| Chilton Foliat | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Chilton Foliat Location withinWiltshire | |
| Population | 363 (in 2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SU321704 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Hungerford |
| Postcode district | RG17 |
| Dialling code | 01488 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | www |
| 51°25′55″N1°32′24″W / 51.432°N 1.540°W /51.432; -1.540 | |
Chilton Foliat is a village andcivil parish on theRiver Kennet inWiltshire,England. The parish is in theNorth Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is on the county boundary withWest Berkshire and is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of theBerkshiremarket town ofHungerford.
The village is on the B4192 Hungerford-Swindon road, which was theA419 until 1977, when it was redesignated after the opening of theM4 motorway.[2] The parish includes the hamlets ofStraight Soley andCrooked Soley.
The ancient parish of Chilton Foliat straddled the Wiltshire/Berkshire border. In 1895 the Berkshire portion, including the village ofLeverton and theChilton Lodge estate, was transferred to Hungerford civil parish.[2]
Chilton Aircraft, a small manufacturer in the 1930s and 1940s, had its factory within theChilton Lodge estate.
From the estate of Lady Ward at Chilton Foliat, in 1942 U.S Army paratroopers trained with their British counterparts and deployed to combat in North Africa.[3]
TheChurch of England parish church ofSaint Mary dates from c. 1300.Restoration byBenjamin Ferrey in 1845 included the addition of a south aisle. The church was designated asGrade II* listed in 1966.[4]
The churchyard has an early 19th-century mausoleum to thePearse family, designed byWilliam Pilkington and described by Pevsner as "heaviest Grecian".[5][6]
The church was the location of the 2008 memorial service for Gerald Ward, godfather toPrince Harry; the service was attended by the Prince with thePrince of Wales and theDuchess of Cornwall.[7]
AWesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1796, enlarged in 1932 and closed in 1988. The building is now a privatehouse.[8]
Houses in the village include Vine Cottage, from the late 17th century.[9] The Old Rectory, close to the church, is from the mid 18th century.[10] Bridge House carries a date of 1766 but incorporates earlier work.[11]
The gateway leading toChilton Lodge, and part of its parkland, are within the parish. The house itself, built in 1800 and Grade II* listed, is now in West Berkshire.[12] It replaced an earlier house on the Wiltshire side of the county boundary, which was demolished. Chilton Park Farm, a house inneo-Georgian style, was built on that site in 1940;[2] nearby is an early 18th-century barn.[13] The Chilton estate is owned by Sarah Scrope, heiress toSir John and Lady Ward.[14]
Littlecote House, a Grade I listed country house completed in 1592, now a hotel and leisure centre, is 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream on the other site of the Kennet inRamsbury parish. Part of its estate is in Chilton Foliat parish.
Littlecote House was the seat ofSir Ernest Salter Wills, 3rd Baronet of Hazelwood, a member of theWills tobacco family dynasty.
Auberon Waugh lived at the Old Rectory from 1964 to 1971.[15]
Max Hastings, journalist, historian and author, lives here.[16]
The village has apublic house, theWheatsheaf (in an early 19th-century thatched house)[17] and a village hall (dating from 1895).[18]
AChurch of England primary school serves Chilton Foliat and nearby villages. ANational School opened in 1835, and in 1847 moved to the north side of the main street. In 1970 the school moved to a new building at Stag Hill.[19]
Much of theKennet floodplain within the parish has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), owing to the presence of the rareDesmoulin's whorl snail. An area ofwatermeadow southwest of the village,Chilton Foliat Meadows, is also an SSSI for its diverse flora and variety of birds.
The 1987BBC Television programmeThe Victorian Kitchen Garden, featuring head gardenerHarry Dodson (1919–2005), was filmed atChilton Lodge which lies between Chilton Foliat and the Berkshire hamlet ofLeverton.[20]
Chilton Foliat is referred to in the 2001HBO seriesBand of Brothers as the location where CaptainHerbert Sobel was sent to train non-combat military support personnel who needed paratrooper training.
