Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MELKSHAM

MELKSHAM, a town, aparish, a sub-district, district, and a hundred, in Wilts. The town stands on the river Avon, and on the Wilts and Berks canal, adjacent to the Wilts, Somerset, and Wey mouth railway, 9¾ miles E by S of Bath; was anciently surrounded by a forest of its own name, a favourite hunting-ground of Edward I.; was an important place in the Norman times, and in those of Edward I. and John; declined so much at a later period as to have escaped the notice of Leland ibis description of its neighbourhood; rose again to importance as a seat of manufacture; underwent some decline after the introduction of railways; consists chiefly of one long street, irregularly aligned, but mostly well built; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling-place; and has a head post office,‡ a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, two chief inns, a town hall and cheese-market, a four-arched bridge, a church, four dissenting chapels, national and British schools, and a literary institution. The town hall and cheese-market was built in 1847, at a cost of £3,350; and is in the Italian style, of white freestone. The church is a large cruciform structure, partly of the 12th century; has an embattled and pinnacled tower, rising from the W end; includes two side chapels; was restored and enlarged in 1845, at a cost of £2,000; and contains monuments of the Awdrys, the Jenkinses, and others. The dissenting chapels are for Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and Wesleyans. Two mineral springs, respectively saline and chalybeate, were discovered near the town in the last century; a new saline spring was obtained, at a depth of 351 feet, in 1816; and a bath and pump-room, with a crescent and promenade, was subsequently erected, at considerable cost, in expectation of making the town a watering-place; but it proved a failure. A cattle and cheese market is held on every alternate Tuesday; and a cattle-fair, on 27 July. The manufacture of fancycloth and sacking is carried on; and there is a large cornmill. Pop. in 1851,2,931; in 1861,2,452. Houses, 577. The decrease of pop. was caused by diminished employment in the clothing and dyeing factories.

The parish includes also the tythings of Beanacre, Blackmoor, Cannonhold, and Woodrow, and the chapelry of Send. Acres, 12,572. Real property, £38,678; of which £5,000 are in mines, and £196 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851,6,073; in 1861,5,337. Houses, 1,229. The manor belonged anciently to King Harold, and belongs now to Richard Long, Esq. Beanacre was the seat of the Selfs; Send, of the Awdrys; and Melksham House, of the Longs. The living is a vicarage, united with the chapelries of Send and Earl Stoke, in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £1,215.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. The vicarage of Shaw and Whitley is a separate benefice.—The sub-district contains also the Parish of Whaddon, the chapelry of Semington, and the tything of Littleton. Acres, 14,248. Pop. in 1851, 6,671; in 1861,5,866. Houses, 1,304.—The district comprehends also the sub-district of Trowbridge, containing the parishes off Trowbridge and Hilperton. Acres of the district, 17,768. Poor rates in 1863, £10,424 Pop. in 1851,18,815; in 1861,17,233. Houses, 3,835. Marriages in 1863,115; births, 550,-of which 24 were illegitimate; deaths, 470,-of which 183 were at ages under 5 years, and 15 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,1,286; births, 5,584; deaths, 3,931. The places of worship, in 1851, were 9 of the Church of England, with 2,469 sittings; 2 of lndependents, with 1,289 s.; 12 of Baptists, with 5,340 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 100 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 100 s.; 9 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 2,056 s.; 3 of Primitive Methodists, with 280 s.; and 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 300 s. The schools were 14 public day-schools, with 1,950 scholars; 31 private day-schools, with 754 s.; 27 Sunday schools, with 3,605 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 46 s. The workhouse is in SS. emington chapel, about 2 miles from the town; and, at the census of 1861, had 160 inmates.-The hundred contains six parishes, and part of another. Acres, 21,492. Polp. in 1851,19,252; in 1861,17,696. Houses, 3,969.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, district, and a hundred"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Melksham AP/CP       Melksham Within CP       Melksham Hundred       Melksham SubD       Trowbridge and Melksham RegD/PLU       Wiltshire AncC
Place: Melksham

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.