Chitterne
| Chitterne | |
|---|---|
 Chitterne Brook and parish church |
|
 Chitterne
|
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| Chitterne shown within Wiltshire | |
| Population | 307 (in 2011) |
| OS grid reference | ST992440 |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Warminster |
| Postcode district | BA12 |
| Dialling code | 01985 |
| Police | Wiltshire |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | http://www.chitterne.com/ |
Chitterne is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, in the south west of England. The village lies in the middle of Salisbury Plain, about 7 miles (11 km) east of the town of Warminster.
The Chitterne Brook, a small tributary of the River Wylye, flows southwest through the village.
A large settlement of 60 households, held by Edward of Salisbury, was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Chitterne was one of many Wiltshire estates owned in the 12th century by Ela, 3rd Countess of Salisbury.
There were two ancient parishes, Chitterne St Mary to the west and Chitterne All Saints to the east. Their villages were adjacent and each had a small parish church. In the 19th century they became two civil parishes, then in 1907 they were combined to form Chitterne civil parish.
A village school was built near the village green in 1840 and was attended by children of all ages until 1937, when it became a junior school. The school closed in 1967, by which time the number of pupils had fallen below 20.
Chitterne has a village hall, which stands on the site of the former school. Opposite the hall is a large sports field, on which cricket and football are played, according to the season. The village also has a public house called the King's Head. There are several notable houses, including Chitterne House, the Manor, the Grange, and Manor Farm, all Grade II listed for their architectural merit.
Large parts of Chitterne parish are Ministry of Defence land within the Salisbury Plain Training Area; the Imber firing range is to the north and the Copehill Down training area to the east. The latter has an uninhabited "German Village" used by the British Army for training in street warfare (FIBUA - Fighting in Built-up Areas). This was built in the mid-1980s, before the Berlin Wall was demolished, and is based on a typical village of Saxony in Germany. A few miles to the north, across Salisbury Plain in the "Danger Area", and now part of Heytesbury parish, lies the remains of the ancient village of Imber.
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Wikipedia