CHILTON

Like many of the villages on Oxfordshire, Chilton has been in existence since before the Domesday survey and its present church since a few years after that time. Also like many other villages, many changes have taken place over the centuries, most of them probably within the last 100 years.

Chilton once boasted racehorse training establishments. But unlike in some other villages, these are now gone.

The unofficial emblem of Chilton has been the rook since the beginning of time, perhaps because they nested in the elms that used to be round the churchyard. Now what is thought to be one of the largest colonies of rooks in South Oxfordshire still nests in sycamores on the nearby former airfield, now owned by the UKAERA. The atomic research establishment has been decommissioned but Chilton is now the home of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, whose scientists use their spectacular microwave dish to gather information on outer space, the Harwell International Business Park and the new Diamond synchrotron light source, a new scientific facility housed in a futuristic doughnut-shaped building which covers the area of 5 football pitches. Right next to the A34 is a garden centre.

The Parish Church of All Saints' has a C12 nave with a 13th century south aisle and a C14 chancel. For the history and full information about All Saints Church click here.

Chilton is in the Berkshire Downs just off the A34 about 4 miles south of Didcot.