Economic and Social History
Chalgrove originated as a linear village surrounded by open fields occupying a site on the banks of the stream. Early houses were built along the sides of the original road to Oxford.
In 1086 the Domesday Book counted five mills operating on Chalgrove Brook. Today there is only one mill, at the western end of the village on the appropriately-named 'Mill Lane' opposite The Manor. The mill was restored to working condition in 1998 — including turning the overshot water wheel around to become a high-breast one — and was used to grind corn on an open day in 1999. After Chalgrove, the Brook flows through Stadhampton and then Chiselhampton where it joins the River Thame, a tributary of the River Thames.
Flooding was a problem historically, with 22 houses seriously flooded in 1879. In the 19th century a sluice gate was built at the eastern end of the village and from the original Chalgrove Stream (now called the Back Brook) some of the water was diverted to run alongside the current High Street. This artificial loop (the Front Brook) has become a popular feature. The brook's flow is now much reduced and the risk of flooding has declined: only a small section of the High Street is now deemed to be at occasional risk.
Rev. Laurence (1807–85), who was vicar of Chalgrove and Berrick Salome for the last 53 years of his life founded the parish's school and taught there himself. Laurence was also secretary of the local agricultural workers' trades union. He was a social reformer who campaigned for better housing for agricultural workers and had new thatched cottages built for them in the parish.
After a long period of stability, the village's population grew very rapidly from under 1,000 in 1961 to just over 3,000 by 1996 mainly due to a new housing estate being developed in the area known as 'Sixpenny Fields' between the village core and the more recent bypass, the B480. The road into this development is named after Rev. Laurence.
Parts of Chalgrove, and its airfield, featured in the episode Many Happy Returns of the Granada Television series The Prisoner.
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