Compton Chamberlayne is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the Nadder Valley in south

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, about west of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. The Nadder forms the northern boundary of the parish; to the south are

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

hills. It is bisected by the

A30 road The A30 is a major road in England, running WSW from London to Land's End. The road has been a principal axis in Britain from the 17th century to early 19th century, as a major coaching route. It used to provide the fastest route from Londo ...

. The village contains some 25 privately owned houses, a village hall, and a cricket pitch used by Compton Chamberlayne Cricket Club.

History

Most of the inhabited part of the village lies in a small wooded valley that lends credence to the origin of the name "Compton" – coombe tun, or "settlement in a wooded valley". "Chamberlayne" seems to have been attached when a Robert le Chamberlayne, or possibly Geoffrey le Chaumberlang, took possession of the village in the Middle Ages. The village was recorded in the

Domesday Book 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 ...

of 1086, which shows that the local manor had a mill, some pastureland, meadows and two woods at that time. Today there is no evidence of the manor. There was a day school in the village in 1819, which had 60 pupils in 1859; around that time it was funded entirely by the Penruddock family of Compton House. By 1871, government grants were received under the National School system. The school closed in 1933 as pupil numbers fell.

Map of Australia

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, thousands of Australian and Canadian troops camped in the fields to the north of the chalk downland, before being shipped to France for combat. Compton Chamberlayne burial ground has 28 graves of Australian soldiers who died, believed to be of

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

, during their transit through the camp. There is still today a field called "hospital", previously the site of the military medical facility. The only tangible sign of the previous occupation was an outline of Australia carved in the surface of the chalk downs () to the south-east of the village, which was left to grass over in 2005. In 2018/2019, a group of local volunteers restored the map and marked

Anzac Day , image = Dawn service gnangarra 03.jpg , caption = Anzac Day Dawn Service at Kings Park, Western Australia, 25 April 2009, 94th anniversary. , observedby = Australia Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands New ...

with a service there. The map is wide and about high. It is protected as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

on the list published by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

. The neighbouring village of

Fovant Fovant is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, lying about west of Salisbury on the A30 Salisbury-Shaftesbury road, on the south side of the Nadder valley. History The name is derived from the Old English ''Fobbefunt ...

also has an impressive display of army regimental badges carved into the chalk downs. No Fovant Badge - geograph

Parish church

The

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Church of St Michael, close to Compton House, was built at the end of the 13th century in the Early English style, at the same time as

Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Salisbury and is the seat of the Bishop of Salisbury. The buildi ...

some seven miles away. Further work was done in the 14th and 15th centuries, with

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

in 1877 by James Soppitt of Shaftesbury. It contains the Penruddocke family vault and has a peal of six bells, two dating from the 17th century and four from the 19th. The church is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

building. The benefice is served by the Nadder Valley team ministry.

Compton House and Park

Compton Park House - Compton Chamberlayne - geograph

Compton Park House Compton Park House (or Compton House) is a Grade I listed manor house in Compton Chamberlayne, Wiltshire, England, about east of Salisbury. History Compton Park House was the seat of the Penruddocke (or Penruddock) family from the mid-16th cen ...

is a grade I listed building within the village, formerly a seat of the Penruddocke (or Penruddock) family from the mid-16th century until 1930. It sits in a former deer park landscaped by

Capability Brown Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...

, which features a

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

in the form of a

summer house A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden ...

at .

Notable residents

* Sir George Penruddock (died 1581), High Sheriff of Wiltshire; MP for Salisbury, Wiltshire and Downton *

John Penruddock Colonel John Penruddock (or Penruddocke, 1619–1655), of Compton Chamberlayne, was an English Cavalier during the English Civil War and the English Interregnum. He is remembered as the leader of the Penruddock uprising in 1655. The Sealed Kno ...

(died 1601), MP for Wilton and Southampton *Edward Penruddock, High Sheriff in 1597 *Sir John Penruddocke (died 1648), High Sheriff in 1643 *Colonel

(1619–1655), a royalist who took part in the failed 1655

Penruddock uprising The Penruddock Uprising was a Royalist revolt launched on 11 March 1655, intending to restore Charles II to the throne of England. It was led by John Penruddock, a Wiltshire landowner who fought for Charles I in the First English Civil War; ...

against

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

, was tried and executed at

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

on 16 May 1655. *

Thomas Penruddocke Thomas Penruddocke DL (about 1648 – before 1695), of Compton Chamberlayne was a Wiltshire landowner and politician, briefly member of parliament for Wilton in 1679 (the 'Habeas Corpus Parliament') and again in 1689 (the famous Convention Pa ...

(born c. 1648, died before 1695), MP for Wilton *Charles Penruddocke (died 1788), High Sheriff in 1751 * Charles Penruddocke (1743–1788), High Sheriff, MP for Wiltshire * John Penruddocke (1770–1841), High Sheriff, MP for Wilton *Charles Penruddocke (died 1899), High Sheriff in 1861

References

External links

* (makes reference to Penruddocke) {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire