Place:Cherhill, Wiltshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Cherhill is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The village is about 2 1⁄2 miles (4 km) east of the town of Calne, on the A4 road towards Marlborough. The parish includes the village of Yatesbury which was a separate civil parish until 1934. Cherhill also gained some land from Calne Without in that year.

Cherhill has a population of around 700 (727 in the 2011 UK census) with a mixture of housing ranging from thatched cottages (some dating to the 14th century) to newly-built detached houses. The River's Brook rises in the northeast of the village and flows west towards Quemerford (a southeastern suburb of Calne), where it joins the River Marden.

Cherhill is known for the Cherhill White Horse cut into the chalk hillside in 1780, the Landsdowne obelisk on the Cherhill Downs, and the crop circles that appeared in the fields at the bottom of the Downs. The area around the horse and obelisk is owned by the National Trust. On a clear day, the 840 ft (260 m) summit offers fine views, up to 25 miles, with the water tower at Tetbury in Gloucestershire visible. Atop the tall hill to the north of the village, opposite to Cherhill Downs, it is said to be possible to see the Severn crossings to South Wales, 38 miles (61 km) to the west.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Cherhill.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 17, pp135-146 - Parish: Cherhill". British History Online. University of London.
• From this Ancestry page you can browse the Wiltshire parishes which have parish register transcripts online, quite often from very early dates. However, reading the early ones requires skill and patience. Transcriptions should also be in FamilySearch.
• A further collection of online source references will be found on the county page for Wiltshire.