Timeline Calne: 1886 Calne's new Town Hall

Calne Town Hall, 2017.

In June 1883 the old Town Hall, that had existed on the West of the High Street, was demolished with the intention of building a replacement on the same site. However, public opinion made it known that this would be a mistake.

Carved stone coat of arms
from the original town hall
is still visible on our current Town Hall.

Therefore, the council purchased the Town Mill from Lord Lansdowne for £950. Additional land was purchased at a later date to include a new police station and two cells (which now form the mayor's parlour), which was to the right of the archway.

Local builder, Beazley had his bid accepted at £4,800. The instruction to begin the work was not given until April of 1884, as additional funds needed to be raised. The original plans by Bryan Oliver of Bath, didn't include the clock tower, but was agreed to during the building process.

While the Council met in the new Town Hall on 3 March 1886, the foundation work was so expensive that it wasn't until 1888 that the building was paid for. The massive cost for the foundation was due to the discovery that the actual ground level was over 7 metres down, incuding the uncovering of some red deer antlers, and over the centuries had appeared higher due to being silted up.

The majority of the building, almost 70%, was paid for by subscribers, who paid £6515 6s 1d of the final cost of £9375 4s 3d. Henry William Harris was the first Calne Town Mayor to serve in the new Town Hall (1886 and 1187).

Resources:
Treloar, P., 1973. Calne Borough Council in the Nineteenth Century. 1st ed. Calne
Marsh, A., 1903. A HISTORY OF THE BOROUGH AND TOWN OF CALNE. 1st ed. London: HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LTD. 

Welcome to Calne: Boundary Signs

During January 2018, new boundary signs were installed to replace the signs that had been in place in the 1980s, and will be discussed further down this article.

Our new boundary signs sprang to life as an idea by Heavenly, a consultancy firm hired to formulate ideas that could bring Calne to life (brand positioning) during late 2014. Out of this came the idea for an A4 tourist route, a 125 mile route connecting many iconic sites, this became known as The Great West Way. A working group was set up to look at the Wiltshire section of this route and from this a decision was made to replace the entry signs for Calne.

This project included assessing other signs around the country and getting quotes for different options. It was decided to have a continuity with the Wiltshire boundary signs and to use the Calne town colours of gold and green to match the internal signs in the town.

The branding of 'Town of Discovery' was chosen because of the people, events, discoveries, and industry that have had such a massive impact on the town over the years.

John Skinner, Calne Our Place treasurer, was the driving force behind the new boundary signs and, quite rightly, won a Civic Award from Calne Town Council for his work on this project. Thank you to John for many of the details in the above article.

Previous Boundary Signs

I am told, by word of mouth, that these boundary signs were the result of a school compatition in the 1980s. The designs were then installed at the boundaries of Calne at that time.

While this sign is clearly very different from our modern sign, they are typical of the time, but also have some very interesting features, such as in the photo above, where the Calne Coat of Arms can just about still be seen, but is very faded.

In the photographs below, we can see Calne town hall and St. Mary's church. While this was never particularly visible, a close inspection is rewarding.

Additionally, underneath the writing is an image of our famous 'Two Pigs' sculpture, which was visible and a reminder of Calne's past economic activities. 

I have to say that the plan worked on me. I find the new signs bold, vibrant, and to be honest, a bit posh! Driving to Chippenham and Melksham emphasises, to me, how much this project was needed and just how well it has been executed.

I very nearly didn't get any photographs of the old sign because I always thought, "oh, I can photograph it any time", then the boundary signs changed and I thought all was lost! This one is currently stored at Calne Heritage Centre, which I saw just by chance while visiting for a different reason, and can be seen during their opening hours.


Great West Way Resources:
Great West Way
Great West Way: 2015 Update