Chilton is a civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 on the eastern outskirts of Sudbury

Sudbury, Suffolk

Sudbury is a small, ancient market town in the county of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour, from Colchester and from London.-Early history:...

 in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Once a normal village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

, Chilton today consists of scattered clusters of housing and an isolated Church of St Mary

St Mary's Church, Chilton

St Mary's Church, Chilton, is a redundant Anglican church in the civil parish of Chilton, Suffolk, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Although it lies just to the northeast of the Sudbury...

, and is a prime example of a deserted medieval village

Deserted medieval village

In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convention is to regard the site as deserted; if there are more...

.

History

Chilton's history dates back to the British Iron Age

British Iron Age

The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...

, when it was founded as a Celtic agricultural settlement. The name Chilton is Old English

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 for "Child's Town". When the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 was produced in 1086, Robert Malet

Robert Malet

Robert Malet was an English/ Norman baron and a close advisor of Henry I.-Biography:Malet was the son of William Malet, and inherited his father's great honour of Eye in 1071. This made him one of the dozen or so greatest landholders in England...

 (a member of William the Conqueror

William I of England

William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...

's court) was the village's tenant-in-chief

Tenant-in-chief

In medieval and early modern European society the term tenant-in-chief, sometimes vassal-in-chief, denoted the nobles who held their lands as tenants directly from king or territorial prince to whom they did homage, as opposed to holding them from another nobleman or senior member of the clergy....

.

It is unclear why the village was abandoned, though it is speculated that it may have been caused by the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

, the enclosure

Enclosure

Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...

 of Chilton Hall's deer park

Medieval deer park

A medieval deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank. The ditch was typically on the inside, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.-History:...

, or agricultural depression. Until the 1960s a single house remained standing adjacent to the church. Although the church is redundant, services are still held three times a year.

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 an airfield was built largely within the parish. Initially called Airfield 174, it was later renamed RAF Sudbury

RAF Sudbury

RAF Sudbury is a former World War II airfield in England. The field is located between the villages Acton, Great Waldingfield and Chilton, around 2 miles east of Sudbury in Suffolk.-USAAF use:...

. It was completed in 1943 and handed over to the USAAF

United States Army Air Forces

The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....

 on 23 March 1944. With three runways, the airfield was home to the USAAF 486th Bomber Group (now evolved into the 486th Air Expeditionary Wing

486th Air Expeditionary Wing

The 486th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command. As a provisional unit, it may be activated or inactivated at any time....

). The hangar

Hangar

A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...

s are now used largely for grain storage.

The hall, previously home to the grandmother of Robert Walpole

Robert Walpole

Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....

 (the first Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 of Great Britain), is today home to Lord Hart of Chilton

Garry Hart, Baron Hart of Chilton

Garry Hart, Baron Hart of Chilton , is a British Labour politician. From 1998 to 2007, he was Expert and then Special Adviser to the Lord Chancellor, first Lord Irvine of Lairg and then Lord Falconer of Thoroton....

.