Chilmark, and its neighbouring hamlet of Ridge, have been inhabited since prehistoric times and tools have been found from the Stone and later Bronze and (Celtic) Ion Ages. From the first century AD, the Romans used the Chilmark quarries for road and house-building and their stone coffins have been found in the village. The most recent find, in 1990, proved to be of Christian converts – shown by the east-west orientation of the graves. (A stone coffin containing the skeleton of an infant of less than six months – at a time when the high rate of infant mortality made such care exceptional – is especially touching.)
The Saxons came to the area after the departure of the Romans and probably gave Chilmark its name: it is thought to have come from either ‘Cild’ (a child) or, more probably, ‘Cigel’ (a pole or peg) and ‘mearc’ (a boundary). In the 11th century, the Saxon King, Athelstan, gave the village to Wilton Abbey (which, adding to an existing priory, had been founded by King Alfred) and the village remained in the ownership of the abbey until the Reformation when it passed into the hands of the abbey’s successors, the Earls of Pembroke.
Chilmark’s description in the Domesday Book, established after the Norman conquest in the 11th century, includes mention of the village’s belonging to Wilton Abbey and adds that, in the time of King Edward [the Confessor] it ‘paid geld for twenty hides [c.3000 acres]‘. The mill at Chicksgrove is described as belonging to Chilmark and the entry goes on to describe the division of the land into meadow, thorn and pasture. It concludes ‘it was worth 14; it is now worth 15′ ie in annual dues to the Abbey.
In the 13th century, the stone quarried at Chilmark was used to build Salisbury Cathedral and, at the end of the same century, the stone was used to add to an existing small stone-built church in Chilmark itself. The main part of the cruciform church, with a graceful central crossing supporting the tower, dates from this time. The church is dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch (a maiden martyr who was swallowed by a dragon and subsequently beheaded – the dragon having ‘burst assunder’). Later additions to the church include the porch in the 14th century, the spire in the 18th century (the Age of Elegance) and the north aisle and vestry in Victorian times. The Victorians also gave us the clock by the famous firm of Dent – makers of London’s Big Ben. The church bells, six in number, include two 13th century ‘Angelus’ bells (their inscription reads ‘Ave Gracia Plena Dominus Tecum’).
In the 17th century, one of Chilmark’s sons, Thomas Macey, took up the development rights of the island of Nantucket, off the shores of Massachusetts, purchased (for 40) by his cousin, Thomas Mayhew. Mayhew had also acquired the rights to develop Martha’s Vineyard (see the Tisbury entry) and where he named two of the townships Tisbury and Chilmark. The Macey family (spelt Macy in the USA) are the owners of the famous Macy’s stores in New York and other large cities.
The village has changed little over the years and many of the older houses remain, mostly stone-built and often thatched. The Manor once belonged to the Abbess of Wilton (when it was probably used as a granary) while the Old Rectory is thought to be as old as the church itself. (Rumour has it there is a secret passage between the latter two.) Once there were at least two public houses, a shop, a post office, a garage, a reading room and a school of which the pub, the reading room (now a village hall) and the school continue to flourish. Many see the size of the village (about 450 people – and which has changed little over the years) as ideal for a community that retains a strong sense of identity and many village occasions, such as the annual church fte and flower show, attract almost universal support.
Historical Intrigue
From a letter to The Times, 17th February 2007: EDWARD MACY‑DARE, Lindfield, W Sussex.
“Macy’s was founded by Rowland Hussey Macy in 1858 and was acquired by Nathan and Isidor Straus in 1896. Incidentally, Rowland Hussey Macy originated from Nantucket and was directly descended from Thomas Macy, a Baptist‑turned‑Quaker from Chilmark, Wiltshire, who formed a syndicate to purchase the island from his friend and “honoured cousin” Thomas Mayhew (the Governor of Martha’s Vineyard) in 1659 for “thirty shillings and two beaver hats”.
The Macy and Mayhew families went on to make their fortunes in whaling (they both feature in Moby Dick) and thus epitomise the original, and successful, American dream.
Edward Macy-Dare, in his letter to the Times of 17th February and reproduced in the March Church and Village Newsletter, corrects James Bones article of 15th February on the origins of Macys store in America. Quite rightly, he says that the store was founded by the descendant of Thomas Macy of Chilmark, England, and of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Macy bought the development rights of the island from his cousin, Thomas Mayhew of Tisbury, England, who became, subsequently, governor of Marthas Vineyard, Chief Justice and Lord of the Manor of (the Vineyard) Tisbury. Both the Vineyard and Nantucket were then in the colony of New York but are now part of Massachusetts.
As the colonies were governed according to the feudal system, all land belonged in theory to the Crown, and so could not be purchased outright. Lords proprietor held these rights from the King which could be sold to tenants and divided again to sub-tenants. Thus Thomas Mayhew bought the rights to both Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket from two men claiming to hold the title of Lord Proprietor (one was the Earl of Stirling and the other Sir Fernando Gorges). The King was to be paid the fifth part of any silver found in the colonies instead of knights service in time of war. (There was none).
