Chaldon is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The village is situated high on the North Downs, immediately west of Caterham and south of Charing Cross, the traditional centre of London.
History
Etymology and Dark Ages
Chalvedune is the first written record of the place in 675 AD, meaning the hill (down) where calves were pastured, in a grant of land to Chertsey Abbey. Prior to this period of human history, White Hill on the borders of Chaldon and Caterham has yielded neolithic flints.
The village lay within the Anglo-Saxon administrative division of Wallington hundred.
Middle Ages
In the Domesday Book of 1086 the manor of Calvedone appears in Wallington hundred rendering £4 to its lord Ralph Fitz Turold, holding it as was most of the hundred of Bishop Odo of Bayeux. Prior to the Conquest it had been held by the Saxon lord Dernic of King Edward. It consisted of two hides, land for two lord's plough teams and a church. In medieval times the parish included a narrow strip of land below the southern foot of the Downs and a wedge of land to the north of the church that in the 19th century were transferred to Bletchingley and Coulsdon respectively
Church of St Peter and St Paul
thumb|left|Detail from the 12th-century [[Doom painting]]
The Grade I architecturally listed church of Saints Peter and Paul (built before 1086 AD) contains a large wall painting of around 1170 depicting images of the ways of salvation and damnation and their result.
Post industrial revolution
Under Rev. James Legrew, the tithes were commuted for £335. 11s 3d, however as rector retaining a glebe of 31 acres, with a glebe house. A tower and spire were added to the church in 1843
Local Government
Historical
The civil parish of Chaldon fell within the Reigate Poor Law Union upon its creation in 1837, subsequently coming under control of Reigate Rural Sanitary District from 1875 and Reigate Rural District from 1894 until its abolition in 1933. Thereafter it became part of the Caterham & Warlingham Urban District until 1 April 1974 when the major local government reorganisation brought Chaldon under the newly formed Tandridge District.
For the purposes of parliamentary elections, Chaldon became part of the Eastern Division of the Surrey county constituency upon its creation in 1832. It moved to the Mid Division in 1867, to the South Eastern Division in 1885, to the Reigate Division in 1918 and to the East Surrey Division in 1948 where it remains to this day.!!
Ward
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|style="background-color: " |
|2017
|Chris Botten || "Caterham Hill"; includes in this context only Chaldon.
|}
Chaldon has a representative on Tandridge District Council, headquartered in Oxted:
{| class="wikitable"
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!colspan="2"|Election!!Member!!Ward
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|style="background-color: " |
|2019-2024
|Bob Milton || Chaldon
|-
|style="background-color: " |
|2024-
|Lewis Sharp || Chaldon
|}
Civil parish
Chaldon's residents can participate in the Civil Parish Council with five village councillors and the parish clerk.
Demography and housing
In 2001, there were 1,821 residents in 639 households, of which 18.8% were aged over 65; 4.5% of the population were in full-time further education; 70.9% of all men were economically active whereas 3.2% were unemployed, 5.2% worked part-time; 58.9% of all women were economically active whereas 1.2% were unemployed, 37.7% worked part-time.
As to ethnicity, 97.3% of the population identified themselves as being white, 0.5% as mixed, 1.0% as of Indian descent, and 1.5% as other of the three main categories.
Church of St Peter and St Paul
See above.
Chaldon Court
This Grade II* listed timber-framed building was built in the 14th century and encased in brick and flint in the 18th century; its door is of the Tudor period. Its large gable ends have a large window housing a third floor; however, its extension at a right-angle has instead two taller storeys, slightly lower in height.