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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].
