Calne Timeline

A Bronze Age grave found north west of Calne church may suggest an early settlement

Villas at Bowood, Studley and Sandy Lane

First documentary record of Calne in the will of King Edred

Witan meeting held at the King's house to discuss the celibacy of the clergy. The first floor collapses killing some and injuring many. Some consider the accident to be divine intervention.

Witan meeting at the King's house (site of present Castle House)

A hamlet owned by King Edward

A royal manor and a borough. The Domesday book records the manor consisting of 3480 acres, 50 acres of meadow, 2 miles of pasture, 45 burgesses, 7 mills and a population of between 500 and 600. The Church lands held by Nigel, probably Nigel the Physician

Calne church now held by Bishop of Salisbury.

Church of St. Mary the Virgin built on the site of a Saxon church: by this time St. Peter's Church at Blacklands has been built

Henry I grants the Church of Calne to the Church of Sarum and Nigel of Calne and his succesors.

Empress Maude stays at Calne Castle on her way from Arundel to Bristol

A fulling mill is built at Stanley Abbey

From this time Blackland's Mill, a corn mill, is in existence (closed 1993); a tannery is now operating in Patford Street and renovations to St. Mary's Church include the addition of chancel aisles

Henry III signs the grant of a fair to Devizes while in Calne

The Church transferred to the office of the treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral

St. Edmund of Canterbury selected as Archbishop of Canterbury while living at the old rectory

By this time a chapel has been built at Studley (closed by about 1480)

A town fair is granted, to be held on April 25th (later May 6th) on the Green (abolished 1877)

From this time Calne sends members to Parliament

A chapel is added to the north aisle of the nave of St. Mary's Church

Calstone church in existence

Edward I grants a second fair and market to be held over 3 days on the Green (abolished 1877)

A fire destroys many of the best timber frame houses

Plague at Calstone Wellingotn kills one third of tenants

North and south porches and clerestory at St. Mary's church are built and the roof of the nave is rebuilt

From this time Calne sends 2 members to Parliament

By this time a fulling mill is operating at Calstone Wellington (later becomes a corn mill)

There is a ford in the town

From this time there is a flourishing woollen industry in Calne initially producing broadcloth, later serge (C17th) drugget and worsted (C18th)

By this time there is a fulling mill in Quemerford

First documented school founded by Walter Fynamore for the education of 10 children of poor townspeople

By this time Calne has been granted a charter and becomes a corporation

Plague raging in the town kills 105 people

A new bridge over the River Marden is built

There are 2 constables for the borough

A new pillory for Calne is erected

A fulling mill is in operation at Studley

An outbreak of plague in Calne kills 55 people

The borough constables complain that there are too many alehouses in the town and that the beer sold in them is too strong

There are three inns, a tavern and 10 alehouses in Calne

Mrs Wootton gives £52 to buy bread for the poor of Calne

William Swaddon bequeaths land in Singleborough, Buckinghamshire, to benefit the poor of 5 towns including Calne which receives £4 a year

Henry Smith endows a charity to provide clothing or food to the old and infirm labouring poor in Calne

Another outbreak of plague kills 193 people.

The central tower and spire of St. Mary's Church collapses

The tower at St. Mary's Church is replaced and the north transept and east end of the church is reconstructed

Manor House at Calstone Wellington, owned by the Royalist Ducket family, is burned down

Civil War: General Waller stays in Calne mustering his troops (5000 men)

The Hart (now the White Hart) on London Road in existence

The Catherine Wheel Inn in the Strand (now Lansdowne Strand Hotel) in existence (rebuilt in the early 18th century); a meeting house for Quakers is in existence

3 fulling mills in existence in Quemerford

The Bentley School founded on The Green with endowment from John Bentley

First house licensed for meetings of Presbyterians; a Quaker meeting house is built in Wood Street

Almshouses for 8 poor women are built by Dr John Tounson south of St. Mary's Church

James II grants the town a new charter. There is to be one guild steward and 30 burgesses, forming a coporation

Sir John Ernle gives several premises in Calne to benefit 4 poor women of the town; a Presbyterian chapel is built in Back Road

Baptist chapel built in Castle Street on the site of an earlier chapel destroyed by high winds in 1703

Bowood park is bought from the Crown by Sir Orlando Bridgeman and he builds Bowood House

