Talk:Chippenham

message: * Summary Expand. Currently:
Chippenham is a market town in Wiltshire, England, located at , some 21 km (13 miles) east of Bath and 163 km (96 miles) west of London. In the 2001 census the population of the town was recorded as 28,065. The town motto is "Unity and Loyalty".
* Situation Expand (slightly, not too much). 
* Transport.NPOV. Cite Sources for Transport. Redraft fully. Currently:
The town is 7 km (4 miles) south of the M4 motorway, giving easy access to Bristol, Swindon, South Wales and London. The A4 coach road from London provides an alternative route to Bristol via Bath, and the A420 and B4069 bring you to Bristol and Oxford. 
Chippenham railway station is on the main line rail route from London Paddington to the West Country and is famous for its railway arches and other buildings created by Isambard Kingdom Brunel when he built the Great Western Railway. Bus services to Bath, Calne, Devizes, Trowbridge and Swindon are available.
There is a periphery road (the A4 national route) outlining the southern half of the town. However, it is thought that a bypass linking the A4 at Pewsham and the A350 north of Cepen Park (i.e. an eastern bypass) is now necessary to avoid ever-increasing congestion and to cut 5 km (3 miles) off journeys for those travelling to the M4 motorway at junction 17 from the south and east of the town and from nearby Calne.
The town is bypassed to the west by the A350, which links the M4 motorway with Chippenham and nearby towns to the south, such as Melksham and Trowbridge. Again, this road had become increasingly congested over recent years (during rush-hours it resembles a car-park),and there have been calls to expand the road to dual-carriageway status, as there is certainly the space to do this.
National Coach services connect at Chippenham to London, Wales, the South West, the Midlands and East Anglia. Cross town minibus services plus additional local services linking neighbouring villages to the town are provided by a number of private operators.
* Demographics. Expand and cite at least a second source.
* History is well sourced and quite full. May well require splitting up into different subsections and expanding history for the last 200 years at least but for now it is a section that we can return to later.
* Landmarks. We need to add more with sources cited. Surely there are more? History of the war memorial for example.
* Politics. The initial section needs sources cited. Is there room for expansion with electoral history (perhaps just a small section with a continued in... and link to the appropriate page (eg North Wiltshire District)).
* Folk Festival. Needs NPOV rewrite. Needs sources. Needs expanding. Do we need a red link to Hospital Radio? Is there a page and this is linked wrong? Needs a style rewrite. Currently:
The Chippenham Folk Festival takes place every year, usually from the 26th to the 30th of May. Although it has seen many changes since its beginnings in Lacock all those years ago, it still retains its 'village' atmosphere, providing three and a half days packed with song, dance, workshops and dance displays. Over 200 events take place within the town centre, turning the whole town into a giant party. The main ceilidh and concert events take place in the beautiful park alongside the river, while practically every pub and venue in the town is used for a vast range of sessions, workshops and smaller concerts and dances. There is also a full program of children's events, a large craft marquee, catering facilities and an open air arena in the park. The High Street and historic Market Square are both pedestrianised, and are used throughout the weekend for busking, street theatre and processions. A huge street fair also takes place on the Monday. The event is featured on programming on the town's own Chippenham Hospital Radio.
* Eddie Cochran Festival needs expanding and citing sources.
* Museum. Do we need opening hours, management, a bit more history etc?
* Media is good but maybe we could add some details on these things offices history (small) etc.
* Sport and Leisure. Some good sourcing but not all. Some bits need NPOV and sourcing. Definitely needs some expansion. Currently:
Chippenham is well served with sports clubs and leisure facilities. The Olympiad Centre caters for a wide range of interests and has a variety of swimming pools and full gym facilities. It also plays host to many events including the popular annual CAMRA beer festival.
Chippenham Sports Club comprises cricket, bowls, tennis and hockey sections and is situated on the Bristol Road adjacent to Chippenham Town F.C.. Chippenham Rugby Club is on the western outskirts next to the A350 bypass.
There is also a small cinema on the western edge of the town centre. However, Chippenham has been identified as a perfect location for a future major multiplex complex as it is central to an area covering the towns of Trowbridge, Calne, Melksham, Corsham and Malmesbury which are all devoid of cinemas, the alternative being to travel to congested Bath or further-afield Swindon.
The Severn and Thames cycle route (part of Route 4) of the Sustrans National Cycle Network passes through the town.
There is also a night-life scene, with the New Inn, The Rose and Crown and Buds 2000 being late-night venues, although many people travel to Bath, 21 km (13 miles) to the west.
* Economy. Needs expanding. Needs NPOV. Needs Sources cited. Is a redlink to Wincanton needed? Is it a misspelling?
* Tourism. Needs expanding. Needs Sources.
* Twin towns. Needs sources cited. 
* Religion. Good for Christianity and it has sources. Should we also give more details on addresses and times of services? Expand to include other religions? Are there any other religions present in the town?
* Education. Do we need to expand the details on the schools? All relevant info present and sourced.
* Notable individuals. Are there any more? Sources needing cited for some.
* Expansions - See below. Eg IK Brunel, Folk Festival, Eddie Cochran festival and several other things.
I thought it best to list these here rather than just trying to work through it myself. Please put your comments (pro/con) below and strike through anything you consider complete. Feel free to add to the list or edit it (but please put comments below if you do). AlanD 21:12, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I've just had a crack at the "Transport" section - see what you think. Gonzonoir (talk) 15:56, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: To Do List

