Chilworth is a village in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, 4 miles N of the centre of Southampton. The church is in the Old Village to the NW of the settlement, on the road to Romsey. It was built in 1812 of stuccoed brick and consists of a narrow nave with a W tower, short transepts, the N housing the organ, and a 1-bay chancel, in an attractive Gothick style. Entry is through the W tower doorway, the tower serving as a porch. When built the church had a spire, shown in a photograph displayed in the church and reproduced here, but it developed a twist and had to be taken down in 1894 (Southern Daily Echo). The only 12thc. feature is a Purbeck font.

Chilworth was held by Bernard Pauncevolt in 1086, and by Godwine from King Edward before the Conquest. It was assessed at 2 hides and the Domesday entry mentions a church in the village. The overlordship of the manor passed from the crown to the Bohuns, Earls of Hereford, in the 13thc. and remained with that family until the end of the 14thc. As for the tenancy, Agnes Peverel was holding lands in Chilworth in 1230, and she and her heirs remained in possession until Thomas Peverel, here great great great grandson sold it to Thomas Tyrell in 1365. The later medieval history of the manor will be found in VCH (1908), 468-69.

The gift of the medieval church to the priory of St Denys, Southampton was confirmed by Humphrey de Bohun in the reign of Edward I, and it remained with the priory until it was dissolved.

Fonts of this type, either in Purbeck or Sussex marble are commonly found in Hampshire and Sussex and less commonly over the entire south of England in areas where suitable local stone was not available. They were centrally produced near the quarries and widely exported throughout the later 12thc and early 13thc. The VCH entry describes the condition of the font in 1908, when the original shafts were missing and the bowl was balanced on a wooden post. This dates the production of the replacement shafts after 1908.