From The Wiltshire Times, Saturday 14th March 1936:
Imber. War Office To Build Cottages.
Speaking at Warminster Conservative Club on Friday, Mr. R.V. Grimston, M.P., said he had asked a question in the House about new cottages at Imber, and received the reply that the War Office hoped to start that work very soon. The Army estimates included £4,500 for the housing schemes at Chitterne and Imber. There was also £10,000 for a start on the new tank corps barracks at Warminster (applause).
Victor Strode Manley, in Volume 10 of his Regional Survey Of The Warminster District, compiled in the 1920s and 1930s, noted that in 1932 a coin was thrown up by a fallen tree in Gasson’s Field, on the Tilshead Road, Chitterne.
Describing the coin, Manley wrote; “The lettering is corroded almost beyond recognition, but Mr. H.J. Wheeler was of the opinion it as a Constantine. If so it would probably be that of Emperor Flavius Claudius Constantine, the second Constantine of thirteen, 312-340, as he ruled over Britain and Gaul. The coins were minted at Constantinople. The first Constantine ruled the whole Empire, and except for the second, the others were mostly concerned with the Eastern Empire only.”
The junction of the Warminster, Shrewton and Tilshead roads in Chitterne, as depicted on a postcard posted in January 1932. The White Hart Inn on the left of the picture.
From The Wiltshire Times, Saturday 14th February 1914:
Chitterne. Farm Workers On Strike.
Much excitement was aroused in Chitterne this week by a revolt of the farm employees against their low wages and the time of starting work in the morning. The chief farms affected were All Saints Manor Farm, Chitterne Farm and St. Mary’s Manor Farm.
It has been the custom to start work at 7 a.m. for six weeks in the winter and then to advance the time in stages of 20 minutes until the summer time of starting – 6 a.m. – is reached. All 30 day labourers protested at this on Tuesday and also demanded a wage increase from 12s. to 13s. a week. Next day the carters joined them and there are now nearly 80 men out.
The Warminster Herald, Saturday 17th February 1883, reported:
Owing to the incessant storms of rain Chitterne has been partially under water. In one or two houses the inmates have been confined to the upper stories, and on Wednesday the relieving officer, Mr Foulstone, had to wade from house to house in water more than knee deep. So great has the deluge of water been that the National Schools are closed in consequence, it being impossible for the children to obtain access to them.
The Warminster Miscellany, 1 May 1862, reported:
On the same day [23 April 1862] a Bazaar in aid of the funds for rebuilding Chitterne Church was held at the Town Hall [Warminster].
Notwithstanding the roughness of the weather, there was a numerous attendance from all the leading families in the neighbourhood.
The room had been very tastefully decorated.
Mrs. and the Misses Temple, the Misses Ravenhill. Mrs. W. Davis, Mrs. Seagram, Mrs. Lavington, and Mrs. Richards presided at the different stalls, and were eminently successful in their efforts to attract purchasers; having on that day and during a few hours on Saturday, when the Bazaar was opened for a limited time only, realized upwards of £130.
The Chitterne Band was in attendance, and played with much taste.
Ralph Whitlock in one of his many books (over 100), Wiltshire Folklore And Legends, published in 1992 by Robert Hale, in a chapter titled ‘Ghosts Miscellaneous,’ noted:
“Smock weddings . . . are worth a mention. It used to be generally believed that if a man married a widow other than by a smock wedding he took over the debts of her former husband. To avoid this, she came to him naked, thus demonstrating that she brought nothing with her from her previous life. Decency had to be preserved, however, so she came to church dressed in a sheet or a smock, purchased by the bridegroom. The most recent Wiltshire example which I have been able to find occurred at Chitterne All Saints on 17 October 1714. The parish register states that on that day: ‘John Bridmore and Anne Selwood were married, the aforesaid Anne Selwood was married in her smock, without any clothes or headgier on.’ “
John Aubrey, in his Natural History Of Wiltshire, written between 1656 and 1691, noted:
“Amesbury is famous for the best tobacco pipes in England; made by … Gauntlet, who markes the heele of them with a gauntlet, whence they are called gauntlet pipes. The clay of which they are made is brought from Chiltern [Chitterne] in this county.”
