Chitty's childhood was spent in the country rectory of Hanwood, Shropshire.
In 1929 he and his friend Michael Markoff excavated the Monastery of St. Euthymius in the Judaean wilderness.
During the Second World War he was a chaplain in the Royal Navy, posted to Colombo and Bombay among other places.
During involvement in the 1929 excavations in Palestine, Chitty met his future wife Mary Kitson Clark (1905–2005); she was also an archaeologist.
[3] He published a large number of articles and works on early Eastern Monasticism, including his magnum opus, The Desert a City.