History is all around us
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-04-09 06:57:21 - Graham EllisSome images from the last few days - all taken close to home in Melksham (some very close indeed!) ...
Woolmore House at Bowerhill on the Melksham to Devizes Road was built by George Hulbert in 1631. It is believed to have been built to a plan of Inigo Jones. [source]. Also [here].
Erected in 1838 to designs by HE Kendall, the Melksham Union workhouse at Semington was based on the Poor Law Commissioners's standard cruciform plan. [source]. Also [here]
The original spring was first discovered when a shaft was being sunk to find coal about 1770 but the curative properties of the water were not 'brought to notice' until 1813. The baths and pump room were in the grounds of the house now called Agra.[source]
In 1813 several local gentry who had made money from the woollen industry, the Awdrys, the Longs, the Methuens and the Phillips formed the Melksham Spa Company with a capital of 7000 guineas in order to exploit the Chalybeate Spring discovered in 1770 to the south of Melksham. A well was sunk more than 300 feet deep and six large semi detached boarding houses and a hotel were built ... [source]. Also [here].
The Wilts and Berks Canal was authorised in 1795 was completed in 1810. The route of the canal from a junction with the Kennet and Avon at Semington went to Swindon, this length being completed by 1804, and then on to Abingdon. The junction for the Wilts and Berks is now sealed by a stone wall (left of picture).[source]