Place Names of Calne: Cop Croft

Cop Croft appears c. 1900 with several houses along the path that led to the allotments, now Sainsbury's, however the area has been known as Cop Croft since at least Thomas Cruse's 1828 map of Calne. The original houses including 1 Cop Croft "Fair View" and the terraces, are of hammer-chipped stone. When it was for sale in 1951, we see that it had two double bedrooms with fireplaces on the first floor, with another two bedrooms on the second floor. It had a washroom with bath already installed, along with a coal and wood house[1].

Cop Croft

The year 1927 saw the town clerk write to the owners of Cop Croft about their willingness to sell, so the council could build more housing, the response was negative. They looked to Mill Street and Eastmead Street (see Anchor Road and Broken Cross) instead[2]. More housing on Cop Croft could have given us a very different looking Calne, with perhaps no Sainsbury's - would that have been better or worse?

Cop Croft is an interesting choice of name, which was a general name for the field garden, owned by the Marquis of Lansdowne and Lord Crewe.  Later the land became allotments and has gradually been built on. In Old English 'cop' refers to a hill, however that doesn't seem to be right for this location. Perhaps Cop is shortened from copse, which is a small group of trees. This would align with 'Pippin', which likely refers to apple trees, grown in the field gardens or allotments.



References:
[1] 'Sale of the Detached Town Residence, known s "Fair View" Cop Croft, Calne'  Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, Saturday 13 January 1951 [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001671/19510113/189/0006 [Accessed on 26 September 2019]
[2] 'Health and Housing: Prospective Building Sites'  Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, Saturday 14 May 1927 [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001557/19270514/142/0008 [Accessed on 26 September 2019]