Chitterne is a 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 county of

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 ...

, in the south west of England. The village lies in the middle of

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...

, about east of the town of

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...

. The Chitterne Brook, a small tributary of the

River Wylye The River Wylye ( ) is a chalk stream in the south of England, with clear water flowing over gravel. It is popular with anglers for fly fishing. A half-mile stretch of the river and three lakes in Warminster are a local nature reserve. Cour ...

, flows southwest through the village.

History

A large settlement of 60 households, held by

Edward of Salisbury Edward of Salisbury was a nobleman and courtier (''curialis''), probably part Anglo-Saxon, who served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire during the reigns of William I, William II and Henry I. The ''Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis'' (1293) names him as ...

, was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Chitterne was one of many Wiltshire estates owned in the 12th century by Ela, 3rd Countess of Salisbury. There were two ancient parishes, Chitterne St Mary to the west and Chitterne All Saints to the east. Their villages were adjacent and each had a small parish church. In the 19th century they became two civil parishes, then in 1907 they were combined to form Chitterne civil parish. A village school was built near the village green in 1840 and was attended by children of all ages until 1937, when it became a junior school. The school closed in 1967, by which time the number of pupils had fallen below 20.

Features

Chitterne has a

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

, which stands on the site of the former school. Opposite the hall is a large sports field, on which cricket and football are played, according to the season. The village also has a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

called the ''King's Head''. There are several notable houses, including Chitterne House, the Manor, the Grange, and Manor Farm, all Grade II listed for their architectural merit. Large parts of Chitterne parish are

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

land within the

Salisbury Plain Training Area Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wit ...

; the Imber firing range is to the north and the Copehill Down training area to the east. The latter has an uninhabited "German Village" used by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

for training in street warfare (

FIBUA Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and city, cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the Military operation, operational and the Military tactics, tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban war ...

- Fighting in Built-up Areas). This was built in the mid-1980s, before the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

was demolished, and is based on a typical village of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

in Germany. A few miles to the north, across

in the "Danger Area", and now part of

Heytesbury Heytesbury is a village (formerly considered to be a town) and a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village lies on the north bank of the Wylye, about southeast of the town of Warminster. The civil parish includes most of the small neigh ...

parish, lies the remains of the ancient village of

Imber Imber is an uninhabited village within the British Army's training area on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England. It lies in an isolated area of the Plain, about west of the A360 road between Tilshead and West Lavington. A linear village, its ...

Religious sites

The first records of churches in the parishes are from 1270 for All Saints and 1319 for St Mary's; both were largely rebuilt in the 15th century. From 1848 the two churches were served by one vicar, and by that time the churches were in need of repair and too small to serve the growing population, so a new church was built in the centre of the village and opened in 1863. The new church was built in flint and stone in the

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

style, to designs of

T.H. Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for A ...

. The 12th-century font was brought from St Mary's, as were the pulpit and two bells. The church was designated as

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 ...

in 1968 and is now part of the Salisbury Plain benefice. Saint Marys Chitterne

At first the chancels of both earlier churches were retained, to serve as chapels for their graveyards. All Saints was demolished in 1877 but St Mary's chancel still stands and is Grade II* listed. A Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built sometime before 1846, and was later taken over by

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

. After a fire in 1903, a rebuilt chapel opened on the same site in 1904. The chapel closed c.1969 and is now a private house.

Local government

Most local government services are provided by

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

, which has its offices in

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southe ...

, to the north. Chitterne also has its own elected parish council of seven members, five representing the ancient parish of Chitterne All Saints and two representing the former Chitterne St Mary. The village is represented in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

by the MP for South West Wiltshire,

Andrew Murrison Andrew William Murrison (born 24 April 1961) is a British doctor, naval officer and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Wiltshire, previously Westbury, since the 2001 ...

In popular culture

In Dennis Wheatley's 1934 novel ''

The Devil Rides Out ''The Devil Rides Out'' is a 1934 novel by Dennis Wheatley telling a disturbing story of black magic and the occult. The four main characters, the Duke de Richleau, Rex van Ryn, Simon Aron and Richard Eaton, appear in a series of novels by Wh ...

'', characters drive through the parishes of Chitterne St. Mary and Chitterne All Saints. A Satanic 'Grand Sabbat' then takes place somewhere between Chitterne All Saints,

, and

Tilshead Tilshead () is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire in Southern England, about northwest of the town of Amesbury. It is close to the geographical centre of Salisbury Plain, on the A360 road approximately midway between the ...

Notable people

Sir Arthur Gooch, 14th Baronet Brigadier Sir Arthur Brian Sherlock Heywood Gooch, 14th Baronet, DL (born 1 June 1937) is an English baronet and retired regular officer of the British Army. He was also an aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II. Gooch is descended from Sir Willi ...

Sir Richard Johns Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edward Johns, (born 28 July 1939) is a retired senior Royal Air Force commander. He was a fighter pilot in the 1960s, commanding officer of a squadron during the 1970s and a station commander in the 1980s. Johns ...

, Royal Air Force officer *

Ferdinand Mount Sir William Robert Ferdinand Mount, 3rd Baronet, FRSL (born 2 July 1939), is a British writer, novelist, and columnist for ''The Sunday Times'', as well as a political commentator. Life Ferdinand Mount, brought up by his parents in the isolate ...

, author and journalist, grew up in Chitterne * General Sir Nick Parker, soldier * General John Strawson, soldier *

Danny Sullivan Daniel John Sullivan III (born March 9, 1950), better known as Danny Sullivan, is an American former racing driver. He earned 17 wins in the CART Indy Car World Series, including the 1985 Indianapolis 500. Sullivan won the 1988 CART Champions ...

, US technologist, lived in Chitterne *

John Wallis Titt John Wallis Titt (1841–1910) was a late nineteenth-century English mechanical engineer and builder of a particular design of large wind engine. Early life Titt was born in 1841 at Elm Farm, Chitterne, Wiltshire to John Titt and Eliza Titt (' ...

, engineer, was born in Chitterne.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire