Calne

Coordinates: 51°26′07″N 2°00′15″W / 51.4353°N 2.00427°W / 51.4353; -2.00427

Calne
Calne  Calne shown within Wiltshire
Population	13,606 [1]
OS grid reference	ST998707
Unitary authority	Wiltshire
Ceremonial county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CALNE
Postcode district	SN11
Dialling code	01249
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Wiltshire
Ambulance	Great Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Devizes
List of places: UK • England • Wiltshire

Calne (pronounced /kɑːn/) is a town in Wiltshire, southwestern England. It is situated at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs hill range, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The town lies on the River Marden, the Wilts & Berks Canal and the A4 road 18 miles (29 km) east of Bath, 6 miles (9.5 km) east of Chippenham and 13 miles (21 km) west of Marlborough. London is some 90 miles (145 km) to the east. According to the 2001 Census, Calne's population numbered 13,606 inhabitants (15,000 est. 2009).

History

In AD 978 Anglo Saxon Calne was the site of a two-storey building with a hall on the first floor. It was here that St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury met with the Witenagemot in order to justify his Church reforms, which were causing great controversy due to the secular priests being replaced by Benedictine monks and the influence of landowners over churches on their lands being taken away. At one point Dunstan called upon God to support his cause, at which point the floor collapsed killing most of his opponents, whilst Dunstan and his supporters were in the part that survived. This was claimed as a miracle by Dunstan's supporters.

Bronze sculpture in Calne celebrating the town's best-known industry

Calne had a significant woolen broadcloth industry in the 18th century, and evidence of this can be seen on The Green in Calne, where many buildings such as Georgian era clothier's houses and some of the twenty cloth mills originally involved in this industry along the River Marden in Calne remain. St Mary's parish church was built on the generous donations of rich clothiers and medieval wool merchants in the 15th century.

Calne's best known industry was the Harris pork processing facility that dominated the town architecturally and provided employment directly and indirectly to many of the residents until the early-1980s - at its closure in 1983 for example it employed over 2,000 people out of a town population of 10,000. It is said that the pork curing industry developed because pigs reared in Ireland were landed at Bristol and then herded across England on drovers' roads to Smithfield, London, passing through Calne. The factory started in the second half of the 18th century when brothers John and Henry Harris started businesses which merged in 1888 as C. & T. Harris & Co. The factory has now been fully demolished and the area where it used to be located redeveloped as shops, housing and a library. As a result of the closure of the factory unemployment in the town increased considerably and for much of the 1980s Calne suffered many of the economic restructuring problems more normally associated with large cities.

The Porte Marsh Industrial Estate on the north side of the town now provides the bulk of the town's internal employment. It is home to around 100 companies in predominantly light industries and information technology. The Belgian company Deceuninck has invested considerably in this area and operates two large facilities at Porte Marsh, notably a new production and distribution centre which now dominates the north side of town. Another significant employer is the Exception Group, a large electronics company. In 2006 plans to build a sizeable cement production plant on the Porte Marsh site were vigorously opposed by local residents and planning permission was refused by the council ^[2].

Modern Calne

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During the late-1990s and early-2000s, Calne was considered to be one of the fastest-expanding towns in the South West England region, with a population projected to peak at around 16,000 by 2012. The Lansdowne Park housing development (completed in late 2008) has substantially increased the physical scale of the town, creating an entirely new northwestern suburb, including a new primary school, medical surgery and a small shopping area. This area has particularly attracted professional workers from traditionally more expensive areas such as Bath, Bristol, Marlborough and as far afield as the 'silicon valley' towns of central Berkshire. Lansdowne Park is named to reflect the development's proximity to the seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne, whose family has resided at the nearby Bowood House country estate since 1784.

Aside from the final completion of Lansdowne Park, small pockets of new housing developments are evident across the town, but on a far smaller scale. In October 2007, the go-ahead was granted for the creation of a major new £1m Football Foundation outdoor facility at Beversbrook on Calne's northern edge, which was officially opened in April 2009.

The draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy, published in 2008, recommended the building of 13,700 additional dwellings within the District of North Wiltshire during the period 2006 – 2026. Of these, some are designated for Calne.^{[citation needed]}

Notable architecture

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Notable buildings in the town include St Mary's Church, an array of houses on The Green and the Town Hall. Of particular note is the new Library which has won awards for its innovative design and was opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.

However, since the demolition of the Harris pork factory and the completion of the first phase of redevelopment/regeneration in 2001, Calne has, in general, been successfully transformed into an attractive setting compared to its run-down image of the 1980s and 1990s. A substantial amount of scaffolding materialised across Calne town centre throughout 2007-2008 with a view to the renovation of several prominent buildings.