As Mr Macy-Dare says, Thomas Mayhew was paid 30 in cash and two beaver hats (one for himself and one for his wife) for his Nantucket rights. He had, himself, paid 40 to each of those claiming to be Lords Proprietor, for both Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard (plus token annual tributes) and made trebly sure of his claim by paying the Wampanoag Indians for the land he named as the town of Chilmark a cow and a suit of clothes, from top to toe, and 17 in money.
This was all before the Civil War in England. Afterwards, Charles II made his brother James, Duke of York, Lord Proprietor (hence New York) to whose agent Thomas Mayhew had to pay rent of two barrels of good merchantable cod-fish, to be delivered at the bridge in this [New York] city. Sub tenants paid, for instance, two good sheep, a good cheese, a mink skin or a nutmeg.
Thomas Mayhew and his descendents held on to the title of Lord of the Manor of Tisbury until Independence, when it was said to cause great disturbance and the expenditure of much money and precious time and they were told to become tax-paying citizens and subject to a new, less colourful, way of doing things.
Iona Carnegie
Interesting Fact
ROCK OF AGES: The oldest rocks occurring near the surface within our parishes, are the Jurassic mudstones of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (circa 154 million years old) named after Kimmeridge on the Dorset coast. The Kimmeridge Clay occurs over a wide area of England from Dorset to Yorkshire, and into the North Sea (where it has been buried sufficiently deep enough for oil maturation thereby providing the main source for North Sea oil).
According to a Geological Survey Memoir of 1895, a well near the stream at the Chilmark quarries was sunk through (Portlandian) clays and calcareous sandy beds to very black clay beds (presumed to be Kimmeridge Clay) at a depth of 39 feet from the surface. More recently, a borehole in Tisbury (south of Tuckingmill) encountered approximately 230m of Kimmeridge Clay at a depth of 36.7m. It is also thought to crop out in the valley downstream from the dam of Fonthill Lake near Ashley Wood Farm. Further to the west, Kimmeridge Clay accounts for the clayey soils of the Blackmore Vale.
AJP
Even More History
CHILMARK (St. Margaret), a parish, in the union of Tisbury, hundred of Dunworth, Hindon and S. divisions of Wilts, 12 miles (W. by N.) from Salisbury; containing, with the tything of Rudge, 593 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the ancient Ikeneldstreet, belonged to the abbey of Wilton; it was granted by Henry VIII. to William Herbert and his wife, sister to Catharine Parr, and is still the property of their descendants, the earls of Pembroke. The parish comprises 3032a. 3r. 14p., and contains clay of excellent quality for bricks and for pottery. The celebrated quarries of freestone, from which was raised the stone for the erection of Salisbury cathedral, have almost fallen into disuse, being superseded by the Bath stone, which is more easily wrought. The river Nadder, and several of its tributaries, flow through the parish, which is also intersected by the Wilts and Berks canal. A fair, chiefly for cheese and horses, is held on the 31st of July. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £19. 13. 4., and in the gift of the Earl of Pembroke: the tithes have been commuted for £411, and the glebe comprises 24 acres. The church is cruciform, with a tower rising from the intersection, surmounted by a handsome spire; some parts of the building are in the early English style, others of later date. This is the birthplace of John de Chilmarke, a celebrated mathematician and philosophical writer who lived in the thirteenth century.
From: ‘Chilmark – Chingford’, A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 597-599. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50874 Date accessed: 06 March 2010.
For a record of Chilmark’s inhabitants in 1851 click on: http://sjfarrell.com/HistoryWeb/Docs/Chilmark_1851.pdf
For Fricker Lineage click on: http://www.pcez.com/~bigshoe/Lart/fricker.html
Macy Family 1575 click on: http://genforum.genealogy.com/macy/messages/527.html
Email addresses which may help you find old family members: http://www.moonrakers.org.uk/Individuals.asp?first=400&howmany=50&q=&match=and
A Wonderful Read:
A Tale of Two Chilmarks: England to New England, by Iona Sinclair, illustrations by John C Atkinson.
First published in 1994, this light-hearted history of the Massachusetts village and its English namesake has long been out of print. Describing it in the Vineyard Gazette, Anthony K van Riper, poet and author, wrote: ‘. . . a charming history of the two Chilmarks. Written with the smooth craft that distinguishes such English prose, this small volume is a light-hearted look at both the village we know and the village which gave our Chilmark its name. The book is much enhanced by the amusing line drawings of John Atkinson, whose work reminds us that history is not always for those who take themselves too seriously! If you want your history on the light side, this is the book for you.’ Revised and redesigned edition of this hugely enjoyable account. June 2009, 235 x 170mm, 86 pages, many illustrations, paperback, £8.95, ISBN 978-1-906978-11-2.
