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Chinnor Chinnor (the slope of a man called Ceonna) is a large village at the base of the Chiltern Hills approximately four miles south of Thame on the B4009. The older part of the village is mainly around a square formed by four roads, Station Road, Church Road, High Street and Lower Road, with the B4009 running along two of the sides. However the village has now grown considerably, especially to the west. St. Andrew's Church is the mostly 14th century parish church. Parts of St. Andrew's go back to the 12th and 13th centuries and the wooden screen is reputed to be the sixth oldest in England. As well as the parish church there is also a Congregational church and a Methodist church. Industries based in and around Chinnor have included lacemaking, chair-making and agriculture and, until 1999, a cement works whose tall chimney was a well-known local landmark. The Reading Rooms in the High Street were originally built in 1878 as an alternative centre for the men of the parish to read or play billiards. In the 1920s it was changed to a public hall and women were allowed to use it! High above the village on Chinnor Hill is Chinnor Hill Nature Reserve run by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. Chinnor is the terminus of the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway, a heritage line which forms part of the old Great Western Railway line between Watlington and Princes Risborough. The line was closed to passengers by BR in 1957. The section between Chinnor and Princes Risborough then carried a freight-only service until 1990. The railway station at Chinnor was used as a location in the popular TV series Midsomer Murders. |
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