The original well house was provided at the end of the 1800s by the
Poynder family, who also supplied well houses at Biddestone, Colerne,
and Hilmarton. The well house was repaired in 2002-2003. (Wiltshire
Historic Buildings Trust, 1967-2007, pg.29).
The verse inside the house reads:
Here quench your thirst and make in me
An emblem of true charity,
Who why my Bounty bestow,
Am neither heard nor seen to flow.
Repaid by fresh supplies from Heaven,
For every cup of water give.
I visited the well house in 2017 and got speaking to a resident. He
informed me that in all the years he'd lived there, he'd never seen
water in the well.
Proclamation steps is one of the few places in Calne that has a plaque giving a description of why a location has a name.
In 1977 to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubiliee, Calne Civic Society added a plaque to Proclamation House (a late C17, Grade II listed, building) that reads:
'The Queen's Silver Jubilee 1977
Proclamation Steps
From time immemorial Royal
Proclamations have been read to
the townspeople from these steps.
Calne Civic Society 1977.'
The proclamation steps are Grade II listed as part of a group which also includes gates, gate piers and walls to churchyard. The listing description states:
"Proclamation Steps, where Royal Proclamations were read, consist of a flight of 11 stone steps from Mill Street to the north-west corner of the churchyard, with railings to the east."
Marsh (1903) writes that "the flight of steps from the top of which, in Elizabethan and Stuart days, were first read all Royal proclamations, the reading heralded by the beat of the town drum. Second and third readings took place successively from the town bridge and the centre of the Square."
Proclamation House (21 Mill Street) is a Grade II listed building from the late 1600s. While the house will have missed out on the Eliabethan period (1558-1603), it is likely to have seen the last couple of dacades of the Stuart dynasty which lasted between 1603 to 1714. I have not been able to find out if the house was always known as Proclamation House, or if this was a later decision. There is no mention of a house on this spot prior to this one.
In more recent times, Mayor Henly proclaimed sad loss of Kind Edward VII in May 1910, while
Mayor Cooper, anncounced the accession of King Edward the Eight to the Throne in January 1936.
The steps are still in use to this day for proclamations, which are public or official announcements of an importantance, read by our fantastic Town Crier, Mark Wylie (and often accompanied by Junior Town Crier, Harrison Wylie).
However, these days, important news is often mixed with more humourous snippets, as in this video from 2015 uploaded by Pete Stedman:
To discover more about the place names of Calne, buy the book:
References: GATES, GATE PIERS AND WALLS TO ST MARY'S CHURCHYARD, INCLUDING PROCLAMATION STEPS, Calne - 1247111 | Historic England. 2018. GATES, GATE PIERS AND WALLS TO ST MARY'S CHURCHYARD, INCLUDING PROCLAMATION STEPS, Calne - 1247111 | Historic England. [ONLINE] Available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1247111. [Accessed 10 December 2018].
Marsh, A., 1903. A HISTORY OF THE BOROUGH AND TOWN OF CALNE. 1st ed. London: HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LTD.
Calne is first mentioned in the will of King Edred. This is a translation from the Old English version found in a Mid 15th century manuscript that contained Old English, Middle English, and Latin versions of the will.
IN nomine Domini. This is King Eadred's will. In the first
place, he presents to the foundation wherein he desires that his
body shall rest, two golden crosses and two swords with hilts of
gold, and four hundred pounds. Item, he gives to Old Minster
at Winchester three estates, namely Downton, Damerham and
Calne.
Old English
Middle English
Latin
References: Translation: Harmer, F., 1914. Select English historical documents of the ninth and tenth centuries. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University press. Screenshots
of section of Edred's Will: British Library. 2018. British Library
[online] Available at:
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_82931_fs001r#
[Accessed 27 July 2018].
The original well house was provided at the end of the 1800s by the
Poynder family, who also supplied well houses at Biddestone, Colerne,
and Hilmarton. The well house was repaired in 2002-2003. (Wiltshire
Historic Buildings Trust, 1967-2007, pg.29).
