Welcome to the website of Chalford Parish Local History Group, which is designed to provide information on our meetings, on other local history events in the area and to be a source of general information about the history of the Chalford Parish.
The Group was formally constituted in September 2016 after a series of very successful meetings had been held beginning in May of that year. We currently have over 120 people on our mailing list and everyone is welcome at all our meetings.
We also have a Facebook Group here which anyone is welcome to join, with over 800 members. This is a private Group so you will need to join it to see posts.
This website continues to evolve as we add new material so do keep returning or try following some of the links at the top of the page.
Next Meeting
17 June – Scholarship and Scandal: the story of Malmesbury Abbey in the Middle Ages (Tony McAleavy).
France Lynch Church Rooms, 7.30 p.m.
Tilman2007, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Malmesbury Abbey is a masterpiece of 12th Century Romanesque art. Tony McAleavy is the author of the first full length history of the Abbey during the Middle Ages. In this fully illustrated talk he will explain the evolution of the Abbey from 650 to 1539, both architecturally and as an institution, with a particular emphasis on the personalities associated with the Monastery.
Latest Book Publication
In September 2025, we announced the publication of our latest book, Old Maps of Chalford. This was inspired by the response to Roger Carnt’s talk on that very subject in October 2024 and the subsequent discovery that we have so many rich sources of local maps, many of which are not available except by going to see them in person in archives and collections. Seven of the Committee put this book together, drawing on a wide variety of local maps from the 16th century onwards. The 72 page A4 landscape publication is in full colour with numerous pictures and full page reproductions of many of the maps. It is available (price £10) at our meetings as well as via Chalford Parish Centre (Geralds Way), Eastcombe Stores, and Chalford Village Shop. Now also available via R&R Books, Stroud (at the Shambles Market weekly).
We meet monthly except August and December, normally on the third Wednesday of the month.
Our current programme is here and other local history events which may be of interest are here.