June 1981
Foreword
This Appraisal is the result of a Parish Meeting held on the 3rd February 1978 with the approval of the Parish Council.
It is an attempt to produce a forward-looking study of the Parish of Chilmark and its inhabitants, together with a brief account of its physical setting and history.
Its summary of conclusions suggests those things that are felt to be desirable and attempts to point the way ahead for the Planners.
To carry out this Appraisal a special sub-committee was formed and the help of local volunteers was enlisted.
Much information was gathered from the answers to a Questionnaire, which was sent to every household, and to which an extremely satisfactory 80% response was received.
The analysis and summation of the answers, and the conclusions to be drawn were the work of the sub-committee. The various sections of the study were then allocated to a number of volunteers from the village, and their contributions were collated to produce the final version of the Appraisal.
It was anticipated that the work involved would take about two years, but it has taken somewhat longer.
There have been some changes since the project was started and the Questionnaire issued, but, nevertheless, we believe that it presents a reasonably up-to-date picture and the ‘Views and Recommendations’ are valid and in line with current Council thinking.
Acknowledgements
The Parish Council would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following members of the Parish, all of whom gave freely of their time to achieve this project.
Mr. P.J. Simmonds Chairman )
Mr. G.H. Phillipps Vice Chairman ) Sub-Committee
Miss D.E. Rowland Parish Clerk )
Maj. P.G.M.M. Brooke
Gp. Capt. A.C.P. Carver
Mr. B.H. Edwick
Mr. Martyn Flower
Mrs. S.G. Lucas
Mr. S.J. Hayward
Mrs. V.A. McGrail
Maj. Gen. M.D. Price
Miss J. Palmer
Mr. G. Randall
Mr. D. Sharp
Mrs. K. Edwick for her illustrations.
Mr. S. Hems for the printing and production.
The Chairman of the Committee acknowledges the invaluable work done by Mr. George Phillippo in the production of this appraisal.
The sub-committee would like to express his gratitude to Mr. Peter Newell, Countryside Liaison Officer, and to the Officers of the Salisbury District Council’s Planning Department for their most helpful advice and encouragement at all stages in this production.
1. The Physical Setting Of The Parish And Village
1.1 The Parish of Chilmark is one of a number of roughly rectangular parishes in this area of South-West Wiltshire which are generally narrow and stretch across country from north to south. This arrangement is typical of Downland areas and in this case the parish stretches from the grass and arable lands of Salisbury Plain southward through the valley meadows at the foot of the scarp, over the largely wooded Greensand ridge, across the narrow, wet, Gault clay vale and up to the mixed woodland and farm land of the limestone hills of Lady Down.
The parish is about two miles from east to west and three miles from north to south giving an area of six square miles approximately.
In Mediaeval times the shape of these parishes allowed a sharing of the different types of land in strip ownership for a mixed farming economy. This also gave wider access to supplies of timber, copse wood, brushwood, withy beds, and in the south there was a Chilmark Common, now only remaining in name.
1.2 The successive east to west bands of widely differing geological outcrops, from Clay-with-flints, through hard and soft Chalk, Greensand and Gault clay of the Cretaceous Period to the Purbeck and Portland limestones of the Jurassic Period together with varying depths of Valley Gravels along the watercourses naturally give rise to a rich and varied landscape, which has understandably led to the proposal for the whole area in which the parish stands to be classified as an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’.
1.3 Chilmark village most probably developed as a spring-line settlement in a trough-shaped valley at the foot of the southward facing chalk scarp where spring water fed the winterbourne which flows along the village street and offered a readily available water supply for much of the year, and where wells would supply the needs for most dry summers. The main east-west route from Wilton to Mere passes through the settlements along the Nadder valley keeping well above the small stream at this point, and a lesser north-south route from Warminster, possibly to Poole, passes through the village here, and may well have determined the original concentration of settlement around ‘the Cross’. The hamlet of Mooray, once separate, is now part of the village, and the more remote scattered hamlet of Ridge which lies on the south side of the Greensand ridge near to Fonthill House, has seen little change in recent years, but was much more important as a village in the Middle Ages.
