Several years ago, the Chairman of the Kings Langley History Society passed on a letter to me from a lady in Cornwall, who was trying to find out more about Callipers Hall, Chipperfield, where a Rev. Charles Johns had been a teacher between 1856 and 1863. I made several enquiries, but no one had heard that Callipers Hall had at one stage been a school. so the letter stayed in my pending file.

Quite by chance, my son Andrew solved the mystery when he was looking at some old Church magazines at County Hall. He found that in 1937 a Mr E. F. Johns wrote to Canon Jeffries, vicar of St Pauls, concerning his own baptism at the church, which had been administered by his distinguished father, the Rev. C.A. Johns, a resident at Callipers Hall on 27th May 1861. In response to certain enquiries made by the vicar, Mr Johns explained that his father only took duty occasionally at Chipperfield and that he had started a preparatory school at Callipers Hall, which he had transferred to Winton House, Winchester in 1863. He went on to reveal that his father had written several books on natural history, including ‘Flowers of the Field and ‘British Birds in their Haunts and that he had been a friend of Charles Kingsley.

Earlier this year, I was looking through some old papers and came across information, which suddenly became relevant to the period 1856-63, when the Rev Charles Johns was at Callipers Hall. St Pauls Church was built in 1837-8 and the first incumbent was Rev. Henry Dennis, formerly curate of Kings Langley, who died in November 1863. Apparently Mr Dennis had resigned prior to that date due to ill health, so it is probable that Charles Johns was called upon to officiate at St Pauls from time to time at this period. Callipers Hall lies within the ecclesiastical parish of Chipperfield, but outside the civil parish, so it was not included in our publication, ‘Chipperfield Within Living Memory. By now my appetite has been whetted and there is more to be recalled about the house for a future occasion. What do you know about life at Callipers Hall at the time of the Broughtons, Moss-Blundells and Westons? What events were held there and what changes were made to the house? We are gradually piecing together its history and any contributions would be greatly appreciated Mary Nobbs (01923-269480)