The mine was located on the site of the current primary school, with the miners living in Windlestone Colliery, a series of terraced houses named Albert Street, Arthur Street and Prospect Terrace, locally known as The Five Rows owing to their appearance from the front.

Chilton is derivative of the Anglo-Saxon words "Cild" (Child) and "Tun" (small town, or estate).

The church was burned to the ground in 1928 with an estimate damage cost of £4000 and rebuilt with stone in 1930 at the insistence of Vicar Lancelot Wilkinson.

There is also a football ground and an all-night automatically lit basketball court, as well as recreation areas with swings, slides and climbing apparatus and a skatepark.

There are regular bus services to Ferryhill, Spennymoor, Durham, and other towns and cities within the county, such as Hartlepool and Darlington.

A large amount of the social housing in Chilton and all terraces, were to be demolished (a large percentage of Dale Street has already been demolished), but as of April 2010 phase 2 of the plans have been put on hold due to shortage of local government funding.

The names of the fallen are engraved on the marble cenotaph, and each year on Remembrance Sunday there is a ceremony in the morning, when veterans congregate to lay poppy wreaths and civilians can pay their respects to the dead of World War I.