Broad Chalke
Broad Chalke | |
---|---|
Population | Expression error: "652[1]" must be numeric |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | SALISBURY |
Postcode district | SP5 |
Dialling code | 01722 |
Police | Wiltshire |
Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Broad Chalke is a village and civil parish in the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, England, about 8 miles west of the city of Salisbury. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 652. This civil parish includes the neighbourhoods Knapp and Mount Sorrel.
The picturesque village on the banks of the River Ebble has been home to luminaries such as Sir Anthony Eden (Prime Minister), Sir Cecil Beaton society photographer, and musicians Sir Dennis Chalk[2], Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox.
The Gurston Down hill-climb course is within the administrative area of Broad Chalke.
Broad Chalke is located within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Origins
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. [3]
The Doomsday Book in 1086 divided the Chalke Valley into eight manors, Chelke (Chalke), Eblesborne (Ebbesbourne Wake), Fifehide (Fifield), Cumbe (Coombe Bissett), Humitone (Homington), Odestoche (Odstock), Stradford (Stratford Tony) 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'. The name Burchelke (Bowerchalke) first appeared in 1225 and Brode Chalk was first mentioned in 1380. Although Chalke was a comparatively large, disconnected estate it was not separated into the two ecclesiastical parishes of Broad Chalk and Bowerchalke until 1880. [5]