Chilmark, Wiltshire
Coordinates: 51°05′38″N 2°02′42″W / 51.094°N 2.045°W
Chilmark is a Wiltshire village and civil parish of some 150 houses straddling the B3089 road, 11 miles (18 km) west of Salisbury, England.[2] The parish includes the hamlets of Mooray and Portash, both close to the south of Chilmark village; and the dispersed hamlet of Ridge, to the southwest.
The stream through the village, often dry in summer, flows some two miles (3 km) south to join the River Nadder. The Fonthill estate extends into the west of the parish as far as Ridge.[3]
History
Roman artefacts have been found in the nearby quarries, and Purbeck limestone, possibly from Chilmark, was used in the construction of Roman mansions at the villages of West Grimstead and Rockbourne Villa.[4]
There was probably a church at Chilmark in the 12th century.[5] Chilmark Manor, a house near the church, is a 17th-century building with 18th-century alterations.[6]
Religious sites
Dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch, Chilmark's Anglican parish church dates from the 13th century, with additions in the 14th and 18th centuries. It was most recently restored in 1856 by T.H. Wyatt. The steepled tower, rebuilt in about 1770, retains 13th-century lancet windows. The font has an original 13th-century bowl on a 19th-century base. The church contains several stained-glass windows from the 19th century, and in 1966 was designated as Grade II* listed.[7] The churchyard has Grade II listed chest tombs from the 17th and 18th centuries.[8]
A small Baptist chapel was built at Ridge sometime between 1851 and 1864, later becoming known as the Union chapel.[5] By 2003 the building was in private hands.
Chilmark Ravine
About a mile south of the village, the stream passes (together with a minor road) through a ravine, as it descends into the Nadder valley. Stone was quarried here from medieval times, and in the 20th century the ravine was the site of defence establishments. The western half of this area is in Teffont civil parish.
Quarries
Chilmark stone, a form of limestone, was quarried here and used for buildings including Salisbury Cathedral. Stone extraction continued on a small scale until the quarry closed c. 2007. Similar stone is still mined at Chicksgrove Quarry, 1.3 miles (2.1 km) to the southwest.[9] The former quarries have been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (biological and geological), and as a European Special Area of Conservation for their bat population.
RAF Chilmark
In 1936 the quarries, and land extending further down the ravine, were bought by the Air Ministry and the site became RAF Chilmark, which was the home of No 11 Maintenance Unit.[5] Munitions were stored in the quarry caverns, and for a time the unit had extensive above-ground storage areas in woodland near Dinton and in Grovely Wood.
A spur left the London-Exeter railway west of Dinton station at Ham Cross, just east of the bridge over the Chicksgrove-Fovant road, and entered the foot of the ravine; this spur was omitted from Ordnance Survey maps.[10][11] Goods were transhipped under cover of a large shed, to/from a 2 ft gauge narrow-gauge railway which ran into the ravine and some of the former quarry caverns.[12]
By 1965, Chilmark was the RAF's only ammunition supply depot.[13] RAF Chilmark closed in 1995, although clearance of explosives from the site continued until at least 1997.[14] A 1939 diesel locomotive used at the site was bought in 1976 by the Bala Lake Railway, North Wales;[15] several wagons are at the Old Kiln Light Railway, Surrey.[16]
Regional Seat of Government
An underground bunker was built in the ravine in 1985, ready to act as the Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQ) for the southwest region in the event of a nuclear attack. The bunker closed in 1992, following the end of the Cold War, and was sold in 1997.[17][18]
Present
A Planning Brief prepared by Salisbury District Council in 1999 concluded that options for re-use of the site, except for the former headquarters buildings, were limited owing to the presence of bat colonies and the possibility of contamination remaining from the storage of munitions.[19]
Until 2015, the former RAF headquarters and some 55 acres (0.22 km2) of land in and near the ravine were used by a private company as a training area for counter-terrorism security and explosives handling.[20]
Namesakes
Two settlements in the United States bear the same name. Chilmark, Massachusetts, on the island of Martha's Vineyard, was named in 1694 in connection with Governor Thomas Mayhew, who emigrated from nearby Tisbury and founded a colony on the island. In 1925, V. Everit Macy, an industrialist, established a suburb of Briarcliff Manor, New York and named it Chilmark after the home village of his ancestor Thomas Macy, who emigrated in 1635.
Amenities
The village has a primary school, Chilmark and Fonthill Bishop CofE (VA) Primary School. The building began as a National School, built in Chilmark stone in 1860. In 1971 Chilmark school merged with Fonthill Bishop school; the building at Fontwell Bishop was closed and the accommodation at Chilmark extended.[21]
The Reading Room of 1910 is now the village hall.[22] The village has a pub, the Black Dog Inn.
References
- ↑ "Wiltshire Community History - Census". Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
- ↑ Genuki details
- ↑ Historic England. "Fonthill landscape park (1000322)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
- ↑ Sawyer, R., Nadder, 2006, p.84, The Hobnob Press, ISBN 978-0-946418-53-4
- 1 2 3 Crowley, D.A. (ed.). "Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 13 pp114-125 - Parishes: Chilmark". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ Historic England. "Chilmark Manor with gatepiers (1146281)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
- ↑ Historic England. "Church of St. Margaret of Antioch (1318662)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ "Church of St. Margaret, Chilmark". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ "Chicksgrove Stone". Chicksgrove & Chilmark. Lovell Stone Group. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ "Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain, sheet ST92". National Library of Scotland. 1958. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ "Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain, sheet ST93". National Library of Scotland. 1958. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ "Chilmark (includes photograph of transshipment shed)". Subterranea Britannica. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ Historic England. "RAF Chilmark (1538887)". PastScape. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ "Journal of the Royal Air Force Historical Society vol 35" (PDF). RAF Museum. 2005. pp. 62–63. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ "Locomotives". Bala Lake Railway. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ "Rolling stock". Old Kiln Light Railway. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ Fox, Steven (2004). "Struggle for Survival: The Regional Government Headquarters". Subterranea Britannica. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ McCamley, Nick (2013). Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers: The Passive Defence of the Western World During the Cold War. Pen and Sword Books. pp. 184–187. ISBN 9781473813243.
- ↑ "Planning Brief: RAF Chilmark" (PDF). Salisbury District Council. December 1999. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ "ISSEE is moving!". ISSEE. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ "Chilmark & Fonthill Bishop C. of E. Aided Primary". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
- ↑ "Chilmark Reading Room". Retrieved 30 March 2016.
External links
Media related to Chilmark, Wiltshire at Wikimedia Commons
- Chilmark Parish Council
- "Chilmark". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 30 March 2016.