2. The History Of The Settlement
2.1 In spite of the great scatter of Neolithic and Bronze Age burial mounds on the nearby Salisbury Plain, the remains of Iron Age forts in the region, and evidence of Celtic field systems in neighbouring Teffont, there is little to indicate occupation of the present village site before Saxon times.
The open-cast workings on Lady Down and the Chilmark and Teffont quarries have, however, produced evidence that they were being used during or just after the Roman occupation. Roman coins, Romano-British pottery and three cist burials in the vicinity at Portash, as well as the use of Chilmark stone in Romano-British buildings at both East Grimstead and Rockbourne imply a local work force.
It is probable that the present village site was occupied from the 1st century A.D., and it is most likely that, with the clearance of woodlands in the lower areas and the greater security of a settled regime, it will have become the home of a farming community.
2.2 The first known historical reference to ‘Chield-mearc’ occurs in the Saxon charter of Wilton Abbey in which King Athelstan (925-940 A.D.) made it a grant of land in the area.
The Street
In the Domesday Book (1086 A.D.) ‘Chilmerc’ is listed as being held by the Church, and with reference to a small population, its mill at Chicksgrove, to areas of meadow, pasture and thorns, it indicates a small mixed farming community.
The Manor appears to have remained in the hands of the Abbess off Wilton throughout the 12th and 13th centuries, and during the latter part of this period, a small stone church was built, parts of which are incorporated in the present building.
It was in this period that the Chilmark quarries provided much of the stone for Salisbury Cathedral and for many other churches, manor houses, farms, cottages and barns in the region.
This regime continued until 1544 A.D. when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and other religious houses and the Manor of Chilmark was taken from the Abbess of Wilton and granted to William Herbert and his wife (the Pembroke family).
2.3 In the 17th century Chilmark seems to have remained the centre of a small farming community and, although the quarries still flourished, most of the workers appear to have lived in the Tisbury area. However, the village was still growing and in 1668 it was recorded as having a Church House, (possibly the Old Rectory).
In 1685 John Aubrey wrote “At Chilmark is a very great quarry of freestone, whereof the religious houses of the south part of Wiltshire and Dorset were builtâ€, and also “At Chilmark is a good faire for sheep on St. Margaret’s day, 20th Julyâ€. This latter event took place in the field known as “Fairmead†opposite the Black Dog Inn.
2.4 By the mid-18th century road communications were improving and the existence of Turnpike Cottages at the western end of the village proves the development of a toll road. There was a regular stagecoach operating between Salisbury and London three times a week, and other big centres in the west country were also served.
At the same time there was an increasing hazard on long distance journeys from highwaymen which would have discouraged travel by many, and stimulated self-sufficiency within the village.
Thus, in 1756 there were three licensed houses in the village. These were probably the Black Dog on the main east-west road, the Red Lion, a public house at the Cross, opposite the Manor House, and the present Bridge Inn Stores which was apparently a village shop even then. Such amenities, together with a mason, a tailor, a shoemaker and the miller at Chicksgrove must have made it largely self-supporting.
The Black Dog Inn
2.5 In the early part of the 19th century the building of the Wilts-Berks, and the Kennet-Avon canals brought much cheaper transport for stone to the northern part of the county and thus made Box stone, for example, more competitive in London and other big towns, and Chilmark stone became too costly and the quarries began to decline in importance. Finally the quarry ceased production in 1936, at which time it was taken over by the Ministry of Defence.
A survey of land use carried out in 1840 in connection with the commutation of tithes shows how clearing and cultivation had developed the parish as an agricultural community, there now being much more arable than pasture and woodland.
viz:
Arable . . . . . 1674 acres
Meadow and pasture . . . . . . 250 acres
Woodland . . . . . . 142 acres
Furze or gorse, common land used as fuel for the poor . . . . . . 1063 acres.
