St Mary the Virgin
St Mary the Virgin’s Church in Chilton is a member of the Bernwode Benefice.
The village sits on the escarpment and most of the properties are blessed with extraordinary views over unspoilt countryside, yet we are less than an hour from central London. There is one service a month attended by a small but faithful group, but at Easter, Harvest and Christmas the church is full.
If you would like support from the Church, please ring Bertie Aubrey-Fletcher on 07977 579699 who will direct you to Jenny Edmunds who is covering our seven parishes at this time.
“Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no greater commandment than this.”
The building
Since Norman times villagers have worshipped God on this spot, and perhaps even before that, as there was a village here in Saxon times, mentioned in the Doomsday Book as Ciltone. All traces of the Norman church have disappeared except for some stones in the northern wall of the nave and a fragment of 12th-century work over the doorway in the south transept.
Chilton church is unusually interesting on account of the curious development of its plan, and because there are examples of all the main architectural styles of Mediaeval times
Links for St Mary the Virgin Church
Sir John & Lady Elizabeth Croke
“Here lyeth Elizabeth Tyreil late wife of Sir John Tyreil of Heron knight and daughter of Sir John Croke of Chilton knight who had one daughter named Dorothy who dyed in her infancie and the said Elizabeth died the 16th of February Anno Domini 1631 being the 57 yeare of her age.”
Housed in the Croke chapel of St Mary the Virgin church is the elaborate family monument of John Croke who died in 1608 and his wife Elizabeth who died in 1611. “they lye recumbent under an arch richly decorated and painted.”
They are honoured by the kneeling figures of their eight sons and daughters.
The two sons in scarlet robes of Judges are Sir John who was the speaker of the House of commons in the reign of Elizabeth I, and Sir George who was one of the two judges who sat in judgment against Charles I in the Ship Money case of John Hampden
One of their daughters, Elizabeth, is remembered in a wall monument with her baby daughter on the opposite wall of the chapel.
Their son Edward is remembered in a brass inscription on a floor slab before their monument