Melksham

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Melksham is a medium-sized English town, lying on the River Avon. It lies in the north of the West Wiltshire district, in the county of Wiltshire. It is situated 19 km (12) miles southeast of the city of Bath, 11 km (7 miles) south of Chippenham, 13 km (8 miles) west of Devizes and 21 km (14 miles) north of Warminster on the A350 national route. The 2001 UK census cited Melksham as having 20,000 inhabitants, including sizeable environs such as Bowerhill and Berryfield. As such it is Wiltshire's fourth-largest town by population after Salisbury, Chippenham and Trowbridge.

Contents

[edit] History

The town of Melksham developed at a ford across the River Avon and the name is presumed to derive from MEOLC, the Old English for milk and from HAM, a village. It was a royal estate at the time of the Norman Conquest.

In 1539 the Prioress and Nuns of Amesbury surrendered their Melksham estates to the King, which they had held for about 250 years. This property, which consisted of the Lordship of the Manor and Hundred, was in 1541 granted to Sir Thomas Seymour. Seymour then sold it to Henry Brouncker, who had already made purchases of real estate in the neighbourhood. At some uncertain date, perhaps about 1550, Brouncker built a residence for himself on the site of an earlier mansion. This was known as Place House, built in a style suitable to that of a resident lord, who was also a man of considerable wealth.

Three generations of the family lived here: Henry Brouncker the founder, (d.1569), his son, Sir William, and his grandson Henry. On the death of this last Henry, about 1600, it became manifest that the Brouncker estate was heavily encumbered, and in the course of the next twenty or thirty years, all the property was alienated with the exception of Erlestoke, where William Brouncker, the heir, retired with his wife Anne, daughter of Sir John Dauntesey. Meanwhile, Place House was occupied for ten or eleven years by Henry Brouncker’s widow and her second husband, Ambrose Dauntesey. After their death, in 1612, the house apparently was occupied by the steward, and afterwards it was conveyed to Sir John Danvers, who married into the family, in 1634. Danvers died in 1655 and the lordship of Melksham passed to his son, who then conveyed the estate to Walter Long the Younger, of Whaddon. The lordship remained in the Long family, who were descended from the first Henry Brouncker, until the early part of the 20th century, having passed to the 1st Viscount Long of Wraxall.

[edit] Early Melksham Bank

An announcement was made in the Bath Chronicle in June 1792 of the establishment of the Melksham Bank by the firm of Awdry, Long & Bruges. In November 1813 the misquoting of part of an advertisement in two London newspapers caused panic amongst the bank customers, many of whom quickly withdrew their money, reportedly causing "some bustle" among the partners of the bank. There was further trouble in 1824, when the bank was listed on a Parliamentary Paper of the House of Commons under the title "Country Banks Becoming Bankrupt". John Long, one of the original partners, had by then become sole proprietor with the financial backing of his elder brother Richard Godolphin Long MP. The elder Long lost a considerable amount of money, which his brother John had to repay him at the rate of £3,000 a year for the rest of his life. Later proprietors Moule, Son & Co announced a re-opening of the bank on the 12th of January 1826.

[edit] Masonic Lodge

Freemasonry first came to Melksham in 1817, when a former Lodge of Westbury was transferred, and the first meeting was held in Melksham at The King's Arms on 9 September that year. In 1829, because of opposition by the inhabitants of Melksham, the Lodge had to relocate to a neighbouring village, and for nearly 70 years Masonry was not practised in Melksham until the formation of the Chaloner Lodge.

The Chaloner Lodge of Freemasons (no.2644) was named after its first Worshipful Master Richard Godolphin Walmesley Chaloner, 1st Baron Gisborough, who, when not in London, resided at Melksham House. He was the brother of the 1st Viscount Long. The Lodge was consecrated on 27 February 1897, with the first meeting scheduled for 4 p.m. March 19, held at the Town Hall. Writing from London while attending his Parliamentary duties as MP for Westbury, he complained that this date was inconvenient due to his having to be at Melton Mowbray to ride in the House of Commons Point to Point Steeplechase the next day. Despite this, the meeting went ahead and Chaloner initiated 13 of the candidates, returning to London overnight by train, getting virtually no sleep before his ride in the Steeplechase early the next morning, resulting in him twice falling heavily from his horse. Later while deciding what extra furniture the Lodge required, he asked that he have a special footstool, as his chair was high and his feet "dangled unpleasantly". By November 1897 a new Masonic Lodge was built in Melksham at Church St.

