The Chutes

• The earliest archeological traces in the parishes are some hill top burial mounds, Grymes Dyke near the northwestern boundary, old plough lands near Dean Farm, and some nearby pits that are thought to have been grain stores or dwellings. They indicate habitation in the Chutes in the Bronze or Iron Ages.

• Chute Causeway is part of a major Roman road from Winchester to Cirencester, also fragments of Romano British clay tile have been found at Greens Farm in Upper Chute, indicating a possible small settlement around 300 - 400 AD.

• The word Chute is Old English for forest, and William 1 declared Chute Forest a Royal Hunting Forest. Chute Standen and Chute Forest are both mentioned in the Doomsday Book. In the early 12th Century there was a small chapel near Deans Farm and in 1320 Edward ll licensed a Chantry (a small religious house) nearby. Current population is approximately 480.

Key Dates

• 1872 Current church in Upper Chute completed

• 1978 Village school closes Now a thriving village hall.

• Telephones introduced in 1920s

• Mains Water brought to the Chutes in 1950

• Tibbs Meadow built late in the 1960’s with the final stage completed late 1990's, producing first new major injection of population.

Detailed Histories:
Courtesy of www.british-history.ac.uk

• Chute
• Chute Forest
• Tidcombe
• Fosbury
• Hippenscombe
• Kinwardstone Hundred