Jubilee Project

I was asked to lead a History Walk around Chitterne on Thursday 2nd June for part of the village jubilee celebrations. The villagers who came along seem to have enjoyed it so I thought I would share here the printed-out additional notes and walk-map I provided on the day, for anyone who was unable to come.

First the map Dave made for the walk. The places highlighted in red are where the groups stopped, looked and listened. We started at the Village Hall car park, crossed the road to the Sports Field and then headed down the Tilshead Road, with a small detour to All Saints graveyard on Imber Road, turned right into Back Lane and followed it to the end, crossed the road and headed towards our last stop at the Chancel.

Jubilee History Walk

Introduction:

The village of Chitterne has existed for a little over a hundred years. Before that there were two villages: Chitterne All Saints and Chitterne St Mary. They joined civilly in 1907 and became Chitterne, although the two churches had shared one vicar since the 19^th century.

The Domesday Survey of 1086 tells us that in Saxon times there were three villages, owned by three different persons, but only two manors in Norman times, when William the Conqueror allotted two of the holdings to the same man Edward of Salisbury.  Edward’s descendant Patrick was made Earl of Salisbury, his descendant Ela inherited and gave a large slice of Chitterne to the abbey she founded at Lacock in 13^th century. From then until the dissolution of Lacock Abbey in 1539 the main source of the nun’s wealth came from their large flocks of sheep based at Chitterne.

The village has evolved from the prosperous sheep and corn economy of earlier times into the village of a single parish today. The many large houses, given the size of the village, are signs of the prosperity of earlier times.

Chitterne All Saints or Upper Chitterne – the nun’s domain

Sports Field site of Great Manor

A great house dating from medieval times once stood on this site. It is marked on the 1773 Andrews and Drury’s map of the village as being occupied by Robert Michell, (more of the Michells later). The main entrance was on the far side of the field marked by an avenue of lime trees and a pair of large stone pillars, which now grace the entrance of Cortington Manor Cottage, Corton. The Great House was demolished in the 1820s and all that remains is part of the perimeter wall, a pair of smaller pillars and the service quarters building we call the Coach House.

Coach House

After the demolition of the Great House the remaining service quarters were adapted to house six families of workers on the farm, gradually dwindling over the years to three families. These farm worker’s houses were always known to villagers as ‘great houses’ or more likely, ‘big ‘owse’s’. The building was finally sold off by the MOD to a private owner in the 1970s.

The Church – All Saints with St Marys

This church was built in the early 1860s when the population of the two villages exceeded 800 persons and neither of the two older churches of All Saints and St Marys could accommodate them. Note the many fancy memorials to the Michell family in the foyer, moved here from old All Saints church. Also noteworthy are the five bells, one of the two St Marys bells was cast by John Barbur of Salisbury and dates from before 1403 (his death).

The Gate House

One of the most ancient buildings in the village. From the 13^th century, it was the Lacock nuns base in Chitterne All Saints. Old stone coffins and encaustic clay tiles from medieval times have been unearthed on the site. The present buildings date from the 1500s. The Chapel of St Andrew, pre-dating the nuns, once stood behind the outbuilding used as a garage. The nuns are said to have offered sustenance here to pilgrims travelling between monasteries.

Manor Farm

The present building dates from after the disastrous fire of 1852 that destroyed the original. That house was often referred to as Little Manor in old documents and probably means that this was the site of the farm attached to the Great Manor of All Saints.

All Saints Graveyard

The old medieval All Saints Church stood in the middle of this plot, now marked by the top of the Michell vault housing the remains of the people memorialised in the church. The first Michell, Charles, came to All Saints in the 1600s. His descendants finally quit the village in the 1800s. The Michell vault originally stood above ground under the Michell family pew in the church. When the church was demolished in the 1800s the vault was re-sited underground on the same spot, giving us a good pointer to where the church once stood. The vicarage was demolished at the same time. It may have stood near Brook Cottage.

Chitterne House

Probably built during the Michells time here in about 1680 and extended 100 years later. Another main entrance from Back Lane was once on the opposite side of the house. Most necessary in times of flood. Two generations of the Hayward family followed the Michells from 1830 to 1913, and then by Vice-Admiral Charles Napier and from 1926 by Lady Eva Dugdale.

