Chute Forest

The parish, situated 13 miles from Marlborough and around 3 miles north-west of Andover, adjoins the county of Hampshire. Originally the demesne wood of Wiltshire, it was part of Chute Forest before disafforestation in 1639 It was extra-parochial, becoming a civil parish in the 19th century. Sited on chalk outcrops the area has no streams. The land falls from north to south, broken by dry valleys. There are deposits of clay and flint on the ridges and gravel in the area of Sopers Bottom and the valley to the east. The parish is 185m high in the north and falls to 107m in the south. 

From the early 17th century the boundaries were marked by roads. It is thought the parish was heavily wooded in the Middle Ages, becoming farmland in the 17th century. From the 18th to 20th century a park existed with some woodland, but 85% of the parish was farmed, mainly to arable. No major roads run through the parish.

As it was a royal forest, access was possibly restricted in earlier times, roads running along the boundaries of the forest. An 18th century road ran north/south through Cadley Bottom and Sopers Bottom. In the centre of the parish a road ran across the park, it was partly obliterated in the 19th century, but continued as a bridle way into late 20th century. 

The only pre-historic find has been early Iron Age coins which were found in the north east of the parish. 

Chute Forest was owned by the crown until 1639, when it was granted to Sir Henry Ludlow, Edward Manning and Henry Kelsey. It was inclosed and divided into parts, which were presumably allotted to the lords of the manors, around what was to become the Chute Lodge estate. The first, 286 acres of woodland and agricultural land was allotted to Manning. In 1942 the then owner, W.A. Adinsell, sold this estate to the Crown, which in turn sold it in 1950.

In 1998 it was owned by the Guiness family and held as part of the estate centred on Biddesden House. It is thought the second portion of the land, to the s.w. of the parish, the area of Biddesden House, was probably allotted to the lord of Biddesden Manor at the 1639 inclosure. This land passed with the Biddesden estate. In 1839 it consisted of 240a. As Home Farm, and later Longbottom, the land continued to pass with Biddesden Manor. It was owned by the Guiness family in 1998. Land thought to be the third portion, in the east of the parish, belonged to the lord of Chute Manor in 1780. In 1839 it was held as Redhouse Farm and Forest, later, Pollards Farm, a total of 348a. In 1868 the 2 farms were sold to the owner of Chute Lodge. In 1928 Redhouse Farm of 273a belonged to A.E.Potter, but by 1998, 160a. of the farm were owned by Mr. & Mrs. A.J. Hutchinson and 90a owned by Mr. M.K.B. Colvin. The descent of Pollards Farm is unknown. In the north west of the parish, Jolly’s House, and probably the land later called Forest Farm, was owned by Richard Earle in 1731. In 1839 Forest Farm was 184a, and held by Wm. Fowle.

In 1906, 100a of it was sold, together with Chute Lodge, but Forest House and 83a, were retained. 

The tithes of Chute Forest, were taken by Salisbury Cathedral probably from the 12th century. In 1839 they were valued at £460. By this date much of the woodland had been grubbed up, only 146 acres remained. Lodge Coppice which had been 92 a. in 1650 was only 18a.in 1839. Land in the parish was put to agriculture in the early 17th century. Along the south of the parish allotments in existence in 1665 were re-named as small fields. In 1839, 1494 acres were arable and 169a.used as meadow land and pasture. In late 19th century the arable land was converted to pasture when there were fewer sheep and more cattle. From around 1930 onwards the main area was arable.

Large poultry houses were erected in the later 20th century.  

A Malt house, probably at Cadley, was noted in 1785 and was still there in 1839. A Brickworks to the N.W. of Chute Lodge, and a lime kiln around 850m to the west of Chute Lodge were both in operation until late19th century.  

A lodge was standing in 1501, probably near the centre of Chute Forest, and a house called Chute Lodge is recorded in 1632. The new Chute Lodge, built late 18th, century, designed by Sir Robert Taylor, stands on or near the original 1632 lodge. It was one of several designed by Taylor for men connected with the West India Company. It was red brick, a rectangle of 7 bays x 5; the basement was faced with rusticated stone. Inside, were delicate neo-classical plasterwork and chimney pieces and door cases survive in situ. Alterations were made in 1866 and the property was greatly enlarged in 1906-8. The house was used as a Borstal Institute in the mid 20th century.

In the 1980’s there were 5 dwellings. A farmstead, standing to the north of this lodge in 1839, later called Home Farm, had a front of red brick with other walls of flint and brick. A church was built to the north later in the 19th century. This church, together with Chute Lodge complete with outbuildings and Home Farm were the only buildings in the centre of the parish until the 20th century. It is possible that 1 out-building was converted into 2 cottages in the late 19th century and a second converted into a house in the 20th century. Large new farm buildings were erected at Home Farm in the later 20th century, but most farm buildings were demolished in the 1990’s and the farmhouse re-built. 

Other settlements have grown up along the roads in the parish.

5 properties, some thatched, are in the hamlets of Lower Chute and Cadley, and date from the 17th and 18th centuries. A lodge to the south of Lower Chute was built between 1839 and 1879. Jollys House was in existence in 1731 and Jollys Farm and Forest Farm date from 1773. Forrest Farm was replaced in the later 19th century by Forest House, a red brick and flint property. 

Pollards Farm, beside the road forming the south east boundary of the parish, was called Forrest Farm or Mockbeggard in 1773. It incorporates an earlier 18th century house built of flint, brick and thatch. Redhouse Farm dates from 1820-39. In the late 20th century new farm buildings and 3 bungalows were built.  South of the farmsteads, a cottage was built in 1773, this was owned by the parish in 1839. Near the southern boundary a house, originally Flingly, later Flinty, was standing in 1773. The 2 cottages beside it date from the mid 19th century.

A farmstead called Sopers existed in 1773 but was demolished between 1923 and 1942. In the south west corner of the parish, the Home farm associated with Biddesden House in Luggershall, was built shortly before 1820, extended mid 20th century and altered in the 1990s. West of this, 2 estate houses were built in the mid 20th century.   

In 1875 a Justice of the Peace lived at Chute Lodge, though no traders are listed. In 1903 there was a Barrister at Law  residing in the parish. In 1939, in addition to the Cross Keys, The Starr and Hatchet Inn, a blacksmith was operating. There was also a game keeper, a carpenter, poultry farmer and shopkeeper, together with a poultry farmer and an estate agent.