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29/04/2022
22/04/2022
Earth Day 2022: Calne Community Nature Reserve
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 #𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞-𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚. Whether it's a window box or a whole acre, every space pledged helps us understand where the spaces for wildlife are and the connections between them - helping us to identify urban dead spots and discuss improvements with landowners.
You can pledge your space regardless of where you are in your journey. Just fill out the form to let us know the habitats you are providing.
Join the other wildlife-friendly gardeners and pledge today:
18/04/2022
Calne Curiosities: Dr Pownall: The Mayor that Murdered
In this series, I will investigate some strange, and some not so strange, curiosities in the history of Calne and the surrounding area.
TW: Please be aware that the following article mentions: Slavery, Mental Illness, Attempted Suicide. Please do not continue if this will offend or upset. Please seek appropriate help, if necessary.
Northfield House on Curzon Street, now St. Cecilia's under the ownership of St. Mary's school, was once home to a lunatic asylum.
When the original owner sold the house, and business, on to brother-in-law, Dr James Pownall, there followed a series of unfortunate events.
First an 'accidental' death at Northfield House, followed five years later when Pownall viciously attacked his mother-in-law. Then finally, the murder of a servant by Pownall just a few months later.
What are the details of this tragic tale of this doctor and one-time Mayor of Calne? Was he a man on a murderous mission, or a person afflicted by a poorly understood medical condition?
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| Welcome to the Asylum... |
Dr Shadforth Ogilvie set up the asylum for insane patients c. 1833, as Calne's first attempt at mental health services. So successful were his methods, known as uniformly one of kindness and conciliation, that he expanded in 1839.
Eventually, around 1845, Ogilvie sold the business to his brother-in-law, Dr James Pownall.
Pownall was born and baptised in Jamaica during 1807. He had nine siblings, consisting of seven sisters and two brothers. His parents were James Corne Pownall, a Lieutenant Colonel and an elected House of Assembly Member for Jamaica, and Sarah Watt his housekeeper of mixed white and black ancestry. Needless to say, they were unmarried. It is likely that James Pownall grew up on the Silver Hill plantation in Jamaica, at which his father 'owned' 150 slaves.
At some point Pownall made his way to Wroughton, before moving to Calne. Pownall qualified as a surgeon and apothecary in 1828, the same year he married local girl Ann Lucretia Bishop.
He worked with Ogilvie at Northfields, perhaps living in the asylum, which doubled as Ogilvie's home.
Pownall was admitted as a patient at Fishponds in 1839 and Northwoods in 1840, both in Bristol, before returning to Calne. Nothing seem to be known of his treatment or illness at this time.
His partnership with Ogilvie dissolved in 1842, however Pownall used the £1000 inheritance from his father, who has passed in 1824, to acquire the house and asylum. He built on the success of Dr Ogilvie, caring for "Mentally Afflicted and Nervous Patients" by 1850.
The events that would lead to the murder of the servant would begin in 1854, half way into Pownall's term as Mayor of the Borough of Calne.
Accidental Death at Northfields House
The first of four incidents involving Pownall, occurred just a month earlier, when Pownall had broken a poker on the head of a patient that he had suspected of poisoning his food. This led to a short stay at Munster House private asylum, before returning to Northfields House where he fatally shot a patient.
It was the morning of 22 June 1854, a Thursday seemingly like any other. Pownall and one of his inmates at Northfield house were walking in the garden. Their purpose was for Pownall to shoot his double-barrelled gun, which only had a single barrel loaded at the time, at some blackbirds that had been destroying his currants.
It is said that the gun suddenly, and unexpectedly, discharged with the shot destroying the leg left of the inmate, Mr Samuel Arden. Arden was attended to immediately with three surgeons being sent for from Bath. One of the surgeons, carried out an operation to amputate the left leg, but it was of little use; Arden was dead by 5am the following morning.
The verdict from the jury was that the gun had discharged accidentally and that Pownall had rendered every possible attention to Arden by his calling upon several ‘eminent surgeons to attend him’. Pownall wasn't prosecuted for either event. Could this has been due to his position as a mayor and respected surgeon?
Pownall Attacks Mother-in-Law
The second incident, during 1859 saw Pownall himself suffer a mental affliction while living with his wife, sister and his 80-year-old mother-in-law. He beat his mother-in-law, who miraculously survived.
He was found by Dr. Morris, who discovered that Pownall had swallowed chloroform with the intention of killing himself. All Pownall could say on the matter is that the woman 'annoyed him'. This was not the first attempt to take his own life, he has tried the same method previously when fearing that his food had been poisoned.