message: Please put your comments on the To Do list here:AlanD 21:12, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Comments on to do list

message: Chippenham over 40,000 and Winchester barely 35,000?  Difficult. I don't think that is correct
Brotadac 13-08-05
To quote www.chippenham.gov.uk: "Chippenham is one of the West Country’s most dynamic market towns with a population of over 40,000." Winchester Council's web site says 107,000. The Hugmonster 26/09/05
There's a lot of ambiguity about population - it all depends on what you think "Chippenham" is.
*At the 2001 census Chippenham CP had a pop'n of 28,065 Census 2001, Chippenham CP Headcount
*If you include Chippenham Without CP and Langley Burrell Without CP, which some might, but this includes the population of a few surrounding villages, then you'd have a total of 33,832
*Chippenham Town Council estimate the population to be "over 40,000"
*Someone put a figure of 33,189 in the article, again quoting from the 2001 Census, but I can't equate this to the data available.
*I put an approximate figure of "30,000" in the infobox based on the 2001 census data
What is the "right" figure to use?
--Jon 13:51, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Population

message: Added a few bits about the location and transport, also mentioned Chippenham folk festival which i feel is one of the greatest events which Chippenham hold anually. Shanemccarthy1982 04:39, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Should Chippenham Folk Festival have its own article?? DAylen 17:23, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Chippenham Folk Festival

message: Can anybody provide a definitive pronunciation for 'Cepen Park' please? I used to live there and never worked out whether it was keppen or seepen - I have heard both many times! The Hugmonster 16/09/06
:I've only ever heard it as 'seepen' and I lived there for fifteen years. Also I've known people who lived in Cepen Park North, and they pronounce it that way. Hope this helps. Dragonfly888 21:51, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I've lived in Chippenham for about seven years now, and the de-facto pronunciation is 'seepen', though I've come across a handful of people who wish it were pronounced 'keppen'.  --Jon 13:56, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

text: 'Seepen' seems to be the norm, especially talking to a friend who lives in Cepen North, although he does say that some odd people pronounce it 'Seffen' as well Foxhill 21:14, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: ''Cepen Park'' pronunciation

message: The article states "The largest employer in the town appears to be a part of Westinghouse, now a part of Invensys". The link goes to the current Westinghouse Electric in America which I don't think they are part of. There used to be several businesses on the site called Westinghouse Systems, Westinghouse Brake & Signal and Westcode Semiconductors - all of which were presumably owned by the same bunch at some point. Systems became part of Hawker Siddeley, then BTR, then Schneider Electric. Brakes & Signal split up and part of it is now owned by Invensys. 'Westinghouse' certainly was the major employer in the town around the beginning of the last century (no sources, just something I was told at school) and I believe there is some kind of a link to the American Westinghouse, but I don't really know enough to confidently update the article! Can anyone else help please? Thanks, The Hugmonster 21:56, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Westinghouse

message: Surely the death of Eddy and his annual festival needs a section of its own too? Having consistantly missed it I'm not the right one to mention it.AlanD 00:04, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: There is already an article on Eddie Cochrane so anything we put here mustn't be too in-depth I guess. However, I certainly agree that an section about the festival is a good idea. The Hugmonster 21:51, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

text: I've created a sub-section now so people in the know can add more to it. The Hugmonster 12:09, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Eddie Cochrane festival 

message: Perhaps the 3 secondary schools need to be linked in and mentioned properly? AlanD 00:04, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I've started a section on schools and listed the three secondary schools. Only Sheldon seems to have its own article so far. I'd have thought Abbeyfield deserves one given its initial history and the WW2 bomb! Can someone list the primary schools please as I don't know them all. The Hugmonster 22:10, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Schools 