A market house in existence on present site of Market Hill; a workhouse opens

Fulling mill at Studley (in existence since early C13th) converted to a corn mill (demolished 1962)

A smallpox epidemic kills 176 people; new stocks are erected at Studley

Thomas Weekes gives 3 acres of land in Broughton Gifford to benefit poor widows of Calne

There are 25 inns and alehouses in the town

Walter Hungerford gives a rent charge of £20 to the churchwardens and guild stewards of Calne to help the sick, wounded or maimed inhabitants of Calne

Two fire engines are given to the borough by its MPs

Bowood is acquired by John Petty, the Lord Shelburne

John Harris opens a butcher's shop

Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen at Bowood House where he is librarian. He is living in a house on The Green

Dr Jan Ingen Housz discovers the process of photosynthesis at Bowood while living in Calne

A meeting house for dissenters is licensed at Studley

The Borough Arms (now the King's Arms) in High Street and a post office in existence

Lower Mill at Quemerford is rebuilt as a cloth factory

The Calne branch of the Wilts. and Berks. Canal is completed. It is about 3 miles long and includes 3 locks

Methodist chapel built in Back Road

Little Zoar Baptist Chapel built at Derry Hill

Samuel Taylor Coleridge living at 17 Church Street while writing his Biographia Literaria

The Baptist chapel in Castle Street is rebuilt on site of existing chapel

The Wheatsheaf in Curzon Street and the Talbot Inn at Quemerford are both open

Zion Chapel established in a converted warehouse in High Street

First floor of the market house converted to a town hall

A Methodist meeting house at Studley is certified

Boys' National School built on the Green; a candle factory is operating in Mill Street

By this time the Presbyterian chapel has closed

Primitive Methodist Society formed; there is a silk factory in the town

A private lunatic asylum licensed at Northfield House (now part of St.Mary's School)

A gasworks is built in Horsebrook (closed in 1939) and gas lighting is installed in the town by the Calne Gas and Coke Company; Calne becomes a municipal borough

George Page elected first Mayor of Calne; new Zion Chapel built in Pippin Road

The Quaker meeting house in Wood Street is rebuilt

A Society for the Cultivation of Useful Knowledge is formed with a library of apolitical and uncontroversial books. (In 1872 it becomes the Calne Literary Institution and is wound up in 1905 - its library is transferred to the new library in New Road); Christchurch at Derry Hill is built

A Primitive Methodist chapel is built at Stockley

The Strand is used as a market place and becomes the town square

The private lunatic asylum closes

The Union workhouse is built on the site presently occupied by St. Mary's School

Cloth making in the town has ceased; Plymouth Brethren are now meeting in the town

Paper is being made at Quemerford

Holy Trinity Church at Quemerford is built

Lord Shelburne presents a silver gilt snuff box to the Corporation of Calne; the Guthrie School is built

Gough's (later Maundrell's) iron foundry and engineering works operating; the Methodist Chapel at Studley is built

Sewers are laid in High Street and Curzon Street; a hospital for children is opened

A violent storm uproots 183 trees in 3 minutes in Blackland Park

Lord Shelburne presents a silver loving cup to the Corporation of Calne

Paving of the town's streets begins

A branch railway line between Calne and Chippenham is opened by the Calne Railway Company

Major restoration work to the south and west parts of St. Mary's church to the designs of William Slater; Thomas Harris patents the Ice House (an innovation enabling bacon curing to take place throughout the year)

The hospital is closed by this time

A cemetery for non-conformists, with mortuary chapel, opens in Curzon Street; Holy Trinity School at Quemerford is built; the first town crier is appointed

Calne Free Church in Church Street completed

A private railway line to Bowood House is built; St. Mary's School is founded

Calne Chronicle and Chippenham Times published in Calne

A new Methodist chapel is built in Silver Street

Street lighting installed at Derry Hill

Charles Harris & Co. bacon curers trading in Butcher Row (now Church Street)

Calne Waterworks established; sewers laid in those parts of the town previously without them

Water supplied to the town from a reservoir built at Calstone; the Market House on Market Hill is demolished

Thomas Harris & Sons bacon curers trading in High Street; Calne no longer sends members to Parliament

The present Town Hall at the Strand (designed by Bryan Oliver and on the site of the Town Mill demolished in 1884) is completed; a refuse removal service for the town begins