He was sectioned at Northwoods asylum near Bristol and had apparently recovered
after four months, as there was no legal power, at the time, for Pownall to remain an inpatient. He was discharged to Mr. Leete, a surgeon and colleague in
Lydney, Gloucestershire.
Pownall Murders Servant while in Gloucestershire
Unfortunately, on 30 August 1859, 15 year old Louisa Cook wasn’t as fortunate as Pownall's mother-in-law.
Pownall murdered this servant of a house he was staying in by using a razor to her throat. His words to a policeman named Pope were, ‘I can tell you I unfortunately did it. I can hardly assign any motive. I felt I was bound to do something, and I could not resist it.’.
Regardless of Pownall’s confession, he was found with a bloody razor on his dressing table, sitting on his bed in a shirt spotted in blood. There was no doubt he had committed this murderous act.
The very last words of Louisa Cook when she rushed into the room of Mr. Charles Lydiat Leete, who’s house Pownall was residing in at the time, were ‘Master, he has murdered me. I must die!’.
The verdict of the jury was Wilful Murder, leaving Pownall committed for trial at the next assizes.
Eventually declared insane, Pownall was admitted to Bethlem Asylum in 1860.
During 1865, Pownall was transferred to the newly-built Broadmoor Hospital where he remained an inmate until his death on 11 December 1882, as nobody would risk his release even though he never showed signs of mental health issues again.
It would seem that Pownall was a victim himself, of paranoid delusions and violent bouts of temporary insanity. The Victorian Age is often seen as an age of miraculous advances, however in this case, the best treatment available seems to have been to keep the man locked up
Sources:
Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery (ucl.ac.uk)
1827 Jamaica Almanac - St Andrew and St David slave-owners (jamaicanfamilysearch.com)
news-and-notes-spring-2021-final-version.pdf (rcpsych.ac.uk)
06/04/2022
Tiktok: Calne Past and Present
I recently started a TikTok channel. Check it out here:
@calnepastandpresent
04/04/2022
Place Names of Calne: Cherhill View
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| The entrance to Cherhill View. |
This development, opposite Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum, was granted planning permission for up to 125 units including affordable housing (16/08211/VAR). Greensquare purchased 17 of the properties from Redrow, with residents moving in by May 2018[1]. The planning permission also approved a demantia care facility comprising of 75 dementia care beds and a 10 bed palliative care unit.
Cherhill View is a c. 2016 Redrow Development that includes house designs from their Heritage Collection. The two phase project, with possible future development, added c. 125 houses next to the Rookery Park development on Marden Farm.
Impressively Redrow decided to provide around 2000 square metres of land at this development for use as allotments[1a].
The names of the streets are primarily local landscape features:
Acorn Lane
Presumably named for the oak tree, to continue the plant theme from Rookery Park. The development prior to and next door too, gave their short closes plant-related names, such as Bay Close. An alternate view is that it is named for the English oak tree inside which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. and the end of the English Civil War (also see Roundway Rise).
Beacon Drive
Named for Beacon Hill, Hilmarton. Beacon tends to mean land where signal fires were lit[2]. This is possible, even though this hill isn't the highest in the area, although as yet I have found no written evidence.
Blacklands Rise
Named for the parish of Blackland, which is across Stockley Lane.
Capstone Drive
This must refer to the Lansdowne monument, see Monument View.
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| Cherhill Down and the Lansdowne Monument. |
Cherhill Way
Cherhill is a nearby village and downs. The downs are famous for the Lansdown monument, Oldbury Castle hill fort, and the Cherhill White horse.
Kingsplay Close
King's Play Hill, is a site of Special Scientific Interest near Heddington. This area supports both local and nationally rare species of plant. This hill, previously King's Play Down, is apparently named because of the complete Royalist victory at Roundway Down in 1643[3].
Monument View
The Lansdowne monument is a Grade II* listed, 120ft high, obelisk built by the order of 3rd Marquis of Lansdowne in 1845. At the time, this area was at the edge of the Bowood Estate[4] with the oblisk made in memory of Sir William Petty (1623-87).
Petty came from the humble origins as a boy from a family of clothiers and would rise to become an economist (writing extensively on the subject), a physician (serving Oliver Cromwell's army), a scientist, a philosopher, and also for a brief time; a member of parliament.
