Broad Chalke

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Broad Chalke
Broad Chalke shown within Wiltshire
Population	652^[1]
District	Salisbury
Shire county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SALISBURY
Postcode district	SP5
Dialling code	01722
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Wiltshire
Ambulance	Great Western
European Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Salisbury
List of places: UK • England • Wiltshire

Coordinates: 51°01′39″N 1°56′35″W / 51.0275, -1.943

All Saints Church, Broad Chalke.

Broad Chalke is a village and civil parish in the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, England, about 8 miles west of the city of Salisbury. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 652. This civil parish includes the neighbourhoods Knapp and Mount Sorrel.

The picturesque village on the banks of the River Ebble has been home to luminaries such as Sir Anthony Eden (Prime Minister), Sir Cecil Beaton society photographer, and musicians Sir Dennis Chalk^[2], Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox.

The Gurston Down hill-climb course is within the administrative area of Broad Chalke.

The village shop and Post Office J E Fry & Son, is located in South Street & has traded as family butchers under the Fry family for several generations. Since the closure of the old village shop and Post Office around Christmas 1992 the butchers began to sell groceries & everyday items and also incorporated the village Post Office which opened on 15th June 1993.

Broad Chalke is located within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

[edit] Origins

It is not known when Broad Chalke was first inhabited or what it was called but fragmentary records from Saxon times indicate that the whole Chalke Valley area was thriving. ^[3]

The Doomsday Book in 1086 divided the Chalke Valley into eight manors, Chelke (Chalke), Eblesborne (Ebbesbourne Wake), Fifehide (Fifield), Cumbe (Coombe Bissett), Humitone (Homington), Odestoche (Odstock), Stradford (Stratford Tony) and Trow (circa Alvediston and Tollard Royal). ^[3]

In the 12th century the area was known primarily as the Stowford Hundred then subsequently as the Chalke Hundred. This included the parishes of Berwick St John, Ebbesbourne Wake, Fifield Bavant, Semley, Tollard Royal and 'Chalke'. The name Burchelke (Bowerchalke) first appeared in 1225 and Brode Chalk was first mentioned in 1380. Although Chalke was a comparatively large, disconnected estate it was not separated into the two ecclesiastical parishes of Broad Chalk and Bowerchalke until 1880. ^[3]