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Chute, Wiltshire

Chute is a civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. It comprises the main village of Upper Chute and the smaller settlements of Lower Chute, Chute Standen and Chute Cadley.

Local government

Chute is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It falls within the areas of Kennet District Council and Wiltshire County Council. All three councils are responsible for different aspects of local government.

In the 2002 census, the parish had a population of 331.

Upper Chute

Chute parish's main village has two buildings of note - St Nicholas' Church and the Cross Keys Inn public house.

St Nicholas' Church: The church of St Nicholas, mentioned in Dean Chandler's register in 1405, was almost completely rebuilt in the period 1868-72 to designs by J L Pearson. The old church consisted of a chancel and a nave with south transept, south porch, and west timber bell turret. The walls were faced with knapped flint and supported by prominent red-brick buttresses, and the 15th century windows were replaced by new ones in 13th-century style. A vestry was built on the north side of the chancel, and the porch and the bell turret were replaced by a new south porch below a tower and a slated spire.

 Photos of St Nicholas' Church and its graveyard

The Cross Keys Inn: The Cross Keys Inn was built at the turn of the 19th Century, and remained open as a public house and hostelry until 2004, when its owners sought permission to turn it into residential property. A 'Save Our Pub' campaign was mounted by locals with the support of real ale association CAMRA, and in March 2006 the Cross Keys Inn re-opened under new ownership. The Cross Keys Inn CAMRA's campaign

Chute Causeway

The Chute Causeway skims the border between Hampshire and Wiltshire, and is a section of the old Roman Road that runs from Winchester northwest to Mildenhall (near Marlborough). This particular two mile stretch of road is far from straight as it runs around the outside rim of a crescent-shaped chalkland dry valley. The road resumes its straight course as it leaves the valley rim in either direction.

Legend

During the reign of Charles II, the plague that devastated London also fell on the parishes of Chute and Vernham Dean. As the plague struck Vernham Dean a rector persuaded his parishioners to isolate themselves at the top of the hill Chute Causeway runs along. When the time came for him to supply the food and care he had promised, the fear he had of the disease meant he didn't uphold his honour and left the villagers to die. He himself did not survive, even after the betrayal of his parishioners, as the plague also killed him. Since then his ghost has been seen to wander up the hill towards the campsite on the Causeway, still never completing the journey he never had the courage to finish.