[edit] Spa

In 1815 the Melksham Spa Company was formed by a group of 'respectable gentlemen', with names such as Methuen, Long and others, all of whom had done very well from the now declining textile industry. Their aim was to promote a spa, after abortive attempts to find coal had uncovered two springs. As a consequence they built six large three-storeyed, semi-detached lodging houses forming a crescent (which still exist), a pump room and hot and cold private baths. A plan for a similar crescent on the north side never materialised. Simultaneously an Act was obtained to 'improve the pleasing town of Melksham' by paving and improving its footways, and cleansing, lighting and watching the streets. The spa was not as successful as had been hoped, due in part to the popularity of the waters at nearby Bath in Somerset.

[edit] Modern Melksham

Located between Bath, Trowbridge and Chippenham, Melksham has many varied industries including Avon Rubber, which previously owned Cooper Avon Tyre plant in the town centre. CooperTires is still a major employer in the town, and Avon plc has a large modern site just 3 km (2 miles) to the south of the town near Semington, employing over 350 people. Melksham is also home to Westinghouse Brakes which produce braking systems for use on the railways.

The town has a thriving business district and is also close to the retail centres of Bath, Bristol, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Swindon and is surrounded by beautiful villages such as Lacock, Holt, Seend and Semington. Substantial funding has allowed a variety of dynamic expansion and enhancement programmes, including improvement of the town centre. To cater for the unprecedented growth and attraction in recent years, there are new schools and improved infrastructure although small pockets of Melksham town centre, including an unsightly 1960's shopping parade, await redevelopment.

Famous residents in the area include Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, who has a private residence in nearby Lacock, and the singer-songwriter Midge Ure, who lives in nearby Box. Melksham Town Hall was the location for the first stage performance by the pop singer Gary Glitter and his Glitter Band on 15th July 1972.

Melksham has been commended for a high level of social solidarity and community coherence. This is particularly notable at sporting events, at which the citizens of Melksham excel. George Ward School, the only secondary school in the Melksham catchment area, has provided education for the people of Melksham for many decades, with several athletes graduating from its ranks, such as Fitzroy Simpson and Rory "Van Gogh" Sloan.

Out-migration of the talented and most able people has left the town with an elderly and predominantly working-class population, but despite this, the town is still growing, with major new developments expanding in the Bowerhill/Hunter's Meadow district to the southeast. The Forest area of the town has traditionally been a working class council estate.

[edit] Suburbs

Melksham Forest, Bowerhill (a small residential satellite town generally considered as part of Melksham), Berryfield (a village south of and adjacent to Melksham, often considered part of the town), Beanacre (a village to the north, again often considered as a northern suburb of the town) Hunter's Meadow (a relatively new district north of Bowerhill).

Based upon its overall road length, the shortest street in Melksham is aptly called "Short Street", this is situated at the top of Melksham Forest.

[edit] Transport

The town is served by Melksham railway station, on the branch line from Chippenham to Trowbridge, but there is only a limited service.

Melksham is on the north-south A350 main road from the M4 motorway to Poole on the south coast. It is served by bus companies including Faresaver and FirstGroup plc

[edit] Local government

The most significant local government functions (including schools, roads, social services, waste disposal and emergency planning) are carried out by Wiltshire County Council.

The town also falls within the area of West Wiltshire District Council, which deals with leisure services, development control, and waste disposal.

Melksham is a civil parish with an elected town council. This has a mostly consultative role, and the chairman of the town council has the title Mayor of Melksham. The outskirts of Melksham, and some surrounding communities, are administered by another parish council, Melksham Without.

Local elections generally return a mixture of Labour members, Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, and Independents.

[edit] Representation in parliament

Melksham is in the Devizes parliamentary constituency, and its Member of Parliament since 1992 has been the front-bench Conservative Michael Ancram.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • British Spas from 1815 to the Present: A Social History by Phyllis M. Hembry, Leonard W. Cowie, Evelyn E. Cowie - Social Science - 1997
  • Wiltshire Notes and Queries. Vol. IV 1903
  • Chaloner Lodge No. 2644 Installation & Centenary Festival Booklet. G. Webb 1997


Coordinates: 51°22′N 2°08′W

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