On the edge of the South Downs of Hampshire heading  towards Alton from Winchester on the A31, and just after leaving the M3 motorway the traveller will see a signpost on the right hand side of the road pointing to a narrow lane that goes through the chalk downland of Deacon Hill to Chilcomb.

There is not much there just a small cluster of houses and farms and the small parish church of St Andrew, which lies behind the hedgerows less than two miles  from the centre of Winchester.This lovely little church goes back to early Norman times, but there is also some  Saxon influences, notably the nave is high in relation to its length and the chancel arch, which is decorated by  rough zigzagings is extremely narrow.

The Hundred of Chilcomb once belonged to the Old Minster at Winchester during the latter part of the Saxon era, and it comprised Chilcomb and nine other villages around the area, as well as land at Chilbolton and Nursling which lies between Romsey and Southampton, this made up a total of 100 hides.

This Hundred later became the Fawley Hundred from its meeting place on Fawley Down. When the Domesday Survey was held Chilcomb was held by the Bishop of Winchester and the lads included Winnall, Morestead, St Faith, Compton, Weeke, Littleton and Sparsholt as well as Chilcomb.

The Manor  and other manors and property stayed within the possession of the prior and monks of St Swithun's Winchester until the dissolution of the monasteries, when it was granted to the Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. Around the end of the 19th century it passed into private hands.

The modern parish though dates from the re-organisation of 1894, it was then that the old parish became an annexe of Winchester. Below St Giles Hill is the Highcliffe housing estate which became a suburb of the city but the old village of Chilcomb is still a rural treasure.

In AD 636 King Cynegils gave the manor of Chilcomb to the Church in Winchester and it remained so until about 1893. The church has a copy of the charter signed by Edward the Elder stating that this was a gift.

Unusually the manor is quite large and covered about 15 square miles around Winchester. The Domesday Book records nine churches in Chilcomb, and it is thought that these could be Compton, Hursley, Weeke, Chilcomb, Littleton, Sparsholt and Morestead, St Catherine on the hill and the White Monastery but the origins of Chilcomb remain a mystery.

Near to the main A31 road at Morn Hill,stood the hospital of St Mary Magdalen,  founded around 1158 for the care of leprosy probably by Bishop Henry de Blois the founder of St Cross hospital in the city. This hospital suffered a couple of disasters during the 17th century with the Royalists slaughtering the sheep and stealing the local corn they set fire to all the woodwork including an altar table in the Chapel In 1665 the patients were told to leave by the government as they wanted the building to house Dutch prisoners of war, who incidentally are said to have done more damage than the royalists!

The buildings were demolished and the Norman chapel was incorporated in St Peter's RC church in the city and a lot of the rubble was used in the construction of Rosemary Close.

In the late 1990s Time Team a television archaeological programme did a dig of the area to try and find the remains of the old leper hospital.

IMAGES OF CHILCOMB

A Picturesque cottage at Chilcomb		The Chilcomb countryside
The interior of St Andrew's Chilcomb