kiftsgate Court and Batsford Arboretum. See - Cotswold Gardens and North Cotswold Gardens Map and Driving Directions.

Chipping Campden Town Map
(click on map to enlarge)

Chipping Campden - the beautiful ancient market town of the North Cotswolds England UK