The oblisk was designed by Sir Charles Barry, who also rebuilt the Houses of Parliament. It was restored in 1990 by the National Trust, but the use of soft stone has mean the monument is crumbling away. From around 2009 the monument has been surrounded by a fence and netting. With the cost estimated at around £600,000, we may be waiting a while for the monument to be restored[5].
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| Morgans Road, with Morgan's Hill in the distance (left). |
Morgan's Hill is a 12.6 hectare site of Special Scientific Interest, since 1951. It is well recognisable due to the two masts that can be seen for miles around. The hill has a long history of communication being home to a Marconi Imperial Wireless Chain receiving station from 1913 to 1935, seeing some conversions along the way to enable different uses. In 1981 Wiltshire Constabulary erected the current masts, with microwave dishes added in 1998, by Mercury Communications, a mobile phone network provider. In 1990 the MoD applied to site a mobile prefabricated building with a 2700 litre fuel storage tank and satellite dishes, however their current involvement is unknown. It is currently thought that Arqiva, a telecommunications company providing infrastructure and broadcast transmission facilities, manages the site[6].
The Morgan of Morgan's Hill is said to be one Mr. John Morgan of Heddington who robbed and murdered his uncle. Morgan was apparently hung before a large crowd on this hill that now bears his name[7].
Olivers Court
Oliver's camp / Oliver's castle is a univallate hillfort dating from approximately 600 BC and excavated by Wiltshire archeaologist, Maud Cunnington and her husband in 1907. Pottery dating from the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and the Romano-British perdio found over time[8]. The hillfort was given the name from the idea that Oliver Cromwell had once occupied it with his army, although this is unlikely[9].
Roundway Rise
The Battle of Roundway Down (Devizes) took place on 13 July 1643[10]. This is a well known battle of the First English Civil War, so I won't replicate what is already available from many sources, other than to say that this battle was won in what is known as the "Royalist summer", which saw the Royalists capture the city of Bristol only a few weeks later. Ultimately the Parliamentarians won the Civil War with Oliver Cromwell becoming Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland between 16 December 1653 and 3 September 1658, where he died at the Palace of Whitehall in London. More recently, the film adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 used Roundway Down Iron Age Hill Fort as the location of the 'Golden Country' of Winston's dreams.
References:
[1] Giant Peach Design - giantpeach.agency. 2019. GreenSquare Group: Residents start moving into new homes in Calne. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.greensquaregroup.com/news/residents-start-moving-into-new-homes-in-calne. [Accessed 21 August 2019].
[1a] The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 2020. Housing developer opens allotments for Calne community | The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/14983370.housing-developer-opens-allotments-for-calne-community/. [Accessed 25 February 2020].
[2] Cavill, P., 2018. A New Dictionary of English Field-Names. 1st ed. Great Britain: English Place-Name Society.
[3] E., J., 1939. English Place-name Society: Volume 16, The Place-names Of Wiltshire. Cambridge University Press.
[4]National Trust. 2019. The Lansdowne Monument | National Trust. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/calstone-and-cherhill-downs/features/the-lansdowne-monument. [Accessed 21 August 2019].
[5] BBC News. 2019. Lansdowne Monument 'has deteriorated over winter' - BBC News. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-35648593. [Accessed 21 August 2019].
[6] Wikipedia. 2019. Morgan's Hill - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan%27s_Hill. [Accessed 21 August 2019].
[7] Wiltshire Council. Bishops Cannings [ONLINE]. Available at: https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getcom.php?id=20 [Accessed 21 August 2019].
[8] Digital Digging. 2019. Oliver's Castle Hillfort, Wiltshire - Digital Digging. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.digitaldigging.net/olivers-castle-hillfort-wiltshire/. [Accessed 21 August 2019].
[9] n., N., 1859. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 01 January 1859. p.7.
[10] Wikipedia. 2019. Battle of Roundway Down - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roundway_Down. [Accessed 21 August 2019].
01/04/2022
Place Names of Calne: The Pippin
𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?
The Pippin in Calne is named for the iconic The Lord of the Rings Trilogy character, Pippin Took.
Soon after the publication of the LOTR books in 1954 and 1955, some local fans of the books petitioned Calne Borough Council for the name change. Previously the 'U' shaped road was known partially as Broken Cross Road and bordered some houses and allotments in the area.
While there was initial opposition, the uniqueness of the proposal was endearing to the local residents, who got behind the idea.
All but one councillor voted for the proposal, stating at the time, "This is more ridiculous than the Westward Ho! business".
April Fools!
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