Transport and infrastructure

Calne's former railway station opened in 1863, the terminus of a branch line of the Great Western Railway from Chippenham. There was initially one intermediate stop - Stanley Bridge Halt. The opening of another quite late in the line's history - Black Dog Halt - was not enough to slow the inevitable decline. The branch closed as a result of the Beeching Axe in September 1965, having achieved the dubious distinction of making the biggest loss per mile of track of any line in the country.

The town centre suffers from heavy traffic congestion with large queues stretching along Wood Street, Curzon Street, Oxford Road and The Pippin most of the day. This is caused by North Wiltshire Council's decision to only allow single-file traffic between Curzon Street and Wood Street with traffic heading towards Wood Street having priority. The A4 road through the town is usually close to gridlock during rush hours because of this.

A northern bypass road (part of the A3102 road) was completed in 2001 and an eastern bypass is under consideration for possible construction in 2012.

Calne is equidistant (12 miles/19 km) from the M4 motorway at Junction 16 (Wootton Bassett/Swindon West) to the northeast of Calne, and the westbound M4 junction 17 just north of Chippenham to the northwest. The closest main passenger airport is Bristol International Airport, 38 miles (61 km) to the southwest. Calne is also one the largest UK towns not served by a rail station, nor does it have a bus station, though in March 2007 it was designated as a National Express stop on route 403 from Bath to London via Heathrow Airport once a day. This service runs with wheelchair-accessible coaches.

Shopping

Aside from its Sainsbury's, Somerfield and Iceland supermarkets, Calne is somewhat lacking for those requiring retail therapy. The town is has witnessed its fair share of transient enterprises in recent years and several units on Phelps Parade remain empty. However, an expansion of the Sainsbury's store in the town centre was completed in September 2007. Furthermore, a Tesco Express store opened in the Lansdowne Park district in December 2007, replacing the former One Stop outlet. As part of the 'New Heart of Calne' initiative, a section of Phelps Parade was redeveloped in 2009 and new mixed-use building constructed in its place, part Cotswold stone and part red brick. This was originally intended as a Woolworths outlet and thus is currently unoccupied.

Education

St Mary's, Calne^[3] is regarded as one of the UK's most prestigious independent schools for girls, with sumptuous grounds and a modern sports centre. The John Bentley School [1] is the local comprehensive high school situated on the southern periphery of Calne, and is a noted languages centre.

The closest further education institution is the Wiltshire College site in Chippenham (10 km / 6 miles away), although the college also has a small centre at The Green in Calne.

The closest higher education institution is the University of Bath campus at Claverton Down in Bath, 18 miles (29 km) to the west. The university's Oakridge campus in east Swindon is 20 miles (32 km) to the northwest. Bath Spa University lies 24 miles (38 km) away at its Newton Park campus, west of Bath.

Media

The town is covered by several different media providers, on a number of formats.

Television - Local news programmes - ITV West (ITV West Country during weekends), BBC Points West.

Radio - Eartunes, BBC Wiltshire, Heart Wiltshire.

Representatives

Calne is located in the Devizes constituency, with former Conservative Party Chairman and Northern Ireland Minister Michael Ancram serving as the local Member of Parliament.

Civic and local governance is through Calne Town Council [2] and Wiltshire Council [3].

Notable inhabitants

Notable people from Calne include Saint Edmund, John Pym and the athlete Walter Goodall George who held the world record for the mile from 1886 to 1915. Walter Goodall George also held more than 13 world records for running at the time and still holds a world record simply for holding the mile record longer than anyone else. There are two plaques in Calne to commemorate his life. One one the front of the Town Hall and one at ground level just inside the recreation grounds.

The country estate of Bowood House lies near Calne. It was here that Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen in 1774; there is a plaque in the town centre commemorating this.

Jan Ingenhousz repeated Joseph Priestley's experiments and found it was sunlight which acted upon the plants to create oxygen. Pavement display outside the Millennium library in Calne in his honour.

There is also a plaque on the wall of the house where Samuel Taylor Coleridge stayed from 1814 to 1816 as part of the Morgan household whilst writing his Biographia Literaria.

The singer-songwriter-author Julian Cope resided in a small village 7 km (4.5 miles) east of Calne, towards Avebury, until 2006, and lived in Calne itself for some years before he moved with his family to the village.

The actor David Hemmings lived in the Old Mill in Calne for many years up until his death in December 2003. His funeral was held at St. Mary's Church.

Isaac Nichols, a transported convict who became the first postmaster of Sydney, New South Wales was born here in 1770.

Former Take That singer and solo artist Robbie Williams moved to nearby Compton Bassett (4 miles east of Calne) in February 2009 after purchasing a large property there in December 2008.

Clive Farahar, the books and manuscripts expert on the BBCs Antiques Roadshow lives in the town and has a business there.

