Chipping Sodbury

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Infobox England place with map UA Chipping Sodbury is a market town in South Gloucestershire, England, founded in the 12th century by William Crassus. The small villages of Old Sodbury and Little Sodbury are nearby. The town had 6,600 residents as of 2001. It is often cited as the birthplace of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling; in fact she was born in nearby Yate, though the two towns are joined. It is believed locally that Harry Potter was named after a friend of Rowling's who still lives locally, but this has never been confirmed by the author.

In the 18th century Edward Jenner started his medical training in Sodbury, observing people catching cowpox, and then not catching smallpox.

Near the town is a railway tunnel under the Cotswolds, about 4 km long, which was opened in 1902. The Chipping Sodbury tunnel is notorious for flooding in wet weather, often leading to disruption of services on the main railway line to and from South Wales. Chipping Sodbury had a railway station from 1903 to 1961.

Chipping Sodbury supposedly has the widest street of any town in England.

The name Chipping Sodbury is considered humourous by those unfamiliar with it. Locals often call it "Sodding Chipbury".

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The Placename

"-bury" means a fortified place, typically a hill fort or perhaps Saxon manor house with ditch and moat. Later some places were called -bury simply because they were market towns. "Chipping" means that a market was held there, "sod" was most likely the name of the first person to establish a settlement there. See toponymy.

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