At the same time, although in a period of economic depression and rural poverty, the population is recorded as having increased to 602 in 1841, and having reached a peak in 1851 of 615.
Thereafter there was a slow decline, which has accelerated in this century with the dramatic mechanisation of farming and the growing attraction of urban life. This rural depopulation has been temporarily checked in the post-war period since 1946 by a number of factors, notably the employment of local civilian personnel at R.A.F. Chilmark, the building of small Council estates (generally preferred by local people to the older stone cottages), the purchase and renovation of old stone cottages as retirement homes by newcomers, and finally the building of new houses and bungalows which have been occupied mainly by retired people or by workers who commute to the nearest towns.
Carved Corbels on Church
3. An Assessment Of The Present Village Stock
3.1 The Trees in the Village and Parish
From the enclosed downland in the north (650’), down through the Chilmark village valley (330’), over the Greensand ridge (530’), the Parish includes a wide variety of relicts of ancient woodland, coppice and both old and new plantations.
3.2 There are four broadly distinctive areas:
1. The village of Chilmark.
2. The S.E. corner of the parish on either side of the stream.
3. The S.W. area from Ridge to the southern boundary.
4. The chalk uplands north of the B.3089.
Fig. 1
3.3 Area 1
The soil in the village area is mainly classified as valley gravel. It is very varied both in depth and type, being a deposit ranging from a fine light soil to a wet thick clay mostly containing many flints and fragments of Greensand and Chilmark stone. The Lower Chalk spoil is never very far below the surface making the area well suited to lime-tolerant species, especially beech and yew. Nearly all the trees stand in gardens, of which the older properties have holly and yew and beech among their mature trees.
The centre of the village is particularly enhanced by the garden and policies of ‘The Park’, (the Old Rectory). Bordering the Street, on the north side, are approximately a dozen evergreens (yew, holly and laurel) and other shrubs, and a few mature beech trees. Three beech and another ash stand on the south side of the Street. Over 125 beech border the east and north sides of the pasture, and an avenue of 24 limes runs south from the B.3089 to the house. The beech trees were planted towards the end of the 18th century, but a number have recently died and have had to be felled. It is hoped that some replanting will take place.
Around the Churchyard north of the Manor House garden are five mature beech trees and three ornamental trees have been newly planted near the car park. About forty trees (yew, holly and ilex) surround the Churchyard on the south, west and north sides. There are fewer trees on the east side but an immense fir stands in the north-east corner and an ash at the lychgate. Four Irish yews flank the pathway to the Church porch.
At the Cross there is a large beech in the garden on the east side of Beckett’s Lane. Further along in the paddock of the Dial House a copse of beech about a quarter of an acre, shelters the north side between Hops Close and Claybush and the garden contains a large yew tree and some beech trees.
The Cross
On Barn Hill about twenty trees run west along the ridge beyond the bungalows and the west side of Hops Close is bounded by a screen of conifers.
A belt of about thirty beech, chestnut and sycamore trees stands on either side of Dog Drove and continues around the field part way along Hindon Lane. A mature beech stands at the entrance of Cleeves farm and a belt of young beech and conifer stands on the west of the road by ‘Roundabout’ cottage. Five white beam have been planted to commemorate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee along the south side of the B.3089 opposite the Chilmark Garages, together with three more in the north-west corner of ‘Fairmead’.
There are many more smaller decorative trees within the populated area of the village which, together with the mature trees listed, create an attractive parkland setting, shelter the properties, and are vital to the continued beauty of the village.
3.4 Area 2
The area to the south-east of the village includes the old withy beds along the stream, and on the rising ground to the east there is a plantation of softwoods merging into mixed woodland (oaks, beech and sycamore). There are two oaks in open pasture, visible from the village, which together with the wooded skyline towards Teffont Evias create an attractive parkland effect.
