Broad Chalke

"BROAD-CHALK, a parish in the hundred of Chalk, in the county of Wilts, 5 miles to the S.W. of Wilton, and 8 from Salisbury. It is situated on the Ebele, a branch of the river Avon, and contains the hamlets of Knighton and Stoke Farthing. The manor was a possession of the abbey of Wilton. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Salisbury, of the value with that of Bower-Chalk, of £336, in the patronage of the Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is in the early English style, and has been recently restored. The Rev. Dr. Rowland Williams, whose case has recently excited so much interest, as one of the writers in the "Essays and Reviews", is the incumbent.

Near the village are several remains of ancient earthworks; at Bury Orchard is an extensive camp covering above 5 acres, and near it Gawen's Barrow. The latter, according to tradition, is named after the heroic Sir Gawaine, the kinsman of King Arthur. John Bekinsau, the friend of Leland, and author of a work in defence of the king's supremacy, published in the reign of Henry VIII., was a native of Broad-Chalk."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]