Chitterne Lodge

This house has a varied history, originally a country retreat for sporting enthusiasts, and for the local MP Walter Long who owned it in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Then it became the home of a trainer of racehorses who was hired by the new owner Ronald Farquharson. Farquharson bought the house, Chitterne Farm and the land in 1906 after having made his fortune in rubber in India. He had the Racing Stables built and hired a succession of racehorse trainers to run them. After his death in 1937 the estate was acquired by the War Dept/MOD when that dept bought up much of All Saints, including all the farms. After the war It reverted to being the home of a racehorse trainer and a boarding house. The stables were converted to eight cottages in the 1990s.

Back Lane

Used to be named Back Road, but changed its name after a request to the council by owners of new houses built at the other end. Used by villagers to avoid the wet in times of flood. Note: an old entrance to Chitterne House from Back Lane and the chalk pit, source of chalk used locally to build cob walls. Spot some cob walls.

Syringa Cottage

This house was created from his old home by Chitterne’s famous detective, Bill ‘Farmer’ Brown of Scotland Yard, when he retired to Chitterne in the 1930s. He is most remembered for his capture of the notorious murderer Ronald True. William Fred Brown was the son of the school headmaster and village sub-postmaster, William Frederick Brown. The Post Office in those days was at 53 Bidden Lane, where the Brown family lived. The terraced cottage was the last one of six cottages, numbers 48-53 all fronting Bidden Lane, known as Steps Cottages due to the steep steps up to them from the road.

Elm Farm

Elm Farm land is now part of Chitterne Farm, and the house sold off by the MOD to private owners. Elm Farm was the childhood home of John Wallis Titt the engineer who made and erected wind operated water pumps, which he sold all over the world. From 1761-1871 the Amesbury Turnpike Road passed through Chitterne.  The toll gates stood outside Elm farm house and the Toll collectors booth was on the corner.

Bidden Lane

The divider of the two old parishes. Looking up the lane All Saints on the left, St Mary on the right. The dividing line ran down the centre of the lane, across the C22 and up the side of the sports field. Bidden Lane is the proper name of this road, but Shrewton Road is more commonly used nowadays. It was just a lane once, a turning off the main village throughfare, but since widening in the 1960s it is no longer narrow and twisty. Home to lots of farm workers in olden times.

Chitterne St Mary – the church’s domain, the manor granted to Paulet family by King Edward VI in 1547.

Baptist Chapel

There had been Methodist meetings in Chitterne, mostly amongst the farm Workers, since the 1700s, eventually leading to the building of a Methodist Chapel. The Baptists took it over when the Methodists failed to make it work. The chapel burnt down in 1903, except for the old schoolroom, and was rebuilt under the leadership of Frank Maidment who was dubbed the ‘Bishop of Salisbury Plain’ due to his powers of oratory taking him to preach in other plain villages.

The White Hart

Once a public house built in 1651, closed in 1955, now a private house. Samuel Pepys and party stayed here one night in 1668 when they became lost on the Plain travelling between Salisbury and Bath. The next day they hired the landlord to set them on the right track to their destination. Samuel reported in his diary that a merry time was had but the beds were lousy.

Clump Farm

Once one of three farms in St Mary, now private, and the farm yard opposite has been turned into a small housing estate. The house was probably built in about 1800, a previous farm house stood across the road next to the farmyard, which was accessed by the little bridge. The farmyard is now St Marys Close and a large old thatched barn which stood behind number 6 no longer exists.

Old Malt House

The malt house stood behind the wooden fence next door to Pine Cottage, but the name Malt House was adopted by the cottage after the malt house was taken down. When the Wallis family owned the Manor and the Kings Head they malted their own barley in this malt house, brewed beer and sold it in their pub. In 1903 Farmer Wallis allowed the Baptists to hold their services in the malt house while the new Baptist Chapel was being built.

Glebe (Church) Farm Stockyard site of

The church farm stockyard of Chitterne St Mary, and tithe barn stood on the site of Birch Cottage. The tithing field leading to the water meadows was opposite. Each farmer in the area had a section of the meadow for grazing sheep on the fresh spring grass.

St Marys Chancel

Old medieval St Marys church remains date from about 1450. The nave was demolished in the 1860s, the chancel kept as mortuary chapel. Note the part of a tomb monument dating from about 1500 that has been moved to the chancel near a window probably from the old nave. Several graves under the floor, one to Elizabeth Morris is notable. Her father was a Senator of Barbados and connected with the slave trade. Elizabeth had a black servant called Charles whose burial is recorded the day after hers in 1812. He is buried outside the graveyard boundary, near the top kissing gate. Grave marker has since disappeared.

The Manor

17^th century manor house probably built by the Paulet family of Basingstoke. William Paulet, later 1^st Marquis of Winchester, was granted the manor of Chitterne St Mary in 1547 by King Edward VI. The Paulets didn’t live in Chitterne, the house was let out. Rented by William Wallis (d.1884) in 1826 and purchased by Frederick Wallis c1918/19 from Lord Long. The two old black barns are early 1800s.

Who Lived in Your House in 1921?

I have been looking at the 1921 census for Chitterne, thanks to my good friends J & R, and thought I would start a new occasional series of blogs on what we have found.

Alma Cottage, 1 Townsend

First up is number 1 Townsend, built for himself and his growing family by Abdon Polden, the mason. Abdon had purchased a small piece of land at the edge of the village of Chitterne All Saints in 1856 from his father, James Polden, for £5. He enlarged the site by adding an adjacent garden bought from William Furnell for £12. Abdon named the cottage he built after his eldest daughter Alma.

Jane and Abdon Polden outside Alma Cottage

In 1921 Abdon Polden still lived there as a widower with his daughter Florence and family, his wife Jane, nee Hinton, having died in 1919. Florence was married to Alfred Burt, the blacksmith. Their children Winifred aged 11 years, Olive aged 9 and Maurice aged 5 lived at Alma Cottage in 1921 too.

By a stroke of luck and thanks to AB, I have some photos of the Burt family. Here are Alfred Burt, his wife Florence and two of their children pictured at the back of Alma Cottage.

The Burt children, Winifred, Maurice and Olive photographed outside Alma Cottage probably in the year the census was taken, or thereabouts.

Alfred and Florence continued living at Alma Cottage until Alfred’s death in 1957.

Polden & Feltham Shop

At last a photograph of the Polden & Feltham shop that once stood in front of Flint House on Tilshead Road, and confirmation that Clement Polden and Jimmy Feltham set up their business in 1878.

AB, who kindly provided the photo, remembers dismantling the barn that stood on the site ready for the construction of the shop in the 1950s. The shop still existed, but empty, for a while after Flint House was sold to new owners in 1972. Later it was demolished to make way for the kitchen extension we see today.

I have written about the Polden and Feltham families before, see below

The Poldens of Flint House

Flint House

http://www.chitterne.com/history/polden&f.html

As you will know if you followed the earlier series of blogs on the life of Maria Cockrell, I was unsure of the year that Clement Polden and Jimmy Feltham set up their business. Maria made no mention of their enterprise at all in her letters to her son Jimmy. This seemed very odd to me as she always kept a close interest in Jimmy and his wife, who was Alma Polden, Clement’s sister. Despite having confirmation of the year, I am no nearer finding out why Maria makes no mention.

Lime Trees Update

Following on from a blog earlier this month here is an update on the current state of the old lime trees bordering the Cut.

The tree contractors have finished, this is how the lime trees look now, quite a lot shorter but not many removed completely.

Near the Gate House wall, with the Grange on the left. The wires between the poles look less threatened by the trees.

The remains of some trees that had fallen earlier have not been removed. Note the water in the Cut, which started rising just as the tree contractors finished.

Here you can see how this tree has impacted on the brickwork of one of the old footbridges.

The Walk seems even narrower than it was before.

A new view of the Gate House from a gap in the lime trees bordering the Walk. The trees have been trimmed to prevent any more falling down, causing power cuts and blocked roads.

