Chute, Wiltshire
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Chute is a
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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in east
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
, England, on the border with
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
. It includes the main
village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
of Upper Chute and the smaller settlements of Lower Chute, Chute Standen, Chute Cadley and Mount Cowdown. The settlements are sometimes known collectively as "The Chutes". The nearest town is
Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...
, Hampshire, about to the southeast. Conholt House and Conholt Park are in the northeast of the parish.


Etymology

''Chute'' takes its name from Chute Forest. This name is first attested 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086, in the Latin phrase "silva que vocatur Cetum" ("the wood that is called ''Cetum''"); the name is first attested as the name of a settlement in 1235, as ''Cett’''. The name derives from the
Common Brittonic Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Cel ...
word that survives today in modern Welsh as ("woodland"). Spellings with an ''e'', along the lines of ''Cet'', ''Cette'', ''Chet'' and ''Chette'' dominate the record through the thirteenth century and reflect the usual borrowing of this Brittonic word into Old English. The spelling ''Chute'', first attested for the village in 1268 (as ''Chuth’'') and for the forest in 1283 (as ''Chute''), reflects dialectal variation in Old English, specifically the West-Saxon sound-change known as palatal diphthongisation.


Early history

Evidence of
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
occupation includes an
oval barrow An oval barrow is the name given by archaeologists to a type of prehistoric burial tumulus of roughly oval shape. In the British mid to late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, oval barrows may indicate a transition between earlier long barrows with ...
at Scotspoor, in the northeast corner of the parish. The northern boundary of the parish follows a prehistoric ditch and there is a prehistoric field system on Chute Down in the southwest. Bevisbury, a small
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
fort, is just over the Hampshire border near Chute Cadley. The Domesday book of 1086 recorded farmland and a mill at Standen. In the 13th century the whole area was part of Chute Forest.


Local government

Chute is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It is in the area of
Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...
unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...
. Both councils are responsible for different aspects of local government. The nearby village of Chute Forest has its own parish council.


Upper Chute

The
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
of
Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...
is mentioned in 1320 and in Dean Chandler's register of 1405. It was almost completely rebuilt in the period 1869–72 to designs by J.L. Pearson. The old church consisted of a
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
and
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
with south
transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
, south porch, and west timber bell turret. The walls were faced with knapped flint and supported by prominent red-brick buttresses, and the 15th-century windows were replaced by new ones in 13th-century style. A vestry was built on the north side of the chancel, and the porch and the bell turret were replaced by a new south porch below a tower and a slated spire. The church is now part of the Savernake Team ministry and also serves Chute Forest parish, following the closure of the Victorian St Mary's Church in 1970. Six bells were transferred from the redundant church to St Nicholas' in 1976. The Cross Keys Inn was built at the turn of the 19th century, and remained open as a
public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
until 2004, when its owners sought planning permission to turn it into residential property. A 'Save Our Pub' campaign was mounted by locals with the support of the
Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founded on 16 ...
, and in March 2006 the inn reopened under new ownership.


Chute Standen

A school was built on the road to Upper Chute in 1858, and was attended by pupils from the parishes of Chute and Chute Forest. The architect was William White and construction was in flint with red brick dressings. The school was closed in 1978 and the building became the village hall.


Chute Causeway

The Chute Causeway is a section of the
Roman Road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
that runs from
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
northwest to Mildenhall (near
Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...
) and onwards to
Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...
. At Conholt the road deviates west to avoid the deep Hippenscombe valley, resuming its straight course near Tidcombe. The length of the deviation is about and the Causeway forms the southern .


Local folklore and legend

During the reign of Charles II the
bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...
struck the parishes of Chute and Vernham Dean. At Vernham Dean a rector persuaded his parishioners to isolate themselves at the top of the hill along which Chute Causeway runs. When the time came for him to supply the food and care he had promised, the fear he had of the disease meant he failed to uphold his honour and left the villagers to die. Another story has him falling ill himself before he could do the job. He himself did not survive, even after the betrayal of his parishioners, as the plague also killed him. Since then his ghost has been seen to wander up the hill towards the campsite on the Causeway, never completing the journey he did not have the courage to finish. As he has not been seen for a long time, he may have found peace at last.


References


External links


Chute Parish Council

The Chutes
– community website for the parishes of Chute and Chute Forest * {{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire Wiltshire places with etymologically Brittonic names