Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-10-09 18:46:04 - Graham Ellis
Here's a recent selection of Melksham pictures ... I've got very technical of late, and I know there are some folks who have a look here occasionally to see where I've been walking the dog and what I've noticed. I tend to take (or at least publish) pictures that others might not ...
The Spa Houses on the Devizes road look impressive from the front - but they look daunting from the side. This view taken from the public footpath that leads beside the houses into the fields of Woolmore Farm at the rear.
We may complain about the noise of the A350 but this lovely walkway is just a few yards from it, parallel in the trees
Melksham Cemetry has recently had the trees and ground that border onto the track to Melksham House cleared. "For more graves", we're told.
The track to Melksham House is 7 yards wide, the gap from there to the fences of the houses is two yards ... and that's almost enough to provide a decent road access to the new campus. With the extra 5 yards in the graveyard (is that council owned too?) there would be enough space to provice a proper access into the Campus, including a separate cycle and foot way to access the canal. I have a huge respect for the dead ... but I hope the living don't do anything stupid and start dropping them in the ground here where they could hold back the future of the town. I'm sure there are much better, quieter spots where the familes and friends can pay their respects which are not just a few (now unprotected) yards from the busy A350.
Melksham is growing - this is the developing East Melksham and two or three years ago the view was just fields. Now it's half houses. And further housing and local services will be built on the field on which I'm standing just to the South of Snarelton Lane.
Last week, Wiltshire Council completed the purchase of Melksham House from Cooper Tires. The frontage is a very old listed building; the rear is a rather mixed up collection of more modern stuff, all of which is in need of either heavy ongoing tcl, or replacement. Second solution being taken ....
Melksham Town Football club is also on the site / area of the Campus, and the ground is very homely, but won't be sufficient for them to rise a division or two. So it's an excellent opportunity for them to move to something more appropriate. And I think that opportunity is being taken.
Melksham Town has been here since 1876 ... so quite a step. And so many others need to be considered too. I was chatting with dog walkers the other day, concerned at the possible loss of the field. They were reassured to learn that (a) existing users are being taken into account and (b) that the minimum sit needed was 5.7 Ha, but Melksham House and grounds is around 10 Ha ... so they're not exactly going to be filling the site with the campus!
Much more the classic view of the Spa Houses. Melksham has so much history to offer, but so many of us living locally overlook it. (OK - in this case I overlook the driveway, as Lisa and I live in part of this block!
Saturday is just about the only day of the week when you can make a sensible day trip to Swindon by train, and it's good to see people making use of it. Here's Saturday's 09:20 train to Swindon. A lot of people already on from Westbury and Trowbridge, and a good group joining at Melksham too. Return Saturday trains are just after 3 p.m. and just after 9 p.m. from Swindon. I venture to suggest that a train every 2 hours (return at 1,3,5,7 and 9) would dramatically boost ridership.
Some facilities at the station need improvement as traffic grows - other are already there but latent. There's parking for six cycles and it was good to see one.
But, alas, a station in a populous country such as hours, where people's journeys are an hour or two long, needs a train every hour or two. A daily service on the Ghan from Adelaide to Alice Springs and on to Darwin in Australia - may be plenty, but we need 10 trains each way a day, not two, to meet the needs of the towns all along the TransWilts.
The Spa Houses on the Devizes road look impressive from the front - but they look daunting from the side. This view taken from the public footpath that leads beside the houses into the fields of Woolmore Farm at the rear.
We may complain about the noise of the A350 but this lovely walkway is just a few yards from it, parallel in the trees
Melksham Cemetry has recently had the trees and ground that border onto the track to Melksham House cleared. "For more graves", we're told.
Melksham is growing - this is the developing East Melksham and two or three years ago the view was just fields. Now it's half houses. And further housing and local services will be built on the field on which I'm standing just to the South of Snarelton Lane.
Last week, Wiltshire Council completed the purchase of Melksham House from Cooper Tires. The frontage is a very old listed building; the rear is a rather mixed up collection of more modern stuff, all of which is in need of either heavy ongoing tcl, or replacement. Second solution being taken ....
Melksham Town Football club is also on the site / area of the Campus, and the ground is very homely, but won't be sufficient for them to rise a division or two. So it's an excellent opportunity for them to move to something more appropriate. And I think that opportunity is being taken.
Melksham Town has been here since 1876 ... so quite a step. And so many others need to be considered too. I was chatting with dog walkers the other day, concerned at the possible loss of the field. They were reassured to learn that (a) existing users are being taken into account and (b) that the minimum sit needed was 5.7 Ha, but Melksham House and grounds is around 10 Ha ... so they're not exactly going to be filling the site with the campus!
Much more the classic view of the Spa Houses. Melksham has so much history to offer, but so many of us living locally overlook it. (OK - in this case I overlook the driveway, as Lisa and I live in part of this block!
Saturday is just about the only day of the week when you can make a sensible day trip to Swindon by train, and it's good to see people making use of it. Here's Saturday's 09:20 train to Swindon. A lot of people already on from Westbury and Trowbridge, and a good group joining at Melksham too. Return Saturday trains are just after 3 p.m. and just after 9 p.m. from Swindon. I venture to suggest that a train every 2 hours (return at 1,3,5,7 and 9) would dramatically boost ridership.
Some facilities at the station need improvement as traffic grows - other are already there but latent. There's parking for six cycles and it was good to see one.
But, alas, a station in a populous country such as hours, where people's journeys are an hour or two long, needs a train every hour or two. A daily service on the Ghan from Adelaide to Alice Springs and on to Darwin in Australia - may be plenty, but we need 10 trains each way a day, not two, to meet the needs of the towns all along the TransWilts.