The Primitive Methodist Society moves to the Wesleyan chapel in Back Road

C & T Harris & Co. bacon factory formed by amalgamation of 2 existing factories; an isolation hospital is built north of Curzon Street (closed c.1934)

A recreation ground is opened in Anchor Road

Church at Sandy Lane is built

Calne railway station rebuilt in brick

Technical Institute built on the Green

A swimming pool fed by the Marden opens south east of the town (closed 1939); a schoolroom is built on to the Methodist chapel at Studley

H.J. Harris and H.W. Harris bequeath land, the income from which is to be spent on maintenance of the churchyard at Holy Trinity Church; there are now about 100 retailers in Calne; the Close Brethren meet at Stanley Home from this time; the Salvation Army is using the Unitarian chapel in Back Road

Quaker meetings have now ceased

Sand being extracted at Calne Low by 1900

Calne Borough Council builds 1700 houses

Bentley School amalgamates with the Technical Institute and becomes Calne County School - a school of science for boys aged 9-17; it is now compulsory for houses to be numbered

Girls admitted to Calne County School (later Calne County Secondary School)

A library gifted by Andrew Carnegie is built in New Road (now a Heritage Centre)

Traffic on the Wilts & Berks canal ceases

The bells at St .Mary's Church rehung

H G Harris gifts a new organ to St.Mary's Church

The Wilts & Berks Canal closed by an Act of Parliament

The Palace Cinema opens in Mill Street

Harris food processing factory (fronting New Road) opens: serious flooding in New Road

The cattle market moves to Wenhill Lane near the railway station (ceased in late 1960s); the present police station in Silver Street is built

Oxford Hall in Oxford Road built for the Open Brethren

Boys' National School amalgamated with the National Girls' School as Calne Junior School; Fynamore School (its name since 1964) built in Silver Street; provision of school dinners commences; sports grounds at Anchor Road and Lickhill Road are opened

A new motorised fire engine is bought

Isolation hospital closed

Gas works in Horsebrook closed; swimming pool closed

Stellex works opens (closed c.1990)

A telephone exchange is built in North Street

A temporary Roman Catholic church is established in an converted garage in Oxford Road

A new post office is built on the corner of High Street and Curzon Street (now only the sorting office is situated there)

The nonconformist cemetery in Curzon Street is given to Calne Borough Council and renamed Calne municipal cemetery; the part of Bowood House known as the Big House is demolished

County Secondary School (later Bentley Grammar School) moves to a site in the angle of the London and Melksham roads; Maundrell's iron foundry closes

Cattle market closed

The Presbyterian chapel in Back Road is demolished

Portemarsh industrial estate built

The Roman Catholic church dedicated to St. Edmund Rich is built; Corn mill at Studley demolished

The Weslyan chapel in Back Road is demolished and the Primitive Methodist congregation merges with the Weslyan Methodist congregation in Silver Street; the branch railway line between Calne and Chippenham is closed

The present fire station in Station Road is built

A new section of road joining High Street to Curzon street is built south of the King's Arms Hotel and the north section of High Street between the Hotel and Wood Street is pedestrianised; Calne Junior School is replaced by St. Dunstan School and Priestley School

The Palace Cinema in Mill Street is demolished

St. Edmund's Roman Catholic Primary School built

The centre of Calne is designated a conservation area; Phelps Parade is built

Bentley Grammar School merges with Fynemore School to become John Bentley Comprehensive School (later the John Bentley School); the Corporation is abolished and Calne Borough Council disappears and the town becomes part of North Wiltshire District Council

Bowood House and gardens opens to the public

The present swimming pool and indoor sports centre off Wessington Avenue is opened

The Church of St. Nicholas at Sandy Lane rededicated to St. Mary the Virgin and St. Nicholas

The Harris bacon factory and food processing factory are closed; Quemerford mills are no longer operating

The Harris bacon factory and food processing factory are demolished

Stellex works close

Maundrell's engineering works close

Blackland's Mill closed

Sainsbury's supermarket opens on the Pippin where the weekly market was previously held; footbridge built at Black Dog Hill on the site of the railway bridge

The by-pass to the north of the town opens

The present library is opened by Queen Elizabeth II; there are about 75 retail shops in Calne; the course of the river Marden, south of the library, is altered and its banks landscaped