Walking the Horsebrook Nature Trail

 

Calne Town Council recently restarted their Visit Calne tourism blog with a post by the Mayor (Calne Town Mayor and Deputy Mayor).

They asked me to write a short post. I decided to write about the Horsebrook Nature Trail, an area of Calne I enjoy.

Each fortnight will feature a new post on a range of topics, each written by a different person.

If you'd like to have a read, here's the link.

Place Names of Calne: Bank Row, Bank House

Bank Row is so named as it is the row of housing behind the 1901 built bank building, known as The Old Bank House. This development, which included Carnegie Mews, was completed in 1995 and opened by Richard Needham, MP on 27 October 1995, it occupies part of what used to be the Harris factory site.

Both Carnegie Mews and Bank Row, were built by  ARC properties, designed by Aaron Evans Associates, with funding from the Housing Corporation by a partnership between the District Council, the Knightsbridge Housing Association and Cowlin Developments. The final development consists of 22 houses, 6 flats and
3 shop units designed as terraces.

The Old Bank House has had a varied history, being used by the Harris Factory from the 1920s as the Works Laboratory. In 1960 Martin's Bank took over the building before merging with Barclay's Bank in 1969. Despite all the upheaval of the demolition of the Harris factory and the rebuilding of Calne Town Centre, Barclays Calne branch remained in operation until October 2013.

In 2015 the Old Bank House, which is Grade II listed, was renovated into a cocktail and wine bar.

This was closed in 2019 and is now operating as the Piggy Bank Micropub.

The other part of the building is known as 'Bank House' used as the Calne Town Council offices.

 

To discover more about the place names of Calne, buy the book: