Bowerchalke

The earliest known sign of habitation is the bowl barrow on 'Marleycombe Down', which was probably built in either the Neolithic or the Bronze Age (3300–1200 BCE). The Bowerchalke Barrel Urn was excavated here in 1925 by Dr R Clay, and the repaired urn is part of the collection at the Wiltshire Museum, Devizes.[5]

Two hoards of gold and silver coins and rings from the 4th century were discovered by metal detectorists near Bowerchalke in the 20th and 21st centuries. They were used by the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe that lived in South Wiltshire and Dorset before the Roman occupation, became Romanised by c. 79 and gave their name to Dorset. The first discovery was a hoard of 17 gold staters (coins), examples of which are now displayed in the Salisbury Museum.[6] The second hoard of 2 gold rings and 5 silver coins dated to 380 was found in 2002 near the first.[7]

An Anglo-Saxon charter of 826 records the name of the area including Bowerchalke and Broad Chalke as Cealcan gemere.[8]

In 955 the Anglo-Saxon King Eadwig granted the nuns of Wilton Abbey an estate called Chalke which included land in Broad Chalke and Bowerchalke. The charter records the village name as aet Ceolcan.[8][9][10]

A charter in 974 records the name as Cheolca or Cheolcam.[8]

The Domesday Book in 1086 divided the Chalke Valley into eight manors, Chelke or Chelce or Celce (Bowerchalke and Broad Chalke), Eblesborne (Ebbesbourne Wake), Fifehide (Fifield), Cumbe (Coombe Bissett), Humitone (Homington), Odestoche (Odstock), Stradford (Stratford Tony and Bishopstone) and Trow (about 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'.[4] A charter of 1165 records the village name as Chalca, and the Pipe Rolls in 1174 record it as Chalche.[8]

The Curia Regis Rolls of 1207 records the village name as ChelkFeet of Fines, and another of 1242 records it as Chalke.[8] The name Bower Chalke was apparently given to that part of the Chalke estate where lands were in 'bower hold' tenure.[9] The name Burchelke first appeared in 1225.[4]

The church of the Holy Trinity dates from the 13th century.

A Saxon charter of 1304 records the village name as Cheolc and Cheolcan. The Feudal Aids of 1316 uses Chawke, whilst a Saxon Cartulary of 1321 uses Cealce. The Tax lists of 1327, 1332 and 1377 variously record the name as Chalk Magna and Chalke Magna.[8] Brode Chalk was first mentioned in 1380.[4]

Bower Chalke had become a separate parish by the early 14th century.[9]

c. 1536 Henry VIII granted Chalke to William Herbert (later Sir William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke) during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.[10] Henry VIII 'much valued' William Herbert, a successful and ambitious soldier, who also became his brother-in-law through his marriage to Anne Parr, sister of Henry's last wife Catherine Parr. King Henry heaped favours and honours (Knighthood) upon Herbert and granted the estates of Wilton, Remesbury (north Wiltshire), and Cardiff Castle.

Chalke was a comparatively large, disconnected estate that was separated into the two ecclesiastical parishes of Broad Chalk and Bowerchalke in 1880. In 1885, 283 acres of land were transferred to Bower Chalke from Fifield Bavant, increasing its area to 3,260 acres (1,319 ha).[4][9]

William Thick was born in 1845 at 'Misselfore Green' but left the village in 1868 to join the Metropolitan Police at Whitechapel in London (warrant No 49989). In 1889, while investigating the Whitechapel murders, Sergeant Thick was named in letters as a prospective perpetrator, to wit I have very good grounds to believe that the person who has committed the Whitechapel Murders is a member of the police force. ... Sergeant William Thick. (Sergeant Thick is no longer a suspect.)[11]

From 1878 until 1924 a unique village newspaper was written, printed, published and sold for a farthing by the Reverend Edward Collett, documenting the social history of the village. Two original sets of the papers still exist. One set is retained by Bodleian Library at Oxford and the second is on loan to the Wiltshire and Swindon Archive by its custodian Paul Lee, where it can be viewed in their offices at Chippenham. The papers were researched and published by Rex Sawyer as The Bowerchalke Parish Papers in 1989 after he had discovered the original printing press in his garden. In 2004 they were republished by The Hobnob Press as Collett's Farthing Newspaper: the Bowerchalke Village Newspaper, 1878-1924. (ISBN 0-946418-22-5). Collett was also a keen amateur photographer and the majority of the photographs featured in the book are taken from his photograph album of that period.

Anglo-Canadian poet Marjorie Pickthall (1883–1922) lived in Bowerchalke from 1913 to 1919, spending summers at Chalke Cottage where she wrote prolifically. She also attempted to start an enterprise in market gardening as part of the war effort.[12]

In 1919 Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke started to sell the individual farms.[10]

First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon lived in the village for a while before moving to Heytesbury.

The Nobel Prize winning novelist William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors, etc. is buried in the village churchyard, having lived the middle part of his life in a cottage on the banks of the River Chalke. He also named the Gaia hypothesis which was conceived by his fellow walking companion Dr James Lovelock who lived in the village from c. 1960-1980 at both 'Pixies Cottage' Misselfore and at 'Clovers Cottage' Mead End.

International violinist Iona Brown lived in the village at 'Misselfore Cottage' from 1968 until her death in 2004. She took part in an episode of BBC Radio 4's Kaleidoscope programme and explained how hard it was to play her signature piece The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams, she said that the lark song during long walks on nearby 'Marleycombe Down' was a central tenet of her performance.

The village was the location for the fire in Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film Barry Lyndon based on William Makepeace Thackeray's novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon at 51°0′30.75″N 1°59′18.30″W. The village school closed in 1976 and children from Bowerchalke now attend the school in neighbouring Broad Chalke. The old school buildings now serve as the Village Hall.

The village pub, The Bell Inn, closed in 1988 and is now a residential dwelling known as 'Bell House'.

The once renowned village cricket team, thanks in part to the dynasty of 'cricketing Gullivers' (Brian, David, Derek, Richard and Robin), closed c. 1973/74.

The village post office and general stores closed in 2003. The nearest post office is in Broad Chalke.

An article about the closures called Village of the Damned, written by David McKie, was published in The Guardian on 30 June 2005.[13] A response titled Bowerchalke is not the village of the Damned was written by Will Heaven, Assistant Comment Editor of The Daily Telegraph on 30 August 2009.[14]

In 2010 the Chalke Valley Cricket Club moved the cricket ground from the Chalke Valley Sports Centre in Broad Chalke to a new ground at Butt's Field, Bowerchalke, behind the Church under Marleycombe Hill, to allow a longer season and better facilities.

In 2011 Bowerchalke's new cricket ground became the main venue for the first Chalke Valley History Festival, organised by local author James Holland.[15]

Bowerchalke and the Chalke Valley, looking north east from the top of the chalk escarpment