| Broad Chalke | |
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Broad Chalke
Broad Chalke shown within Wiltshire |
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| Population | 652 [1] |
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| OS grid reference | SU 039 255 |
| Parish | Broad Chalke |
| Unitary authority | Wiltshire |
| Ceremonial county | Wiltshire |
| Region | South West |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Salisbury |
| Postcode district | SP5 |
| Dialling code | 01722 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | Great Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | Salisbury |
| Website | Broad Chalke : Information |
| List of places: UK • England • Wiltshire | |
Broad Chalke, sometimes spelled Broadchalke (including by Wiltshire Council), Broad Chalk or Broadchalk, is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 8 miles west of the city of Salisbury. The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 652 but this has now risen to around 850. This civil parish includes the neighbourhoods Knapp, Mount Sorrel, Knighton and Stoke Farthing.
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Broad Chalke is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is half way along the 13 miles (21 km) Chalke Valley. The parish has two chalk streams, as the River Chalke flows into the River Ebble at Mount Sorrell in the parish, and the main settlement stands on the banks of the Ebble.
At the heart of the village is the Church of England's All Saints' Church, dating from the 13th century. Following a major restoration project leading up to the millennium year, 2000, it boasts a peal of eight bells.
The village has been home to several notable people, including Sir Anthony Eden (Prime Minister). Sir Cecil Beaton the photographer lived at Reddish House, as did Dr. Lucius Wood, father of the painter Christopher Wood. Later Reddish House was owned by musicians Toyah Wilcox and Robert Fripp.[2] The village is also home to the author James Holland, his brother Tom Holland, noted musician, bell ringer, undertaker, conductor and cake baker Sir Dennis Chalk[3] and Sir Terry Pratchett.
John Aubrey (1626–1697) and Maurice Henry Hewlett (1861–1923), both authors, lived in Broad Chalke. Reverend Professor Rowland Williams (1817–1870), a theologian whose essays and sermons caused him to be charged with heterodoxy, was later vicar of Broad Chalke and is buried there, as is Cecil Beaton.
The Gurston Down hill-climb course is within the parish of Broad Chalke and attracts many hundreds of visitors every year.
The local pub is the Queen's Head which enjoys a prime position in North Street adjacent to the Chapel.
J E Fry & Son, the village shop and Post Office is in South Street and has traded as family butchers under the Fry family for almost 100 years. Since the closure of the old village shop and Post Office around Christmas 1992 the butchers began to sell groceries and everyday items and also incorporated the village Post Office which opened within the butchers on 15 June 1993. The shop was featured on BBC South Today as one of the most unusual locations for a Post Office in the region, and the current butcher Robert Fry was the subject of ITV's Country Ways programme some years ago.
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.[4]
An Anglo-Saxon charter of 826 records the name of the area including Bowerchalke and Broadchalke as Cealcan gemere.[2]
In 955 the Anglo-Saxon King Eadwig granted the nuns of Wilton Abbey an estate called Chalke which included land in Broad Chalke and Bowerchalke. The charter records the village name as aet Ceolcan.[2][5]
A charter in 974 records the name as Cheolca or Cheolcam.[2]
The Domesday Book in 1086 divided the Chalke Valley into eight manors, Chelke or Chelce or Celce (Bowerchalke and Broad Chalke), Eblesborne (Ebbesbourne Wake), Fifehide (Fifield), Cumbe (Coombe Bissett), Humitone (Homington), Odestoche (Odstock), Stradford (Stratford Tony and Bishopstone) and Trow (circa Alvediston and Tollard Royal).[4]
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'.[4]
A charter of 1165 records the village name as Chalca, and the Pipe Rolls in 1174 record it as Chalche.[2]
All Saints' Church was built during the 13th century.
The Curia Regis Rolls of 1207 records the village name as ChelkFeet of Fines, and another of 1242 records it as Chalke.[2] The name Burchelke (Bowerchalke) first appeared in 1225.[4]
A Saxon charter of 1304 records the village name as Cheolc and Cheolcan. The Feudal Aids of 1316 uses Chawke, whilst a Saxon Cartulary of 1321 uses Cealce. the Tax lists of 1327, 1332 and 1377 variously record the name as Chalk Magna and Chalke Magna.[2]
Brode Chalk was first mentioned in 1380.[4]
The village is recorded in deeds of 1425 as Brodechalke.[2]
Circa 1536 Henry VIII granted Chalke to Sir William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1560 Queen Elizabeth I granted Reddish House and farm to William Reddiche who already owned several properties in the village as a 'Free tenant' of the Earl of Pembroke in Wilton.[2][5]
The wills of William King (1545) and John Penny (1555) record the village name as Brood Chalke, whilst the Earl of Pembroke surveys of 1567 and 1590 list it as Brodechalke and Broadchalke.[2]
In 1605 the will of Michael Angod spelled the village name as Broadchalk. By 1631 the Earl of Pembroke's survey used the modern form of Broad Chalke, as did the will of John Farrent in 1699. However the 1671 Dissenters Meeting House Certificates used Broadcholk (They were Dissenters after all).[2]
By 1608 the Pembroke estate had also acquired the manors of Knighton and Stoke Farthing.[2]
The spelling of Broad Chalke continued to vary, in 1778 the will of Elizabeth Fifield spelled it as Broadchalk, whilst the 1784 will of Richard Follit used Broad Chalk.[2]
Chalke was a comparatively large, disconnected estate that was divided into the two ecclesiastical parishes of Broad Chalk and Bowerchalke in 1880.[4]
The spelling of Broad Chalke continued to vary, in 1804 the will of Josiah Gould spelled it as Broad Chalke, whilst the 1830 will of Colt Hoare used Broad Chalk.[2]
In 1919 the Pembroke family started to sell the individual farms.[6]
The spelling of Broad Chalke continued to vary, the Ordnance Survey maps and village road signs spelled it as Broad Chalke, whilst the Electoral Register used Broadchalke.[2]
The parish has an elected parish council and is in the area of the Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.