Chilton is a village and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, about 3.5 miles south-west of Didcot. It was formerly in northern Berkshire, but was moved in 1974 into south Oxfordshire. It lies within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, just north of the Ridgeway and is crossed by the Icknield Way.
Local place names (in 1851) include Lattons Place, Morlands Up Farm, Lays Farm and Goddards Farm.
There are also Chiltons in Buckinghamshire and Suffolk.
Size
1,447 acres (586 hectares) in 1924
Population
266 in 1851; 894 in 2011
Hundred
Compton
Poor law union
Wantage
Registration district
Wantage
Present-day local authority
Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire County Council
Grid reference
SU 48 85
Adjoining parishes in 1851
Blewbury, East Hagbourne, East Hendred, East Ilsley, Harwell, West Ilsley and Upton
Genealogical resources
See Berks FHS Books for coverage of this parish in the society’s range of CDs.
See also Berkshire Record Office holdings.
Published local history
- F J Denzey Chilton’s chattels (1977), Chilton’s chronicle (1979), All Saints and sinners (1980)
- Up in the Downs a portrait of Chilton Chilton Parish Council (2000)
Anglican church and parochial organisation
The rectory of Chilton was in the diocese of Salisbury until 1836, when it was moved to the diocese of Oxford. In 1959 the benefice united with Harwell, and in 1970 both parishes transferred from the rural deanery of Wantage to that of Wallingford. The church of All Saints is early medieval in origin.
Other churches
A Primitive Methodist chapel existed in 1924, at some distance from the village on the Bargeway road.
Schools
The 1833 Parliamentary enquiry into education found that Chilton had an endowed day school, a Sunday school and a Dissenters’ school, the latter founded on the east side of the parish in 1822. A Charity School House and a schoolmistress were recorded in 1851.
The modern Chilton primary school has occupied its current site since 1953, moving into a new building in 2002.
Pubs
The Horse and Groom and the Rose and Crown were recorded in 1851. The Horse and Groom was rebuilt as the Horse and Jockey in 1938, but no longer exists. The Rose and Crown survives today.
