Chilton Cottage

Chilton Cottage is a group of three cottages, now combined into a single house, dating from the early to mid-15th century and restored in 1975-76. The building is timber-framed with flint sills and brick and plaster infill, and has a thatched roof. It is one storey high with an attic. The original layout consisted of five bays; the two right bays were an open hall with a later inserted gable stack, and the bay to the left was a parlour, later used as a bootmaker's workshop, also with a later inserted stack. The two bays on the left feature a cross beam. A later extension, incorporating a gable stack and oven, adjoins these bays. A full-length rear lean-to exists. The front has boarded doors in the first and fourth bays, and iron casement windows with segmental brick heads at ground floor level. There are two and three-light leaded windows in four dormers. The thatch is swept down over the rear lean-to. Dating of the structure was established using carbon-14 analysis with dendrochronological correction on a post of the frame and wattle and daub, while the thatch has been dated to between 1580 and 1670 through carbon-14 analysis. Further information can be found in a report held at the Wiltshire Buildings Records Library.