Clophill


Clophill is a village and civil parish clustered on the north bank of the Flit, Bedfordshire, England. It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Clopelle; clop, ostensibly surviving the Great Vowel Shift likely means tree-stump in old English, which however has cognate terms for clay, with which the soil of mid Bedfordshire is rich.

Extent and demography

In the 1851 census, the men of the parish numbered 560; of these, 238 were agricultural labourers; women numbered. In the 2011 Census the population was 1,750.
The contiguous housing of Clophill Road and its side streets falls into the civil and ecclesiatical parishes of Maulden.

Church

St Mary's old church

The old St Marys Church was built around 1350, and replaced by a new church in the 1840s. It gradually fell into ruin, and as an inactive church, had restoration carried out for secular purposes in the early 2010s.

Active churches

The new St Mary's church is in the High Street, built 1848-1849. The current rector is Dean Henley. It is the only church of the Church of England parish, which reflects the civil parish having the A6 Bedford Road as its western limit.
Clophill Methodist Church has an active congregation, social meetings on site and in the schoolroom and was built in about the year 1930. It joins with St Marys Church in some major services.

Public houses and restaurants

;on the Green/High Street
;on Back Street
The Greensand Ridge Walk and the Greensand Cycle Way pass through Clophill.
The village has a youth football club called . The 2017/18 season saw five teams playing in the Chiltern Junior 7s league.