Local places of interest

• Cherhill White Horse - 5.5 km (3.5 miles) east of central Calne, carved into the south face of Cherhill Down in 1780, situated south of Cherhill village and clearly visible from the A4 Calne - Marlborough road.

Cherhill White Horse seen from Cherhill village, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Calne

• Lansdowne Monument - situated close to the summit of Cherhill Down, the 38 m high (125 ft) stone needle provides impressive views of Calne and the surrounding landscape. The mountains of South Wales and Cleeve Hill in the western Cotswolds can be seen on exceptionally clear days.
• Bowood House (including the kilometre-long Bowood Lake) - an English Heritage site, is 5 km (3 miles) to the west of Calne, accessible via the village of Derry Hill.
• Avebury stone circle & Avenue (UNESCO World Heritage Site) - Europe's largest neolithic stone circle site is 12 km (7.5 miles) east of Calne on the A4361 route towards Wroughton.

• Silbury Hill, the largest neolithic structure in Europe, is situated 12 km (7.5 miles) east of the town on the A4 route near Beckhampton.
• North Wessex Downs AONB - the range's highest summit is the Tan Hill-Milk Hill ridge near Allington, at 294 m (965 ft) above sea level,14.5 km (9 miles) southeast of Calne. This area is popular with hill walkers, and several hills over 250 m (820 ft) high are situated adjacent to Calne.
• Salisbury Plain - the northernmost point of the plain is 19 km (12 miles) to the southeast of Calne, slightly to the southeast of Devizes.
• A little further afield, Stonehenge is located 39 km (24 miles) south of the town.

Neither Avebury or Bowood House are signposted from the town, nor is the nearby historic city of Bath or major town of Swindon, both within 30 km (19 miles) of Calne.

Blackland Lakes is a large camping site on the southern edge of Calne which is popular with anglers and tourists alike. The 'lakes' themselves are in fact large angling pools.

Crop circles

Calne is a cornerpoint of an area known as the "Wiltshire crop circle triangle", which incorporates the area between Calne, Marlborough and Warminster where a large concentration of initially unexplained formations have appeared in corn fields across the area, particularly since the 1970s. Many people visit the area each year from all over the world in order to investigate the crop circle phenomenon for themselves, especially in years which have witnessed high formation activity. The Barge Inn at Honeystreet near Alton Barnes offers camping on its grounds, and is a place where visitors can meet many self-appointed experts. The "Silent Circle" information centre and roadside cafe at Cherhill, just to the east of Calne, also provided tourists with information about crop circle activity in the area, prior to its closure in 2007.

Calne Town F.C.

Founded in 1886, Calne Town F.C. play in the Western Football League Premier Division and finished in 5th position (of 20 teams) in the league table at the end of the 2005-2006 season. Their Bremhill View ground is located on the north side of the town close to the A3102 bypass.

Calne Divers

Founded at the beginning of 2008, Calne Divers was formed by a group of local divers to provide training to local people. The group is partly funded by the National Lottery.

In 2007 Calne divers found the legendary lost village of Mannings Hill at the bottom of the lake at Bowood.^[4]

Suburbs

Quemerford, Lansdowne Park, Curzon Park, Calne Marsh, Lickhill.

Twin towns

Calne is twinned with the towns of :

• Charlieu in France
• Eningen in Germany
• Caln Township [sic] in Pennsylvania, USA, was so named because it was established by people from Calne in the early eighteenth century.

Nearest towns & cities (centre to centre)

• Chippenham (10 km / 6 miles)
• Devizes (14 km / 9 miles)
• Melksham (14 km / 9 miles)
• Wootton Bassett (16 km / 10 miles)
• Corsham (17 km / 10.5 miles)
• Marlborough (21 km / 13 miles)
• Trowbridge (25 km / 16 miles)
• Swindon (27 km / 17 miles)
• Bath (30 km / 19 miles)
• Bristol (47 km / 29 miles)
• Salisbury 55 km / 34 miles)
• South Wales border near Chepstow (63 km / 39 miles)
• Newport (77 km / 48 miles)

Nearest villages & hamlets

Calne is surrounded by numerous settlements including :

• Avebury
• Beversbrook hamlet
• Blacklands
• Bremhill
• Calstone
• Charlcutt
• Cherhill
• Clevancy
• Compton Bassett
• Derry Hill
• Fishers Brook
• Foxham
• Goatacre
• Heddington
• Highway
• High Penn
• Hilmarton
• Lower Compton
• Lyneham
• Mile Elm
• Pewsham
• Ratford
• Sandy Lane
• Spirthill
• Stockley
• Studley
• Yatesbury

References

External links

• calne.org.uk
• Historic Calne photos at BBC Wiltshire
• Homepage of Calne Divers
• Photos of Calne and surrounding area on geograph

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