Chilworth, Surrey
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- This article is about Chilworth in Surrey. For Chilworth in Hampshire, see Chilworth, Hampshire
| Chilworth | |
  Chilworth shown within Surrey |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| District | Guildford |
| Shire county | Surrey |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Guildford |
| Postcode district | GU4 |
| Dialling code | 01483 |
| Police | Surrey |
| Fire | Surrey |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| List of places: UK • England • Surrey | |
Chilworth is a village in Surrey, England, three miles (5 km) southeast of the town of Guildford. Chilworth has about 2000 residents, two churches (St Thomas and Chilworth Free Church), two schools (Chilworth Infant School and Tillingbourne Junior School), a pub (The Percy Arms) and a train station. The village nestles below the North Downs, overlooked by St. Martha's Hill and St. Martha's Church. It is split between two civil parishes, Shalford CP to the west and St Martha's CP to the east, and is wholly within Guildford borough.[1]
Chilworth appears in Domesday Book as Celeorde. It was held by the Bishop of Bayeux. Its domesday assets were: 1 mill worth 7s, 3 ploughs. It rendered £3 10s 0d.[2]
The settlement has an interesting industrial past. At various times in history it has been the location of a wire mill, paper mill and gunpowder factory. The wireworks was built in 1603 by Thomas Steere and others, who seduced workmen from the Tintern wireworks of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works. This infringed the company's patent and enabled it to have the wireworks suppressed in 1606.[3] A significant number of buildings from the gunpowder factory can still be found in the woods adjacent to the canal Tillingbourne.
Chilworth Gunpowder works was established in 1625 by the East India Company and finally closed in 1920. It was worked by a number of private companies and became an important supplier of gunpowder to the Government. The buildings and area are now looked after by Guildford Borough Council and English Nature.
Chilworth has a railway station on the North Downs Line served every two hours by trains to Redhill and Reading. Numerous bus services link Chilworth to Guildford and Dorking, of which most are operated by Arriva Guildford and West Surrey.
[edit] Chilworth Manor
Chilworth Manor[4], midway between Chilworth village and St Martha's Hill to the North, was recorded in the Domesday book as a monastery. The monastery was destroyed by Henry VIII and by 1580 was owned by William Morgan. William's son, John was knighted at Cadiz in 1596.
Sir Ernest Randyll, whose family held Chilworth for over a century, married John's daughter. During the ime that Chilworth Manor was owned by the Randylls, the South front was built. This is the earliest recognisable part of the Manor - the architect is unknown. Morgan Randyll was MP for Guildford from 1680 to 1712. As a result of the costs involved in the Elections, the property was sold to Richard Houlditch, a director of the South Sea Company. After losses involved with the 1720 South Sea Bubble, the manor was again sold.
In 1725 Sarah, the widow of the Duke of Marlborough became owner. She added he Marlborough Wing, developed a tiered garden ecavated in the sloping hillside and still known as the "Duchess's Garden". It then passed through inheritances to the Duke of Northumberland who held it until the 1930s.
Sir Lionel and Lady Heald lived at the manor for over 60 years. He was attorney General in Churchill's government. She worked for many charitable causes including he National Garden Scheme of which she was chairwoman.
Since Lady Heald's death in 2004 extensive resoration work has been carried out and the garden, fittingly, opened as part of the National Garden Scheme.
[edit] References
- ^ Ordinance Survey Explorer map 145 edition B1 revised 2004.
- ^ Surrey Domesday Book
- ^ M. B. Donald, Elizabethan Monopolies: the history of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works from 1565 to 1604 (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh 1961), 136-7.
- ^ Leaflet published by manor as part of National Garden Scheme open day May 2008.
[edit] External links
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