This Valuable Sporting Estate

When there are twenty-odd partridges toddling about the garden every morning you know the game shooting season has arrived. Watching the birds got me thinking about our sporting heritage in Chitterne. About the many varied countryside sports that have been traditional here for many centuries. I’m thinking not only of game, but hunting with dogs and horses, even horse training at the old racing stables. Chitterne, surrounded by the vast space of Salisbury Plain was always known as a sporting village, as we can see from the next image.

This is how Chitterne was described in the title of an 1896 map offering the estate for sale by the Long family.

Chitterne Lodge was used by the Long family as a country retreat. Presumably they came to the village for the hunting and game shooting season. Bills and lists held in the archives from 1848 and 1870 show that the Longs redecorated and purchased new furnishings for the Lodge for the use of their family.

Lord Long, Walter Hume Long MP, kept Chitterne Lodge back from the sale in 1896. In the early years of the 20th century he used the Lodge as his country retreat before finally selling it in 1906. According to Coates Directory of 1903 he also had a home in London and in the 1901 census his caretaker at the Lodge was widow Harriet Furnell, who lived there with her three daughters, Louisa 16, Winifred 14 and Gertrude 11.

Chitterne Lodge estate, which included Chitterne Farm, was bought in 1906 by racehorse trainer Ron Farquharson. The following year he expanded the estate by purchasing Wroughton’s, a freehold and tithe-free sporting and agricultural property of 412 acres adjoining Chitterne Lodge.

1896 map showing Wroughton’s Wood near the Chitterne parish boundary (in blue) on the road to Shrewton

I have not been able to find out much about the Wroughton family, presumably named for the place called Wroughton near Swindon, but a quick Google search showed that some members of the family lived in Wiltshire near Broad Hinton in the distant past. One female Wroughton lived at Wilcot, which is connected to Chitterne from way back in the medieval times of the Earls of Salisbury, so who knows? How they came to own land in Chitterne I do not know, but the map of 1896 has a wood marked Wroughton’s Wood.

Farquharson died in 1934 and, after a brief hiatus during World War 2, racehorse training resumed in 1955 under trainer, John Ford. he was followed by Ian Dudgeon and lastly David Allen who finally wound up the enterprise in the early 1990s.

Here’s an early photo, possibly 1890s, of a shooting party in Chitterne proudly displaying their bag of hares, when hares were still hunted for sport. I think it may have been taken at Manor Farmhouse, owned at that time by the Onslow family, but leased to the Collins family.

Fox hunting, and latterly Drag hunting, is traditional in Chitterne, especially on Boxing Day. Here is a photo of the Wylye Valley Hunt passing the Sportsfield in the 1950s. This tradition still continues on Boxing Day with the Royal Artillery Hunt.

There are plans afoot for a new equestrian business in the village, how appropriate and welcome it would be in this very horsey village.

Old Chitterne Names 17: Green Way or Clarken Lane

This is the first look at one of the ‘new’ old names discovered from the 1815 map of the parishes of Chitterne All Saints and Chitterne St Mary: Green Way or Clarken Lane.

Part of the 1815 map featured in my last blog showing the lane marked Green Way or Clarken Lane crossing diagonally from top left to bottom right. To orientate you, the slightly wider road below it is The Hollow, or the old Salisbury to Warminster coach road. Notice the adjacent field called Clarken Lane Field bounded on the eastern side by Imber Road. To the north also notice two smaller fields, Great Penning and Little Penning, a Dry Pond and a Well, these must mark the site of Penning Barn field barn settlement. The fact that there was a well in 1815 suggests perhaps that the settlement already existed.

A screen grab from Google Earth showing Clarken Lane crossing from top left to bottom right in a wavy line between field boundaries.

Green Way or Clarken Lane is no longer a designated right of way, but it is still possible to see where it once was and to walk the part of it nearest the village.

Here we are looking north away from the village, this is the bit that is most difficult to walk, but it is still marked by a line of bushes and a ditch.

This photo was taken from the same spot as the previous one but looking south towards the village. The path is clearly defined and still regularly used.

Clarken Lane Field, pretty featureless.

