Chilworth is a village in the Test Valley district of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England, on the northern edge of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. Good travel connections and restricted development have led to the village becoming particularly affluent. The village was referred to as Celeworda in the

Domesday Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

book, and is now in two parts: modern Chilworth lying along the straight 'new' stretch of the Southampton to Romsey road, and old Chilworth built around the 'old' road.

Etymology

''Chil'' is an aspirate mutation of the

Common Brittonic Common Brittonic ( cy, Brythoneg; kw, Brythonek; br, Predeneg), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, was a Celtic language spoken in Britain and Brittany. It is a form of Insular Celtic, descended from Proto-Celtic, a ...

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

''cil'' meaning "angle or corner" and having the implication of "boundary". The suffix ''worth'' is the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

of the

proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...

''warō'' meaning "those that care for, watch, guard, protect, or defend". The name literally translates as two nouns: "boundary-guards."

Chilworth Old Village

Chilworth Old Village, at the west end, consists of former farm workers' thatched cottages interspersed with modern houses and bungalows built in the 1950s. The Anglican Church of St Denys, which lies on the edge of the Old Village, was rebuilt in 1812 and is noted for its old bells which date from about the year 1200. Chilworth Old Village was designated a conservation area on 1 November 1989. Most of the buildings from the 16th century are situated in the Chilworth Old Village Conservation Area. The exceptions are Manor Farm and the Beehives, the latter of which are the lodges to Chilworth Manor Hotel.

University of Southampton Science Park

Chilworth is home to the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

Science Park, formerly known as the Chilworth Science Park. construction started 1984 with the first buildings finished in 1986. It houses the main satellite uplink earth station of

Sky UK Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

(formerly known as BSkyB, British Sky Broadcasting and BSB,

British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. They started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company was merged with ...

). This facility uplinks signals (both Sky and some third party) to the Astra satellites at 28.2° east.

Facilities

There is a small public house on the main road through the village called ''The Chilworth Arms'' (formerly ''The Clump''). The original name of the pub, 'The Clump' comes from an old earthwork. Chilworth has a village hall and football field near the pub and there is a kennel and cattery in Chilworth Common, one of the local wooded areas. The thatched post office building was originally built as a kennel for the local hounds before being handed over to the village in 1900. Now both the Post Office and the convenience store are closed. Since the early 1960s, there has been a Village Hall, situated on the edge of the Village Green behind what is now the Chilworth Arms. Administered by a charitable trust, the Hall is available to the residents of Chilworth and the immediately surrounding vicinity, for meetings, events and many other forms of recreation and leisure-time occupation, with the object of generating and improving a local community spirit. The Hall has a microsite o
the Village's website
where more details may be found, including availability and how to book.

Chilworth Manor

Chilworth Manor was a mansion house on the Chilworth Estate. John Willis Fleming rebuilt the house in 1904. The Flemings sold Chilworth Manor in 1947. In 1967 it was sold by Catherine Ann Young, wife of British entrepreneur Jock Young (CEO of "Unity Heating"), to Southampton University and converted into a hall of residence. In 1990 it was developed into a conference and training centre. In 2001, AHM, a specialist management company, acquired the property. It is now a 97 bedroom hotel, conference and event venue run by Best Western.

Notable residents

Notable Chilworth residents have included circus impresario

Jimmy Chipperfield John James Chipperfield (4 March 1894 – 1966) was an English footballer. Prior to World War I, Chipperfield played for Luton Clarence and Luton Town. He played as a wartime guest for Arsenal during World War I, finishing as the club's top scor ...

and Southampton football stars Matthew Le Tissier,

Francis Benali Francis Vincent Benali (born 30 December 1968) is an English football coach and former professional player. As a player, he was a full back who notably spent most of his career in the Premier League with Southampton, during a sixteen-year spe ...

and James Beattie.

Richard Cockle Lucas Richard Cockle Lucas (24 October 1800 – 18 May 1883) was a British sculptor and photographer. Career Lucas was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, the son of Richard Lucas and his wife, Martha Sutton (who died shortly after childbirth). At the age ...

(1800–1883), the sculptor, lived in Chilworth from 1854 onwards, originally at "The Tower of the Winds" (which stood opposite the former "Clump Inn"), and later at the nearby "Chilworth Tower".

Village design statement

In February 2006 the Test Valley Borough Council issued a Village Design Statement for Chilworth to foster a vibrant community and preserve Chilworth's very special characteristics: its woodland, architecture and village environment.Village Design Statement – Chilworth
Test Valley