CHURCH
*If you have any interesting historical facts about our Church, please kindly email: Chilmark@email.com
Anthony Trotman 1911 2006; Rector of Chilmark 1959 – 1976
Anthony Edward Fiennes Trotman was born on 1st January 1911, at Upwey, Dorset, where his maternal grandfather William Gildea was rector. He was the second child and eldest son of the Rev Francis Earle Trotman and his wife Marian. His paternal grandfather was also a clergyman: in fact Anthony was to become the sixth in a line of Trotman clergyman that started with his great-great-great grandfather Samuel Trotman (born 1723). Anthony, plus his father and two grandfathers, between them contributed over 200 years of service to the Salisbury diocese.
Anthony went to Marlborough College – cycling from Mere, where his father was vicar. He then got a scholarship to Exeter College, Oxford, where he took degrees in classics and history. After Oxford, he went to Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, where he was responsible for teaching history throughout the school. He taught several other subjects as well, including rowing – and he also taught a team at Christchurch Cathedral in Victoria how to ring the peal of bells they had been given for George Vs jubilee.
He loved Canada, but he could see trouble coming in Europe, so he came home. The only job he could find was at Rockport, a prep school just outside Belfast. Here he met Patricia Webb, whom he would later marry.
During the war he was an artilleryman, serving in the 112th Field Regiment, and was eventually seconded to the 4th Dorsets as observation officer. While he was in the army he received a call to be ordained, but he could do nothing about it until the war was over.
Anthony and Patricia married in Belfast in 1944, but Anthony had to leave at once for D Day. Crossing to Normandy in the second wave of troops, the 4th Dorsets, plus Anthony, were sent north to try and relieve the paratroopers of Operation Market Garden, pinned down at Arnhem. This involved crossing the Maas and other rivers under fire.
The Dorsets got up to the Rhine, but could do little to help the paratroopers. Anthony was taken prisoner and marched across Germany to the POW camp at Spangenberg, near Cassel. There were two camps here: he was in Spangenberg Upper, which was a castle.
The prisoners knew that General Patton, with an American army, was advancing towards them. The camp commandant, offered to let all the prisoners go – providing that they would take him with them. The POWs made contact with Pattons army, but in order to reach it, they had to cross through enemy lines. They succeeded in doing so, and the Americans flew them to Paris.
When the war ended Anthony started teaching again at Rockport. But he now felt he should train for the church. He went back to Oxford, this time to Wycliffe Hall. He was ordained deacon in 1948 and priest in 1949, at St Annes Cathedral in Belfast.
Anthony served two curacies in Belfast, the first at St Patricks, Ballymacarrett and the second at St Marks, Dundela. He then moved back to England, wanting to be a little nearer to his parents, who were caring for his crippled youngest sister Bridget. They lived in Salisbury, where his father, then in his eighties, was Vicar of the Close.
In 1952 he became rector of Corsley with Chapmanslade. This was the biggest single parish in England, with three churches and two schools. It was while he was in this parish that he was asked to join what was then the diocesan Moral Welfare Committee. He also became secretary of the Wiltshire Clergy Widows and Orphans Society.
Lord Pembroke – at that time patron of the living – asked Anthony to go to Chilmark, which he did in 1959. This included the chaplaincy of RAF Chilmark. In his time, the school was enlarged, the village acquired a playing-field, major work was done on the church bells (the army had to lift them out of the bell chamber – very thrilling!) and the church was floodlit. The Salisbury Triumph was held in 1967, with parishes putting on displays all around the Cathedral sward. Chilmark contributed a spectacular stand, with a display of quarrying pictures, tools and techniques. It was also the noisiest stand, with a working stone saw cutting through a large block of Chilmark stone!
For many years church funds were augmented with money made at the tea hut on the A 303. Many people worked hard for this, making sandwiches and cakes. Chilmark men took to running an all-night session, cooking bacon and eggs for nocturnal travellers. It was on one of these occasions that they were visited early one morning by a lorry-load of giraffes going to Longleat!
Church events always had a fine day – it was so remarkable it became known as Rectors weather. Bishop Reindorp visited on the Sunday when 100 HYMNS FOR TODAY was first used in the church, and commended Chilmark for being so forward-looking. He wished other parishes would do what Chilmark had done.
Over the years Anthony also looked after most of the neighbouring parishes, as well as helping out on odd Sundays when clergy were sick or away.
In 1976 Patricia had a stroke. Anthony had always wanted to carry on and die in harness, but felt that to continue with stressful parish life would not be fair to his wife. So he retired, moving to Salisbury.
Here, he took services at St Thomass and at St Marks. He was also for many years one of the chaplain guides to the Cathedral. However, in 1991 he had to give this up as he was facing a serious operation. Most recently, he was a keen member of the Tyndale Society, celebrating the life and achievement of William Tyndale, the sixteenth-century Bible translator.
After suffering a serious stroke in 2000, Patricia died at Chicklade in 2001, and in the same year Anthony went to live there permanently. He died peacefully early in the morning of Friday, 15th September
