| Chilworth | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
 Diamond pattern on village houses | |
  Chilworth Location withinSurrey | |
| Population | 1,928 |
| OS grid reference | TQ021471 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Guildford |
| Postcode district | GU4 |
| Dialling code | 01483 |
| Police | Surrey |
| Fire | Surrey |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°12′51″N0°32′18″W / 51.2141°N 0.5383°W /51.2141; -0.5383 | |
Chilworth is a village in theGuildford borough ofSurrey, England. It is located in theTillingbourne valley, southeast ofGuildford.
The village is in theSurrey HillsAONB and most of its land is outside the settlement boundary within theMetropolitan Green Belt.[1] The village occupies both sides of the Tillingbourne between those areas of theGreensand Ridge to the south, such as Tangley Hill, and the steep knoll calledSt Martha's Hill, with St Martha's Church on the summit, to the north. TheNorth Downs are immediately north, east and west of that knoll. Footpaths, including theNorth Downs Way, lead through fields and long-established hillside woodlands along the ranges of hills.[2] Chilworth is split between two civil parishes, Shalford to the west and the largely uninhabited St Martha's to the east, and is in the south-east of the borough of Guildford in the mid-west of Surrey.
Unlike most Surrey districts, the borough has no Air Quality Management Areas.[3] Flooding from the Tillingbourne (alluvial flooding) is a rare occurrence with small parts of the north and west having been identified by the Borough Council as being at risk.[4]
Chilworth, as a landholding, appears inDomesday Book asCeleorde. It was held byOdo of Bayeux theBishop of Bayeux. Its Domesday assets were: 1mill worth 7s, 3ploughs. It rendered £3 10s 0d.[5]
The settlement has a rich industrial past. At various times in history it has been the location of a wire mill, paper mill andgunpowder factory.[6] The wireworks were built in 1603[7] by Thomas Steere and others, who seduced workmen from theTintern wireworks of theCompany of Mineral and Battery Works. This infringed the latter company's patent and enabled it to have the wireworks suppressed in 1606.[8]
Before the railway was built, Chilworth was a hamlet of a few cottages around the bridge over the Tillingbourne on the direct lane to Guildford via Tyting, where the main entrance to the gunpowder works was located.[9] The second nucleus of settlement was the railway station, with its pub. A third nucleus was around a post office on the A248 in Shalford CP, which was known as "Shalford Hamlet" until around the Second World War.[10]Since 2011Benedictine monks have inhabited a hilltop monastery in the southern extreme of the parish of St Martha's, straddling northern Wonersh.Saint Augustine's Abbey, designed byFrederick Walters, was founded as aFranciscan friary in 1892.[11]
The Chilworth gunpowder mills were established in 1625 by theEast India Company. They are located north of the village by the river Tillingbourne.
They were worked by a number of private companies, and became an important supplier of gunpowder to the Government. The Mills closed in 1920 after the 1914-18 war.
Today, a number of ruined buildings belonging to the gunpowder factory can still be found. The buildings and area are now partially looked after by Guildford Borough Council andEnglish Heritage. The gunpowder works are listed as ascheduled monument.[12]
Chilworth Manor is a large house between the 'village' (clustered centre) and St Martha's Hill to the north. It was part of the patrimony granted toNewark Priory when this monastery was founded in the late 12th century,[13] and was administered as a monastic manor until the abbey wasdissolved byHenry VIII. By 1580 the property was owned by one William Morgan. William's son, John, was knighted at Cadiz in 1596. In 1725 the widowedSarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, became the owner. She added the Marlborough Wing and developed a tiered garden excavated in the sloping hillside and still known as the "Duchess's Garden". Chilworth Manor is a grade IIlisted building[14] and has recently been extensively restored and refurbished by new owners, following the death of its previous occupant, Lady Heald.
Chilworth has three churches, St Thomas',St Martha's, bothCoE,[15] and Chilworth Free Church as well as the Roman CatholicSt Augustine's Abbey, south of the village. St Martha's is on the hill top north of the Village.
There are two schools, Chilworth Infant School and Tillingbourne Junior School; a gastro-pub, thePercy Arms and a village shop. The village has a recreation ground with a sports pavilion, used forfootball.[2]
Chilworth railway station is on theNorth Downs Line, and is served every two hours by trains toRedhill andReading. Trains are operated by theGreat Western Railway.
The main road through the village is the A248 fromShere toPeasmarsh. Bus route number 32 connects Chilworth toGuildford, andRedhill viaDorking and is a basic hourly service, with a reduced service on Sundays. It is now operated by Compass Travel, after the route was given up byArriva in 2014. Infrequent buses also run to Godalming (503) and Cranleigh (525).
The nearest airport isFarnborough, approximately 10 miles (16 km) to the north-west.
Chilworth is covered byADSL,VDSL, Full fibre andMobile Broadband basedhigh speed internet services. AVodafone phone mast is at the playing fields, just south of the Tangley level crossing. In 2011BT extended theirFibre to the Cabinet service to cover Chilworth. This allowed for 12 Mbit/s+ services and service at the eastern end of the village and up to 70 Mbit/s to the west.
Broadband for Surrey Hills (B4SH) installed full fibre (FTTP) to the sparsely populated north edge of the village in mid-2021 and Roseacre Gardens to the east in December 2022. BT Openreach based full fibre broadband services became available to almost all of the village in March 2023. Gigaclear have also announced plans to cover the village.[16]
Nearest Settlements | |
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