The ancient property of Portash has a screen of various species around its garden, and single mature trees in the fields that link Cleeves woods to the heavily wooded area of the old quarries (R.A.F.). This area extends westwards to the trees on Chilmark Common and the thickly wooded area of Lady Down.
3.5 Area 3
The third area is dominated by the Greensand ridge which extends westwards from the southern end of the village at Lower Mooray to Ridge hamlet and the gardens of Fonthill House. This area is heavily wooded with mixed species including oak, ash, sycamore and beech, with a fine display of shrubs such as azaleas and rhododendrons in the grounds of Fonthill House.
3.6 Area 4
The area north of the B.3089 is comparatively bare, but in the north, copses of mixed woodland screen the parish from the A.303 trunk road, and a small part of Stockton wood, north of the road lies within the parish.
On the downland, Manor Farm has some of its main buildings screened by trees, and has a young plantation of softwood on one of the steeper slopes. Down Farm has a thin screen of mainly beech trees.
The Black Dog Inn and the dwellings along Cow Drove are within a belt of 50 mixed mature trees.
The gardens of the new properties in ‘Park Drive’ have been developed and young trees planted. The estate is screened on the north side by a belt of mixed deciduous trees and along the road verge by ornamental trees.
3.7 Thus the parish lies in an area of outstanding landscape value with scenery of great variety. Many of the deciduous hardwood trees are mature. Some are declining and dying from age or disease. Many have already disappeared through disease (notably Dutch Elm disease).
Trees of particular value are those which screen eyesores or traffic, or stand in open farmland creating a parkland setting for the entire parish. There has been very little new planting other than in gardens.
A programme of planting for the future together with care of existing trees is most desirable to maintain and conserve this rich landscape.
3.8 Community Amenities
The village itself is reasonably well equipped with the usual amenities. But although it has a central point at ‘The Cross’, there is no village green to act as a focus for local activities. There are seats in the Churchyard and school playing field (rarely used). There are numerous notice boards at strategic points (notably at the Reading Room, in the Church porch and along The Street), which are widely used by the Parish Council, the Church and various community bodies. There is also an adequate supply of litter baskets around the village. There is a Post Office collection box for the main part of the village at the Post Office and another outside the Black Dog for the B.3089 area. The hamlet of Ridge has both a P.O. collection box and a public telephone kiosk, and has recently been provided with a bus shelter. In the village also there is a new stone and tiled bus shelter and a public telephone kiosk outside the cottages at the Cross, which are conveniently placed in a central location, but, unfortunately, detract from the visual impact of this lovely old crossroads.
3.9 Buildings and Housing Stock
Living accommodation in the Parish is concentrated chiefly in the village of Chilmark itself along the valley of the winterbourne, from where it outgrows the ditch in the north-west to where it breaks through the Greensand ridge in the south between Lower Mooray and Portash. There is also a small concentration around the Black Dog and along the B.3089, as well as the small scattered hamlet of Ridge, near Fonthill House on the south-facing scarp of the Greensand ridge, and some outlying farm cottages associated with Manor Farm and Ridge Farm (B.3089).
3.10 The chief treasures of the village, apart from its setting are the church, the old stone cottages and houses and the lychgate.
The centre of the village was designated a Conservation Area in 1973. The Manor House dating from the 14th century is listed Grade I as are the group of cottages opposite. The other listed houses and cottages are Grade III.
Lych Gate with Coffin Stone
The traditional building material is the famous Chilmark stone, a limestone similar to Portland stone, with brick in limited use from the 19th century onwards. Many of the older houses have tiled roofs replacing the original thatch. The newer houses are mostly built of reconstituted stone with tiled roofs, although brick has been used in a few cases. The few corrugated iron roofs on the older houses probably cover thatch.
