Chilmark, Wiltshire

Roman artefacts have been found in the nearby quarries, and Purbeck limestone, possibly from Chilmark, was used in the construction of Roman mansions at the villages of West Grimstead and Rockbourne Villa.Sawyer, R., Nadder, 2006, p.84, The Hobnob Press, {{ISBN|978-0-946418-53-4}}

There was probably a church at Chilmark in the 12th century. Chilmark Manor, a house near the church, is a 17th-century building with 18th-century alterations.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1146281|desc=Chilmark Manor with gatepiers|access-date=31 March 2016|fewer-links=yes}}

File:St Margaret of Antioch, Chilmark - geograph.org.uk - 330849.jpg

Dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch, Chilmark's Anglican parish church dates from the 13th century, with additions in the 14th and 18th centuries. It was most recently restored in 1856 by T.H. Wyatt. The steepled tower, rebuilt in about 1770, retains 13th-century lancet windows. The font has an original 13th-century bowl on a 19th-century base. The church contains several stained-glass windows from the 19th century, and in 1966 was designated as Grade II* listed.{{National Heritage List for England|num=1318662|desc=Church of St. Margaret of Antioch|access-date=30 March 2016|fewer-links=yes}} The churchyard has Grade II listed chest tombs from the 17th and 18th centuries.{{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Church of St. Margaret, Chilmark|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Church/Details/1280|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=30 March 2016}}

A small Baptist chapel was built at Ridge sometime between 1851 and 1864, later becoming known as the Union chapel. By 2003 the building was in private hands.

About a mile south of the village, the stream passes (together with a minor road) through a ravine, as it descends into the Nadder valley. Stone was quarried here from medieval times, and in the 20th century the ravine was the site of defence establishments. The western half of this area is in Teffont civil parish.

{{main|Chilmark Quarries}}

Chilmark stone, a form of limestone, was quarried here and used for buildings including Salisbury Cathedral. Stone extraction continued on a small scale until the quarry closed c. 2007. Similar stone is still mined at Chicksgrove Quarry, {{convert|1.3|mi|km}} to the southwest.{{cite web|title=Chicksgrove Stone|url=http://www.chicksgrovequarry.co.uk/|website=Chicksgrove & Chilmark|publisher=Lovell Stone Group|access-date=29 March 2016}} The former quarries have been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (biological and geological), and as a European Special Area of Conservation for their bat population.

File:Target Dossier for Chilmark, Wiltshire, England - DPLA - a625f2e3cb4dc6cadc7fb662acdf56ff (page 1).jpg, 1940]]

In 1936 the quarries, and land extending further down the ravine, were bought by the Air Ministry and the site became RAF Chilmark, which was the home of No. 11 Maintenance Unit RAF.{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History – Wiltshire – Vol 13 pp114-125 – Parishes: Chilmark|editor-first=D.A.|editor-last=Crowley|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol13/pp114-125|publisher=University of London|access-date=29 March 2016}} Munitions were stored in the quarry caverns, and for a time the unit had extensive above-ground storage areas in woodland near Dinton and in Grovely Wood.

A spur left the London-Exeter railway west of {{stnlink|Dinton}} station at Ham Cross, just east of the bridge over the Chicksgrove-Fovant road, and entered the foot of the ravine; this spur was omitted from Ordnance Survey maps.{{cite web|title=Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain, sheet ST92|website=National Library of Scotland|url=http://maps.nls.uk/view/95749775|date=1958|access-date=29 March 2016}}{{cite web|title=Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain, sheet ST93|website=National Library of Scotland|url=http://maps.nls.uk/view/95749778|date=1958|access-date=29 March 2016}} Goods were transhipped under cover of a large shed, to/from a 2 ft gauge narrow-gauge railway which ran into the ravine and some of the former quarry caverns.{{cite web|title=Chilmark (includes photograph of transshipment shed)|publisher=Subterranea Britannica|url=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/c/chilmark/|access-date=29 March 2016}} Until c.1951, sidings at Wylye station on the Salisbury–Westbury line provided transport for the Grovely Wood area.{{cite book|last=Oakley|first=Mike|title=Wiltshire Railway Stations|publisher=The Dovecote Press|year=2004|isbn=1-904349-33-1|location=Wimbourne|pages=154–155}}

During the Second World War, Chilmark was the largest ammunition depot in southern England.

By 1965, Chilmark was the RAF's only ammunition supply depot.{{cite PastScape |mnumber=1538887 |mname=RAF Chilmark |access-date=30 March 2016}} RAF Chilmark closed on 27 January 1995,{{sfn|March|1996|p=78}} although clearance of explosives from the site continued until at least 1997.{{cite web|title=Journal of the Royal Air Force Historical Society vol 35|url=http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/Research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-35-Seminar-Supply.pdf|website=RAF Museum|access-date=30 March 2016|pages=62–63|date=2005}} A 1939 diesel locomotive used at the site was bought in 1976 by the Bala Lake Railway, North Wales;{{cite web|title=Locomotives|publisher=Bala Lake Railway|url=http://www.bala-lake-railway.co.uk/stock/default.html|access-date=29 March 2016}} several wagons are at the Old Kiln Light Railway, Surrey.{{cite web|title=Rolling stock|publisher=Old Kiln Light Railway|url=http://www.oldkilnlightrailway.com/rolling-stock.php|access-date=29 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401130500/http://www.oldkilnlightrailway.com/rolling-stock.php|archive-date=1 April 2016|url-status=dead}}

File:Former RAF Headquarters near Chilmark - geograph.org.uk - 906119.jpg

A Planning Brief prepared by Salisbury District Council in 1999 concluded that options for re-use of the site, except for the former headquarters buildings, were limited owing to the presence of bat colonies and the possibility of contamination remaining from the storage of munitions.{{cite web|title=Planning Brief: RAF Chilmark|url=http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/raf-chilmark-development-brief.pdf|publisher=Salisbury District Council|access-date=29 March 2016|date=December 1999}}

Until 2015, the former RAF headquarters and some {{convert|55|acre|km2}} of land in and near the ravine were used by a private company as a training area for counter-terrorism security and explosives handling.{{cite web|title=ISSEE is moving!|publisher=ISSEE|date=18 February 2015|url=http://www.issee.co.uk/news/issee-moving|access-date=29 March 2016}}

An underground bunker was built in the ravine in 1985, ready to act as the Regional Government Headquarters (RGHQ) for the southwest region in the event of a nuclear attack. It ceased to be operational in 1992, following the end of the Cold War, and was sold in 1997.{{cite web|title=Struggle for Survival: The Regional Government Headquarters|publisher=Subterranea Britannica|first=Steven|last=Fox|date=2004|url=http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/features/sfs/file_11.htm|access-date=29 March 2016}}{{cite book |last1=McCamley |first1=Nick |year=2013 |title=Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers: The Passive Defence of the Western World During the Cold War |publisher=Pen and Sword Books |isbn=9781473813243 |pages=184–187}}

During the night of 22 February 2017, officers from Wiltshire Police raided the bunker following information received that it had been converted for use as a cannabis farm. There are approximately 20 rooms in the building, split over two floors, each 200 feet long and 70 feet wide. Almost every room had been converted for the wholesale production of cannabis plants, and there was a large amount of evidence of previous crops. The farm was estimated to be able to produce £2m worth of cannabis per year using £250,000 worth of stolen electricity, with a crop of 4,000 plants every six weeks. The lighting equipment alone was estimated to have cost about £140,000. Three men admitted conspiracy to produce class B drugs and abstracting electricity. Charges of conspiracy to hold persons in slavery or servitude were initially made, but dropped due to lack of evidence.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/11/three-men-jailed-cannabis-factory-nuclear-bunker|title=Three men jailed for running cannabis factory in ex-nuclear bunker|last=Gentleman|first=Amelia|date=11 August 2017|work=The Guardian|access-date=15 August 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} It took ten days to search and clear the site, which was said to be the biggest cannabis factory found in the southwest region.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/09/three-men-admit-converting-nuclear-bunker-into-huge-cannabis-factory |title=Three men admit converting nuclear bunker into huge cannabis factory |newspaper=The Guardian |date=10 June 2017 |author=Press Association |access-date= 10 June 2017}} Custodial sentences were imposed on the three men in August 2017.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wiltshire.police.uk/news/3994-three-men-jailed-following-discovery-of-large-scale-cannabis-factory-in-nuclear-bunker|title=Three men jailed following discovery of large scale cannabis factory in nuclear bunker|date=11 August 2017|website=Wiltshire Police|language=en-gb|access-date=15 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816144341/http://www.wiltshire.police.uk/news/3994-three-men-jailed-following-discovery-of-large-scale-cannabis-factory-in-nuclear-bunker|archive-date=16 August 2017|url-status=dead}}

Two settlements in the United States bear the same name. Chilmark, Massachusetts, on the island of Martha's Vineyard, was named in 1694 in connection with Governor Thomas Mayhew, who emigrated from nearby Tisbury and founded a colony on the island. In 1930, V. Everit Macy, an industrialist, established a suburb of Briarcliff Manor, New York and named it Chilmark after the home village of his ancestor Thomas Macy, who emigrated in 1635.{{cite book|last=Cheever|first=Mary|title=The Changing Landscape: A History of Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough|date=1990|publisher=Phoenix Publishing|location=West Kennebunk, Maine|isbn=978-0-914659-49-5|oclc=22274920|lccn=90045613|ol=1884671M|pages=55–56}}

The village has a primary school, Chilmark and Fonthill Bishop CofE (VA) Primary School. The building began as a National School, built in Chilmark stone in 1860. In 1971 Chilmark school merged with Fonthill Bishop school; the building at Fontwell Bishop was closed and the accommodation at Chilmark extended.{{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Chilmark & Fonthill Bishop C. of E. Aided Primary|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/1317|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=30 March 2016}}

The Reading Room of 1910 is now the village hall.{{cite web|title=Chilmark Reading Room|url=http://www.chilmarkreadingroom.co.uk|access-date=30 March 2016}} The village has a pub, the Black Dog Inn.

John Wilcox (1931–2018), author of the Simon Fonthill series of 12 novels and four other [https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Wilcox/e/B00NAZVS3K/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1534754574&sr=8-1 books] lived in Chilmark.{{Cite news|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/real-band-brothers---seven-3434250|title=The real Band of Brothers - seven sons from one family who all fought in World War One|last=Glaze|first=Ben|date=19 April 2014|work=Daily Mirror|access-date=20 August 2018}} Thomas Macy, an early settler of Amesbury, Massachusetts and Nantucket Island, was born in the town.

• Chilmark, Massachusetts, a city with the same name

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last1=March|first1=Peter R.|title=Royal Air Force Yearbook 1996|year=1996|publisher= Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund|location=Fairford, UK}}

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• [http://www.southwilts.com/site/chilmarkparishcouncil/ Chilmark Parish Council]
• {{cite web|website=Wiltshire Community History|title=Chilmark|url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Community/Index/52|publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=30 March 2016}}

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Category:Villages in Wiltshire

Category:Civil parishes in Wiltshire