Approaching the village. The field to the left was called The Tining on the old map.

Here we have reached the end of Clarken Lane and we are looking back, away from the village. Clarken Lane ends where it meets Churches Path (the path between the two old parish churches) behind Chitterne Farm West Barns.

I don’t know the origin of the name Clarken Lane, but several generations of a family called Clarke lived in Chitterne in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Stable to Nest

As we start a new venture at the Round House I’ve been thinking about the ways we have used the old stable since we came here 45 years ago this month. Now I wish I had taken more photos of the building as it was, because the stable only appears in the background of a few early shots.

In 1976 the stable had a doorway, but no door, and three windows. Two downstairs and one in the gable-end, but no glass and no frames. Three of the sturdy stone walls were bricked outside and one was left as stone. The slate roof was good. Inside were three bays for horses and a cobbled flint floor with a hayloft high above of rotten elm boards. We first used it as storage space for our house renovating equipment.

An early photo taken summer 1976 showing the stable in the background. We were camping out at weekends in that very long, hot summer while renovating the house. My Dad, recently retired, in the foreground, was helping us. Kate was 4 and Jess 2.

A photo from 1981 and no change to the stable except for the beech hedge planting. This photo better shows the weak brickwork above the doorway, still no door! Jess and GT from the village enjoying the snow. Soon after this we started work to bring the building up to scratch.

My Dad’s health was deteriorating by 1982 so we briefly considered renovating the stable for him and my Mum to live in. Dave drew up plans but we didn’t follow it through. The space was very small for two people and on reflection it was a crazy idea to move two elderly people who had lived in a bungalow for 40 years into a two storey building. Dad died in 1985.

I love these old drawings in ink on drawing film.

In 1986 downstairs became a depository for some of my father’s engineering equipment, after my mother sold up and moved in with us later that year. We brought Dad’s huge bench, pillar drill and suchlike over from Westbury and installed it in the stable. Thank goodness his big metal-turning lathe was sold with the bungalow.

In 1988 Kate held her 16th birthday party upstairs in the stable. After the party I used the room for sewing for a few years and in 1990, when Dave gave up his day job and became self-employed, he used it for his drawing work. During the next 20 years drawing board and ink plotter gave way to computer and printer, until an accident in 2010 forced him to work downstairs in the house leaving the upstairs stable room empty.

In about 2012 Amy needed some space for silk screen printing and sewing. The upstairs room accommodated both, it became a studio for Christian to print and a sewing area for Amy to sew the printed items for sale.

In 2015 it was empty again. After several attempts to get planning permission for a conversion to accommodation for ourselves we finally succeeded in 2018, but with a much reduced extension. We were unsure whether the resulting conversion would be big enough for the two of us, but decided to go ahead with the project anyway. Building work started in June 2019 and was completed in January 2020. Fitting it out, with many interruptions due to the pandemic, took until September, by which time we had decided not to move in ourselves but to rent it out for holidays. The Nest at the Round House was born.

Before and after, the south facing end.

Before and after, east side.

Before the conversion the stable was a favourite nesting place for jackdaws and sparrows, hence the choice of name for the holiday cottage. Besides that, there was already a Stable Cottage and a Stables complex in the village so we had to choose something different!

How We Were in 1988

A look back at how the village once was. We have seen many changes in the last 30 years, like the conversion of the old school to the new Village Hall and the loss of some village amenitites. Here are a few examples of how Chitterne once looked, caught on camera by DR in 1988.

Who remembers this wooden fence alongside the Cut from Bridge Cottage to the junction? It was replaced some years ago with the tubular metal rails and concrete posts of today.

The Sportsfield minus cricket pitch but fitted out for football and minimal children’s play equipment. Less trees back then too, but more moles! The Cricket Club was yet to be formed and to take charge of the upkeep.

The junction of Back Road with Pitts Lane. Back Road became Back Lane at the request of residents in the early 2000s. Some older village residents protested at the name change and pointed out that it had been called Back Road for generations.

Still in Back Road, Chitterne Farm building MoD number 15 was on the corner where Back Road meets Farm Hill and Linches Path. It has since been sold and converted to a dwelling.