message: Nobody wanting to mention the bizarre history of the buttercross in Chippenham, moved, sat in a field then eventually restored?AlanD 00:04, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Can someone add this to the History section? The Hugmonster 12:09, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Buttercross 

message: Parts of the old town bridge are present on the roofs of houses in Bath. AlanD 00:04, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Balestrades 

message: The old town bridge was prone to flooding. The Chippenham museum should be able to help with that... plus perhaps the museum should have an entry. AlanD 00:04, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: The centre of town is still prone to flooding, both from the River Avon itself and the dodgy drainage down the High Street. I did a talk to some 6th formers at Sheldon a few years ago about flooding history in the town. I'll see if I can find my notes. The Hugmonster 21:54, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Old town bridge 

message: Chippenham was previously associated with cheese markets, cattle markets and Mattisons. The town was well known for the outdoor pool too.
Chippenham also had a huge Nestle factory on the water front.
Chippenham was also a canal town with the warf being on the site of the bus station. Some of the buildings around the Rose and Crown were used for the storage of unloaded coal. The Rose and Crown was at that time named The Warf. 
Chippenham Town have had varied success as a club but need a bit more of a mention, the club could help (or the Webbs, Sandie or Doug who have long been associated with the club).
The Town Council also has an interesting history having been abolished and then reinstated (again the Council itself or the Webbs could help).
The new Stanley Park development needs a mention too.AlanD 00:04, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Previous businesses and associations 

message: I know I have added a few suggestions and that Wikipedia is about 'doing it for yourself' but while I know a lot about my town in general I don't know it all in depth (nor do I have references to cite). I would suggest that the Town Museum, Council, Schools, library, football club and prominent citizens would be the best folk to contact. I may do this myself but it would probably be best coming from someone who has been more heavily involved in the putting together of the page so far. Chippenham is filled with history and local historians. AlanD 00:04, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  apologies 

message: Having read AlanD's comments last night I have re-ordered the article. I based this on the article for Bath, Somerset since it has featured article status (it seemed a good place to start) and taken account of several comments at the top of this talk page. I have not changed the text of the article (other than the odd typo etc), all I've done is move paragraphs around.
Having done this I see the History section is rather thin. Could do with more medieval history perhaps and certainly a subsection on IK Brunel and the railway industry.
I created a subsection for Shopping, but this is just a list of shops (not very encyclopaedic) and I seriously considered removing it altogether. What do other people think? You can get lists of shops from business directories! The Hugmonster 12:09, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Major resectioning of article

message: I've added the town moto, sure it can be done better. A noncopyrighted version of the coat of arms would be good. Would it be fair use to take one from the town council website?
Thought of another few bits and bobs but all will need to be appropriatedly sourced:
Hardenhuish House's gardens were landscaped by Capability Brown, many of his trade marks are still apparent (twined trees (although the storm 15 or so years ago got rid of at least one of them) and the hillock it is built on).
The entrance to Borough parade is back where it was but for years it was on a shop front.
The town hall was a mess and hang-out for the homeless for years until its redevelopment.
The town hall moved temporarily to a custom built building in the causeway. 
Spinks Works... history there.
The churches of the town, URC, Evangalist, Catholic, Various anglican, Methodist, Baptist... some have closed, some have merged... Are there any Synigogs or temples?
Hardenhuish House, its grounds, the workers homes, the church, the Clutterbucks and other families.
The war memorial, when it arrived etc
Bird's marsh.
One of the memorial's at St Nicholas' Church has an interesting history. It was built for one of the families that owned the estate. They paid for it to be built in marble but instead it was only clad in marble. First big frost and the whole cladding broke off. Guy who did it had skipped to Italy or somewhere like that.
There is (or was, not sure what the new houses up there have removed) the remains of a summer house (the steps and platform, plus various bits of marble) in the woods behind Hardenhuish.
I'm sure there is more. AlanD 21:29, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: motto and more

message: What do those editing this page think of the changes I've made thusfar? A start, at least?AlanD 21:09, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Excellent work! I see you've found lots of references for the info. Not sure about all the suburbs though. I just removed Hardens Mead. A small housing estate, but hardly a suburb! Not too sure about Queen's Crescent either, but I can't really comment as I never lived there. I haven't worked out where Larkham is yet! The Hugmonster 23:48, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

text: How do we get someone to review the article and get its status altered? I wondered if it was worthy of a B class given the edits we've done recently. I've had a look around, but am not sure who to contact. The Hugmonster 00:20, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Current edits

