A WALK AROUND HISTORIC CHITTERNE

Allow approximately 1 hour

Starting at All Saints with St Marys Church, which was built in 1861 to

replace the two old churches of All Saints and St Marys. The new church was

glass, the font and screen from the old churches. There are memorials to the

Michell family who owned much of Chitterne in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Turning left as you leave the church will take you past the village green and the

Jubilee Tree, a horse chestnut planted in 1897 to commemorate the Diamond

Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

On your right following the curve of the road is the Chitterne Brook, a

winterbourne or stream that runs dry in summer, known to the locals as the

"cut".

Beyond the brook and an old stone wall is the village sportsfield, once the

site of a walled estate with a grand mansion that belonged to the Abbess

of Lacock before the dissolution. The house was demolished in the first

quarter of the 19th century. Part of the wall and one pair of ball topped

pillars remain, the other pair, which once flanked the main entrance at the far

side of the field, were removed to the Duchess of Newcastle's estate in the

Wylye valley back in the 1950's.

When you reach the junction you are at the site of the Chitterne turnpike

gates, which stretched across the road between Elm Farm and the brook,

from the 1760's until 1871 when they were dismantled. Turn left, you are

now in Bidden Lane or Shrewton Road, locally known as the "Lane".

A short distance up the lane on the right is the old Baptist Chapel, partially

rebuilt in 1903 after a fire destroyed most of it. It is now a private house.

Cross the road to the chapel and you are passing from Chitterne All Saints

parish to Chitterne St Mary parish, for the boundary between the two ancient

parishes follows the centre of this road.

Turn and go back down the hill. At the corner you will pass the former

White Hart Inn, where Samuel Pepys stayed one night when he became lost

on Salisbury Plain on his way to Bath. He proclaimed the beds "lousy". It is

now a private house.

A little way along the road, called the "street" by local people, on the right

you will see a grassy hump-backed bridge over the brook. This is Clump

Farm Bridge, one of the few old examples left of such bridges, that traverse

the brook at various points in the village, the others having been widened

and flattened for modern use. Clump Farm no longer exists, like so many

other old Chitterne farms now defunct, whose land was either sold for

building, or swallowed up by other farms.

When you reach the Kings Head you will have passed over a flattened

hump-backed bridge, so flat you would not notice it, until you realise that the

brook is now on the other side of the road. This bridge was known for years

as Compton's Bridge, after the family who lived in Bridge Cottage for

many generations.

Just past the pub turn right up a track towards a kissing gate, go through and

you are in St Marys graveyard and before you stands the Chancel of old St

Marys Church, built around 1450, and the only

part remaining of either of Chitterne's two ancient

churches. A narrow gravel path at the side of the

graveyard leads to a small iron gate. Beyond this

gate can be seen St Marys Manor, an Elizabethan

house of mellow brick, with stone-mullion

windows and a sturdy oak door. This house once

had another wing to the right of the door, to match

the wing to the left, which was demolished in the

19th century. An underground tunnel from the

Manor is said to lead towards the sportsfield where

the mansion once stood. At the diagonally opposite corner of the graveyard

from where you entered, you will find an old yew tree shading a tomb

surrounded by railings. This is Rev Thomas Leach Tovey's tomb. Rev

Tovey, curate of Chitterne St Mary, planted the yew tree in his own memory

in 1842, the very next day he was taken ill, died some days later and was

buried near his tree. Between the chancel and the road, where a modern

house now stands, formerly stood the Tithe Barn.

At the end of the street you will see the Round House. This was not a toll

house, as might be first thought, but a seafarer's folly in Georgian style,

added, in about 1814, to a much older cottage. There is evidence that the

semi-round folly was once three storeys high, and the top storey removed in

1882.

Across the road, opposite, is the Old Vicarage. Built in 1812 and added to

in the 1860's when the All Saints vicarage was demolished, it was in use for

a further 100 years before being sold.

Returning to the Church and walking east with the brook on your left and

wall on your right, you will reach a pair of ball-topped pillars flanking a

wooden gate in the wall, and then an ornamental arched gateway with a pair

of heavy iron gates. Through these gates to the right you will see an old

timbered building which was probably used to shelter pilgrims when most of

Chitterne was owned by Lacock Abbey, and Augustinian Nuns lived here.

To the left is a gabled building with lancet

windows, the 12th century St Andrews

Monastery Chapel is thought to have stood

behind this building, where several stone

coffins have been unearthed. There is said to

be a tunnel under the road here connecting

these buildings with All Saints Manor Farm

opposite.

All Saints Manor Farm was rebuilt after a disastrous fire in 1852 left the

original house in ruins. Cross over the brook by the farm bridge and

continue past some garages which occupy the site of the old All Saints

Vicarage, until you reach All Saints graveyard on the right. Roughly in

the centre of the graveyard lies a stone tablet marking the Michell family

vault. This is where the old All Saints Church once stood, for the Michell

family vault was originally above ground in the family pew, and was only

relocated underground on the same spot when the church was demolished.

Within the vault are eleven lead coffins.

Returning to the road and continuing in the same direction will take you

past Chitterne House. A three-storey house of stone and flint built

around 1680, with additions made 100 years later, formerly the home of

the Michell family.

Continue along the road until you reach Chitterne Farmhouse taking the

lane forking right, this is Back Lane. Just around the corner, on the left,

you will see Chitterne Lodge. This impressive stone and flint house was

formerly the home of racehorse trainer Jim Ford, who trained the 1955

Cheltenham Gold Cup winner at his Chitterne Racing Stables nearby.

Follow the lane as it bends to the right and it will take you behind

Chitterne House and the Church, eventually re-joining the village road

near the Green.