Granary and Stables, Chilmark House
There are some noteworthy farm buildings, including the stables of the Manor House, the stone buildings at Manor Farm, the barn at Picket Furlong with a patterned tile roof and the Ridge Farm buildings at Ridge.
3.11 The Older Village Houses
These are mostly two-storied cottages built of Chilmark stone. They were erected from the 16th to the 18th centuries, and generally have stone-mullioned leaded windows with small panes, and some show the evidence of repairs in later periods in brick quoins and chimneys. A few thatched roofs have been retained, but a number have been re-roofed with tiles or covered with corrugated iron. Most have modernized interiors and are used as family homes by people living and working in the district.
Some groups of older cottages have been combined to form single units. These have generally been tastefully modernized and re-arranged inside, while the outside appearance has remained unaltered. In a few cases, however, extensions have been permitted in unsuitable materials that are not in sympathy with the traditional character of the local buildings.
Some of these modified older houses are occupied by newcomers to the district, some by retired people and a few are not in permanent occupation.
Larger Old Houses
In addition to the above there is a small number of larger houses of distinction built in the local stone and dating from the late 16th century. Notably these are: The Manor House, The Old Rectory (in part), The Dial House, and Portash (in part), and in the 19th and 20th centuries, Chilmark House and Fonthill House. There are also large family houses at each of the farms in the parish, viz: Cleeves Farm, Manor Farm, Ridge Farm (Ridge), the Ridge Farm (B.3089), and Knapp Farm. A total of 11 houses.
Manor House Entrance
3.12 Modern Development
During the last half-century there has been a considerable amount of building in the village by both the District Council and by private enterprise. Three Council Estates have been built on the southern edge of the village and are in full occupation. Only one house has been sold into private ownership. It is hoped that the remainder will continue to be available for tenancy.
Hops Close
Private Enterprise has been largely responsible for the infilling of vacant sites, with the exception of developments north of the B.3089 road, where the Park Drive Estate was built around a special access road, and along Cow Drove where there is a danger of the building extending beyond the natural limits of the village and making an unwelcome obtrusion into the skyline.
Park Drive
Finally, there has been a post-war development in the building of bungalows scattered around the village. There is a wide variety of sizes and styles, and the control over building materials permitted in this period has been very inconsistent. These bungalows are occupied mainly by retired people and families. They are distributed as follows:
The total number of all housing properties is 164.
3.13 General Comment
As one might expect in a Conservation Area, the prices of all types of property for sale are high.
This, combined with the lack of local employment opportunities and the rising cost of transport, makes it difficult for young people to move into or remain in the village. The existing Council housing is in full occupation, and few vacancies have occurred in the past ten years. Therefore, unless there were to be a labour-demanding industry introduced into the village, and it is difficult to imagine what this could be, there would seem to be little point in further Council development, except on a small scale to meet existing demands.
(Note: Of 108 householders answering the Questionnaire 72 – i.e. 68% or more than 2 to 1 – , were against further development outside the Conservation Area, mainly on the grounds that it would harm the rural character of the village. Those who favoured limited development (12) did so chiefly to meet the needs of young couples.
4. The Social Structure Of The Present Village
4.1 The Population
The following statistical analysis has been derived from the 1971 Census, the Chilmark Village Appraisal Questionnaire (1978), and the South Wiltshire Structure Plan (1978) supplement S1 – Population.
The valid returns to the Questionnaire put out in 1978 represent 80% of those issued, a fair sample for appraisal. The figures have therefore been increased by a factor of 1.25 to simulate a 100% return.
The Census of 1971 gave a population of 366.
The adjusted population for 1978 was 445.
This shows an increase over seven years of 79 or 21.58%, giving an annual rate of increase of 3%.
4.2 Distribution by Age
These details re-arranged into twenty-year groups (see figure below) show a rather well-balanced society, each group sufficing to replace the next with no apparent distortion.