message: The religion section is largely unnecessary, having a screen and a half full of links to churches is just ridiculous. (Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:NOT#Wikipedia_is_not_a_mirror_or_a_repository_of_links.2C_images.2C_or_media_files)
I propose changing it to read:
"In the 2001 census 76 percent of the population in North Wiltshire defined themselves as Christian, 16 percent said they were of no religion and 7 percent did not state a religion.[20] As a result most of the town's places of worship are Christian, consisting of Church of England, Roman Catholic and Non-Conformist divisions."
A list of all the churches in Chippenham is highly irrelevant.
I think similar edits could be made to the Education section.
Any thoughts?
Viralmonkey 15:40, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: After seeing the last talk page edit before me was in February, I have gone ahead and removed the list of churches. It's open for discussion of course. Viralmonkey 21:53, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Well at least tone it down, nowhere else I have seen has anything like this, and it is ridiculously long. I disagree that churches are the fabric of a community. It might be the fabric of a Christian community, but that is a different story. http://www.chippenhamchurches.org.uk/main/html/index.htm < -- this website has all the information on the churches there, why not link to the specific page and people can choose to read all that information.
By the way, what I did was not censorship at all, it was cleaning. Viralmonkey 16:52, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

text: I absolutely agree with Viralmonkey that Wikipedia is not a link directory.  If the article still doesn't have anything encyclopaedic or verifiable about the churches or primary schools, I think it is time to remove the list of links.  It will be there in the history if anyone wants to salvage anything useful from it. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 14:39, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Religion 

message: This article was created on 26th Oct & immediately proposed for merger into here. That article neither asserts, nor establishes, notability & is completely unsourced. I've left a note there but the merger process itself wasn't done properly, hence this note. I've put it on my watchlist & todo and if I have time and there are no objections, I'll merge it this coming weekend. --Rodhullandemu (talk - contribs) 02:34, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I say go ahead and merge or delete.  Merger debates are only needed for controversial mergers.  After 4 months of silence  I think we can conclude that merger is not controversial. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 14:40, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Merger of [[Bird's Marsh]]

message: I've removed most of this section as it appears to have been copied directly from http://www.chippfolk.co.uk/introduction. I checked and the info has been on Wikipedia since this edit back in 2006.
It needs rewriting but I don't have the time. Hopefully someone can do this. Vl'hurg talk 21:21, 18 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Chippenham folk festival - copyvio 

message: This article is a total mess compared to what it was just a year ago,  in particular whats with the big long list of churches ? I think it should be removed as its not really relevant to an article about Chippenham ( if you want to see what i mean, go to articles about virtualy any other town in the UK ). It reads to me as if a xtian with an agenda has been hacking at this article, and Id like to see it put back to what it was, a plain matter of fact article about the town of chippenham.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.172.121.4 (talk) 15:45, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Churches were traditional social centres, not just centres of worship, and therefore played an important part in the life of any town. The reason we may not have them for every town is that nobody is interested enough to do it, although for larger towns, a separate article may well be merited. Even Corsham has its churches listed, past and present, to illustrate its religious history. I don't see why Chippenham shouldn't have them; removing them all seems to be POV (anti-religion) and trying to select the more important likewise (C of E would dominate). Therefore, I think they should stay, albeit without promotional links. Rodhullandemu 14:35, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  This article is a mess compared to what it was 

message: I am surprised to not see any reference to the Monkton Park housing development, which has a single point access route via Cocklebury Road and has long been known as the largest cul-de-sac in Europe.Fade2gray (talk) 14:55, 20 September 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  The largest cul-de-sac in Europe 

message: Would you like to win up to £250 in Amazon vouchers for participating in The West Country Challenge?
The The West Country Challenge will take place from 8 to 28 August 2016. The idea is to create and improve articles about Bristol, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, like this one.
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To sign up or get more information visit the contest pages at Wikipedia:WikiProject England/The West Country Challenge.— Rod talk 15:53, 18 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  The West Country Challenge 

message: Is Chippenham the busiest station in the country or at least the south west with only two platforms? The figure of 1.816 million entries and exits looks very big for a station with only two platforms.--2.24.174.243 (talk) 10:12, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Busiest two platform station? 

message: I believe Derry Hill primary school is in Chippenham, yet I didn't see it listed in the section on Primary education. Why is this? Featherthethirdwheel (talk) 13:53, 10 February 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: The village is not in Chippenham. If anything, it'd be on the Calne page seeing as it's in the parish of Calne Without. It certainly doesn't belong on the Chippenham page. 00aa0 (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 15:42, 10 February 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Derry Hill primary school 

message: just in case anyone is still working on this article, the section about etymology has several incomplete sentences. Humphrey Tribble (talk) 00:27, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks. Those sentences were unsourced speculation and somewhat tangential, so they are gone. -- Wire723 (talk) 08:37, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Etymology