Place Names of Calne: Back Road (Back Lane, Back Street)

7-10 Back Road.

Back in 1885 Back Road, off London Road, was called Back Lane. By 1899 this was called Back Road [1].

In medieval villages, Back Lane, was a road that ran parallel to the main road at the far end of burgage plots. Burgages were town properties rented out by a lord or a king. While Back Road does run (mostly) parallel to London Road, I can't find any evidence that the properties were burgage plots. It looks likely that this road was named at a later date as an access road, with the name previously being Quarry Street[2].

7-10 Back Road is a group of Grade II listed cottages. These are late 1700s, with no earlier buildings still existing on Back Road. In 1695, a Presbyterian chapel was built in Back Road, with a congregation that numbered around 250 by 1717[3]. It is possible that the influence of Joseph Priestley, a preacher at this chapel in the 1770s, paved the way for it to become a Unitarian chapel. The congregation dwindled to 30 in 1829 and closed by the late 1830s. The building was reused by Primitive Methodists and the Salvation Army, but demolished in the 1960s.

Back Street, now Church Street
The part of Church Street from Kingsbury Street to the Green, where Divine on the Green currently operate, previously also called Rotten Row, was called Back Street in 1885[4]. By 1899 the whole of this street was called Church Street[1].




Resources:
[1] View: Wiltshire XXVII.5 (Calne Within; Calne Without) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952. 2019. View: Wiltshire XXVII.5 (Calne Within; Calne Without) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952. [ONLINE] Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/106027852. [Accessed 31 July 2019]. 
[2] Calne: The town to c.1800 | British History Online. 2019. Calne: The town to c.1800 | British History Online. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol17/pp34-41#highlight-first. [Accessed 31 July 2019]. 
[3] Calne: Protestant nonconformity | British History Online. 2019. Calne: Protestant nonconformity | British History Online. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol17/pp109-111#anchorn1. [Accessed 31 July 2019].
[4] View: Wiltshire XXVII.5 (Calne Within; Calne Without) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952. 2019. View: Wiltshire XXVII.5 (Calne Within; Calne Without) - Ordnance Survey 25 inch England and Wales, 1841-1952. [ONLINE] Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/view/120377388. [Accessed 31 July 2019].