The Chawton Heritage Society has allowed their "memories, recollections and anecdotes of the people of Chawton" to be made public for the benefit of the village and as a way of preserving the village history.

Introduction

A church has stood on the site of the present St. Nicholas since at least 1270 when it was mentioned in a diocesan document, but there is reason to believe that a place of worship existed there well before that date. The building was enlarged and improved inside and out over the years and much of it was re-built in the early Victorian period. However a disastrous fire in 1871 effectively destroyed the whole building except for the chancel so that the present nave, north aisle, vestry and tower date only from 1872/3 although many of the early memorials were saved and are still on the walls.

Chawton Church, before the fire of 1871

The manor of Chawton is listed in the Doomsday Book of 1086 as Cheltone meaning 'the place where calves are reared' but since it would not have been taxable there is no mention of any church which may have been in the village at the time. The manor was given by William the Conqueror to a Norman follower, Hugh de Port, a man of considerable piety who ended his days as a monk, and it seems likely that he would have established some kind of place of worship whilst he occupied these lands particularly since the village was on the pilgrims route from Winchester to Canterbury.

The first real evidence of a church points to its having been built between 1225 and 1250 but the earliest known reference in official church records to a church in Chautone appears in a list of churches and chapels in the Diocese of Winchester dated 1270. It is possible that this church was dedicated to St. Mary and St. Nicholas which were the dedications on the two pre-reformation bells which the church contained. In 1289 Sir John de St. John was the first recorded patron and in that year William Wainbridge was replaced as Rector of Chawton by Thomas de St John. The names are known of all subsequent patrons and incumbents, the former including Queen Elizabeth, King Charles I (during the lunacy of the actual patron) and from 1578, when they acquired the manor, the Knight family until they passed it to the Bishop of Winchester in 1953 on the joining of Chawton and Farringdon as a benefice.

We've had a query from Terry and Anne O'Dell at "The Village" (the house adjacent to the pub) and they are interested in the history of their house - can you help ?