Fig. 2 Chilmark Population
The over-twenties (310) have increased by 44 from 266 in 1971 i.e. 16.4% or 2.36% annually; the under twenty-ones by 35 from 100 i.e. 35% or 5% p.a. Similarly, the 1977 electoral roll of 343 over 15 years old give an adjusted population of 444.
4.3 The number of households too showed a similar increase between 1971 and 1978 from 133 to 160, a rise of 2.5% approximately per year. This occurred
Housing: At present the Local Authority’s policy is to allow houses to be built only in what it calls ‘single infill plots’, although this policy has not always been adhered to. New houses, be they two-storied or bungalows, and however well designed, are often out of sympathy with their elderly neighbours. It seems probable, therefore, that in the future the Local Authority may encourage small groups of new houses at some distance from the old village houses in preference to infilling. The scope of this sort of development in Chilmark would seem to be limited, due to the lack of suitable sites outside the Conservation Area and to restrictions on building within the area.
The Local Authority is willing to consider suitably sited unused farm buildings for conversion into houses in preference to their becoming derelict, but there appear to be very few buildings that could even be considered, because of the closely grouped nature of the farms.
Engraving on Old Village Cross (Shaft)
The Countryside
The fact that the parish is within a proposed area of outstanding natural beauty is likely to preclude any development in the open countryside, other than the erection of essential agricultural buildings.
The promotion of amenity tree planting is the concern of the Countryside Commission, and the County Council may give grants to the Parish Council and to local landowners for this purpose.
The Local Authority may also impose ‘Tree Preservation Orders’ to prevent the felling of individual trees or groups of trees which are considered to have amenity value. Mature growing trees may not be felled without a felling licence from the Forestry Commission.
There have been recent examples of permission to fell or clear copses
7. Views And Recommendations Of The Parish Council
7.1 It is earnestly hoped that the parish will be confirmed as part of ‘An area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’.
7.2 To preserve the character of the landscape, the replanting of woodland and copses should be encouraged, especially where felling has been permitted. Wherever practicable hedgerows should be retained in the interests of nature conservation.
7.3 Existing bridle paths and footpaths should be restored and maintained.
7.4 The road network in the parish apart from the B.3089 is only suitable for light vehicles and the preservation of the listed properties should be further aided by restrictions being placed upon heavy vehicles passing through the village.
7.5 The existing ‘Conservation Area’ should be retained and the possibility of extending it should be considered.
7.6 There is little room for more infilling in the village, and exceptional care should be taken in considering the granting of planning permission so that the character of the total environment is not changed.
7.7 There is a greater need for modest houses suitable for young families to buy or rent, rather than larger expensive dwellings, but unfortunately there are few sites suitable or available for development. There is a possible site adjacent to Hops Close owned by the District Council.
7.8 In any future development care should be taken to avoid building on the skyline or ribbon development along the roads leading out of the village.
7.9 Claybush and Hops Close urgently need improved parking facilities.
7.10 It is highly desirable that the School, the Post Office and the Shop should continue to be part of the village scene.
7.11 The Public Utilities are adequate, but might be strained if there were to be any large development.
7.12 Recreational facilities in the area are adequate except those for the small number of teenagers.
7.13 It seems to be unlikely that any small rural industry could be established which would attract a significant amount of local labour, and employment is therefore likely to remain chiefly in agriculture, at R.A.F. Chilmark and in the surrounding countryside and towns within a twelve mile radius.
7.14 The conclusions of the South Wiltshire Structure Plan are correct for this area.
7.15 Chilmark is an attractive village with only limited possibilities for further development and great care will be needed to preserve its charm.
Additional Notes
The Plan of the Village inside the back cover indicates approximately the boundary of the Chilmark Conservation Area.
Persons who wish to determine whether a building is in the Conservation Area, or is listed as of Architectural or Historic interest are advised to contact the Salisbury District Council Planning Department, Belle Vue Road, Salisbury.
Information concerning the implications of the conservation area and listed building designation will be provided.
June 1981.