The Racing Stables before the 1990s conversion to eight dwellings around a courtyard.

Not a great deal of change in Townsend at first glance. The biggest change is the loss of Chitterne Post Office Stores (the white building to the left of Honeysuckle Cottage) the last village shop, which closed in 2000. It’s now a private dwelling. On the right Arch Cottages before renovation.

Bridge Cottage opposite the Codford Road junction with the kiosk building still in place on the left where you paid for your petrol or bought sweets once upon a time. The petrol pumps stood to the left of the kiosk alongside the pavement, but had been removed by 1988.

The petrol pumps, kiosk, Bridge Cottage and Bridge Garage were all under the same ownership in 1988. Bridge Garage was the place for your car repairs and servicing back then, now another lost amenity. Bridge Cottage was sold in 1996 and the garage closed when the proprietor retired in 1999, the building is now part of Hengistbury Cottage.

 

St Mary’s Chancel

St Mary’s Chancel is all that’s left of Chitterne’s two old 15th century parish churches, making it one of the oldest buildings in the village. The nave of St Mary’s Church was demolished about 1861, leaving the chancel for use as a mortuary chapel. Nowadays it’s just used for occasional church services.

Ivy covers the end wall in this photo dating from the early 1900s. Note the old thatched barn on the right where Birch Cottage is now. The barn belonged to the church when the vicar of St Marys parish received part of his pay from the tithes raised on the crops grown on church land. Typically a tenth of the value went to the vicar. ‘Glebe’ land was church land, so Glebe Farm was the church farm, and the barn stood in Glebe Farm’s stockyard.

In this photo taken a little later the ivy has been removed and the site of the old nave has started to be used for burials. Note behind the chancel, in both photos, the old cob wall that once formed the boundary of the graveyard. The wall was knocked down and replaced by a fence in 1928 when Ushers Brewery, owners of the King’s Head Inn, gave a part of the inn’s land to enlarge the graveyard.

Recently, when a house the other side of that fence was sold, it was unclear who was responsible for maintaining the fence. A trip to the History Centre in Chippenham to see the original 1928 deed provided the answer: the fence is the responsibility of the Parochial Church Council.

Plan of old church, the chancel is the top section. Nave and side chapel were knocked down.

I admire the medieval builders of this church, they had the good sense to site it far enough away from the Chitterne Brook for the dead to be buried in dry ground.

Drawing of old church, the chancel on the right with steps to door now blocked

 

Bygones Exhibition

An exhibition of bygones was staged in the old village hall in the 1970s. It was held after 1971 and since this was written a blog reader has suggested 1975. The village school had been converted to a village hall and opened in 1971, it was replaced in 1999 by the present village hall.

The old village hall from the church tower

The following photos of the 1970s exhibition are a recent addition to the archive collection thanks to AS, who tells me that many of the items on display came from 98 Chitterne, the home of the Feltham family.

Villagers and visitors at the exhibition in the main hall. The two gentlemen may be Philip Purle (leaning over) from the Village Shop and Brian Gorry (hands in pockets) of 29 Robin’s Rest. CB has identified more of the group studying the exhibits at the back, from the left: Christine Sprack (wearing green top); Maureen Sprack; possibly Bert Bailey; possibly Marilyn Wood; Philip Purle; Phyllis Stevenson. Could the lady in the bottom right corner be Joan Robertson of Glebe House? Winnie Spratt of 70 Bidden Lane by the window also appears in the next photo.

Here she is on the right running the raffle with Nora Feltham of 98 Codford Road.

Various old costumes were on display.

Containers and implements of all sorts.

A sale of the Chitterne estate poster of 1815 and various editions of newspapers, photographs and journals.

AS tells me that some of the items were so precious that he slept in the hall overnight to protect them. I came to the village in 1976 and I don’t remember this exhibition being staged so it may have been between 1971 and 1976 when colour photography was in its infancy. The photos have that kind of hue from those days, compared with the first photo of the hall which was taken a lot later.

If you recognise anyone else on these please let me know, and if anyone can date the exhibition exactly it would be good to know. I can be contacted via the menu in the top right corner or on facebook.