world.wikisort.org - United_Kingdom

Compton Chamberlayne is a small village and civil parish in the Nadder Valley in south Wiltshire, England, about 7 miles (11 km) west of Salisbury. The Nadder forms the northern boundary of the parish; to the south are chalk hills. It is bisected by the A30 road. The village contains some 25 privately owned houses, a village hall, and a cricket pitch used by Compton Chamberlayne Cricket Club.[2]

Compton Chamberlayne
Compton Chamberlayne
Compton Chamberlayne Location within Wiltshire
Population	112 (in 2011)[1]
OS grid reference	SU029300
Unitary authority	Wiltshire
Ceremonial county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Salisbury
Postcode district	SP3
Dialling code	01722
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	South West Wiltshire
List of places UK England Wiltshire 51.069°N 1.960°W / 51.069; -1.960

History

Most of the inhabited part of the village lies in a small wooded valley that lends credence to the origin of the name "Compton" – coombe tun, or "settlement in a wooded valley". "Chamberlayne" seems to have been attached when a Robert le Chamberlayne, or possibly Geoffrey le Chaumberlang, took possession of the village in the Middle Ages. The village was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, which shows that the local manor had a mill, some pastureland, meadows and two woods at that time.[3] Today there is no evidence of the manor.

There was a day school in the village in 1819, which had 60 pupils in 1859; around that time it was funded entirely by the Penruddock family of Compton House. By 1871, government grants were received under the National School system. The school closed in 1933 as pupil numbers fell.[4]

Map of Australia

During World War I, thousands of Australian and Canadian troops camped in the fields to the north of the chalk downland, before being shipped to France for combat. Compton Chamberlayne burial ground has 28 graves of Australian soldiers who died, believed to be of influenza, during their transit through the camp. There is still today a field called "hospital", previously the site of the military medical facility. The only tangible sign of the previous occupation was an outline of Australia carved in the surface of the chalk downs (grid reference SU 04298 29163) to the south-east of the village,[5] which was left to grass over in 2005. In 2018/2019, a group of local volunteers restored the map and marked Anzac Day with a service there.[6] The map is 150 feet (46 m) wide and about 125 feet (38 m) high. It is a scheduled ancient monument as defined by Historic England.

The neighbouring village of Fovant also has an impressive display of army regimental badges carved into the chalk downs.

Parish church

The Anglican Church of St Michael, close to Compton House, was built at the end of the 13th century in the Early English style, at the same time as Salisbury Cathedral some seven miles away. Further work was done in the 14th and 15th centuries, with restoration in 1877 by James Soppitt of Shaftesbury.[7] It contains the Penruddocke family vault and has a peal of six bells, two dating from the 17th century and four from the 19th.[8]

The church is a Grade II* listed building.[9] The benefice is served by the Nadder Valley team ministry.[10]

Compton House and Park

Compton Park House is a grade I listed building within the village, formerly a seat of the Penruddocke (or Penruddock) family from the mid-16th century until 1930.[11] It sits in a former deer park landscaped by Capability Brown,[11] which features a folly in the form of a summer house at 51.07114°N 1.95523°W / 51.07114; -1.95523.

Notable residents

• Sir George Penruddock (died 1581), High Sheriff of Wiltshire; MP for Salisbury, Wiltshire and Downton
• John Penruddock (died 1601), MP for Wilton and Southampton
• Edward Penruddock, High Sheriff in 1597
• Sir John Penruddocke (died 1648), High Sheriff in 1643
• Colonel John Penruddock (1619–1655), a royalist who took part in the failed 1655 Penruddock uprising against Oliver Cromwell, was tried and executed at Exeter on 16 May 1655.
• Thomas Penruddocke (born c. 1648, died before 1695), MP for Wilton
• Charles Penruddocke (died 1788), High Sheriff in 1751
• Charles Penruddocke (1743–1788), High Sheriff, MP for Wiltshire
• John Penruddocke (1770–1841), High Sheriff, MP for Wilton
• Charles Penruddocke (died 1899), High Sheriff in 1861

References

External links

Media related to Compton Chamberlayne at Wikimedia Commons

• Wanderings in Wessex at Project Gutenberg (makes reference to Penruddocke)

---