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Melksham's
name of the town probably came from the Saxon Meoc Ham. A
ham being a piece of low lying ground in the bend of a river
and Meoc being the name of the owner (Michael). Or possibly
Meolc (ham) meaning "milk producing" Thus becoming
"a piece of land where your dairy herd would flourish".
The town was a wool town in medieval times, and was once
part of a royal forest used for hunting. After the discovery
of springs in 1816 it tried, but failed, to become a spa town
even after building a pump room, baths, promenade and crescents. |
More recently the town was a WW2 airbase, now long gone. Outside
the town, at Bowerhill, a new RAF Station was built from 1940 onwards
and many service personnel passed through the area during the war
years with huts for accommodation at Berryfield.
Early explorers identified Melksham at a ford across the River
Avon. In the Doomsday Book, Melksham was recorded as having 8 mills,
130 acres of water meadows and 8 leagues of pasture in length and
breadth. The population consisted of 19 ploughmen, 189 landholders
and 35 serfs, totalling around several hundred. Adjoining the arable
land was the medieval forest of Melksham which, combined with Chippenham
Forest, covered about 33 square miles. During the early 13th Century,
King John visited Melksham Forest several times in order to enjoy
his favourite sport of hunting.
Melksham used to hold Friday markets way back
in the early 13th century and was considered important enough
to be granted a Charter. Later the market was transferred
to Tuesday. In the late 19th Century farm produce was sold
on the first day of the fair, horses were tethered down King
Street and in the Market Place as far down as Bank Street.
The markets continued to be held on alternate Tuesdays but
were ended by the advent of the Second World War. Recently
there has been moves to re-establish the street market. |
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Other industries were moving into the town.
In 1803 Charles Maggs moved from Radstock and, with his experience
of that coalmining area, set up a rope factory on what is
now Spa Road. The Wilts and Berks Canal was cut alongside
this site, connecting to the Kennet and Avon Canal at Staverton.
By 1810 both canals were fully open bringing raw materials
including coal and slate into the town and taking away finished
products. In 1813 mineral waters were first noticed at Bowerhill
and chalybeate and saline springs were used to promote Melksham
as a spa.
A company was formed in 1815 and a pump room and houses for
visitors were built and Spa Road developed. The enterprise
prospered until 1822 and in 1815 a reading room and circulatory
library at Mr. Ward’s printing offices was opened, primarily
for visitors to the spa. |
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100 years of milk
.....
Charles Maggs was the originator of The Wiltshire United Dairies
at The West End Farm on Semington Road. It began as a collecting
depot and butter factory, in 1897 amalgamating with The North
Wilts Dairy Company and in 1900 moved to a site covering 3
acres adjoining the Avon Bridge.
Eventually it became part of The Unigate Group with the
business being transferred to Wootton Bassett in the 1980s
but the remains of the milk industry has fallen and the Unigate
Group has moved on. The only visual remains of the large chimney
for the condensery were demolished in 2005. |
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Moles Brewery
5 Merlin Way
Bowerhill
Melksham
SN12 6TJ
www.molesbrewery.com
Telephone: 01225 704734 |
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| Moles was established in 1982
in Melksham, Wiltshire, to brew traditional bitter, conditioned
in the cask.
The brewing equipment has been built along tradional lines
using mash tun, copper, hop back and open fermenters to produce
the 25 barrel all malt beer.
Brewing materials used include Wiltshire Malted Maris Otter
Ale malt with a smalll amount of Crystal malt: choice Kent
leaf hops of the Goldings and Fuggles variety: and a traditional
open fermenting ale yeast.
The hopped wort is collected and fermented over 5 days before
cooling and racking into 9 and 19 gallon casks.
Moles beers are delivered within a 90 mile radius of Melksham
and are available countrywide via beer agents and other brewers. |
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