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| No. 6, Curzon Street. |
Curzon Street is one of the very early streets in Calne, known as Cusinstret in 1245[2]. Around this time, Walteri Thurgod, who held a burgage, and William and his wife, Edith, who held a messuage, both endowed Stanley Abbey with the charters for their land on Curzon Street[3].
The name continued to change over time, being Cosenstrete in 1536, Cowsyn strete in 1548, Cozen Strett in 1695, Cossen Street in 1728[6], and finally Curzon Street in the 1828 map by Thomas Cruse.
A short History of Curzon Street
From the earliest maps we can see that Curon Street begins at The Square and is the main road out of Calne towards Studley. Grade II* listed Number 6 is one of the oldest buildings in Calne, dated 1617 in brick just below the chimney.
St. Cecilia's: However it is Grade II* listed numbers 5 and 7, known as St. Cecilia's House and dating from 1743, that has a much more interesting history. 1829 saw Dr. George Shadforth Ogilvie renting before purchasing the house, then known as Northfield House, from his mother-in-law. He developed the house to be multifunctioning: a home, a surgery, and by 1833, a lunatic asylum. An 1839 advert details that while paupers were excluded, Ogilvie's method was "uniformly one of kindness and conciliation"[7]. This asylum was the first local service for mental illness patients and was operated by Ogilvie until 1845, when he moved to Bristol.
It was a Dr. Pownall that purchased the house and set up his medical services there, and was certainly seeing "Mentally Afflicted and Nervous Patients" by June 1850[8]. 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. Found by Dr. Morris, who found that Pownall had swalled chloroform with the intention of killing himself, all Pownall could say on the matter is that the woman 'annoyed him'[9]. He was sectioned at Northwoods asylum near Bristol and had apparently recovered after four months and was discharged to Mr. Leete, a surgeon and colleague in Lydney. Sadly on 30 August 1859, Pownall murdered servant Louisa Cooke, was declared insane was eventually moved to Broadmoor and died on 11 December 1882, still an inmate as nobody would risk his released even though he never showed signs of mental health issues again.
St. Mary's School purchase half of the house from Mr. Redman in 1943, and was able to purchase the rest in 1947, at which point it was renamed St. Cecilia's, following the school's tradition of naming buildings after saints. These days the house is home to 49 boarders of St Mary's school, with restoration work carried out in 2003 and 2014[10].
13 Curzon Street was operated by Cooper's garage from c. 1940s until 1995, when Thomas's of Calne took over the site, prior to this the site was Parkhouses' slaughter house. See Thomas Court for more information.
White Horse Veterinary Surgery at 15 Curzon Street occupies a Grade II listed early 1700s house and shop. In the past the single storey part has been a butcher's shop operated by Frederick Richards in the early 1900s, the local Labour Exchange, and Calne Premier Press during the 1960s-80s.
1822 saw The Wheatsheaf open, with lighting in 1844 and sewers following in 1858[12]. Hungerford Row, the lovely curved terrace of 15 cottages, opposite what is now Goldman's (previously Coopers Filling Station), was built between 1817 and 1828.
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| Hungerford Row, Curzon Street |
In 1828, H. A. Merewether, had Castlefield House built in a 33 acre park[13]. Both Castlefield and the Lodge that led to the house (76 Curzon Street) are discussed in posts on Castlefields and Lodge Close.
St. Mary's moved from their home on The Green in 1908 and have purchased and built many buildings in the ground since that time. The purchased and demolished the enourmous Calne Union Workhouse, known at Northfields, c.1938, however the entrance lodge remains. The isolation hospital, built in 1888, was converted for St. Margaret's c.1945.
On the grounds of St. Mary's is also a listed lime kiln and the remains of a quarry. The quarry was still in use during WWII, when German POWs from Yatebury Camp worked it.
c. 2010 Westlea Housing built the Park View Terrace development.
Curzon Street Cemetery was opened in 1867 for Non-Conformist burials, which includes that of Thomas Harris and his wife Elizabeth. It is still open as of 2019.
Hermitage Cottages (56-62 Curzon Street) were built in the mid-1800s. This area was known as The Hermitage in the early 1800s made up of two farmsteads or businesses, which included a barn, stable and cart house. From that time, it seems that no. 68 is the only survivor of that period[14]. However, it seems that Castlefield House may have also gone by the name of The Hermitage too, perhaps due to the area being known by the same name and Henry Merewether owning both. In a letter between William Lisle Bowles and Caroline Bowles, in which Caroline is seeking a suitable house for her friend Lady Davenport, William recommends the house belonging to Mr Sergeant Merewether, with a "most excellent & well-laid-out Garden". Bowles goes on to call this villa Calne Hermitage[15]. Castlefields was built by this time, and is likely to be the villa being discussed.
Springfield, the Grade II listed house was built c. 1820 for grocer, William Gundry and at one time was owned by the Harris family. It was formerly known as Greenacres and is now part of Springfields Academy, a state school for girls and boys aged 5-19 that provides Special Education Needs for Autistic Spectrum Disorder along with emotional, communication, and learning difficulties.
Widening the A4
Looking back towards the beginning of Curzon Street from Goldman's the street would have been much different as around 20 houses in this area including the house that was next to 5 Market Hill, were demolished. This happened in 1968 to enable the much-needed widening of Curzon Street, which included demolition of the three-storey Plume of Feathers public house.
By 1964 many houses were already vacant due to Closing Orders. In 1964 the Medical Officer for Health reported "Curzon Street is potentially a dangerous thoroughfare to motor vehicles, pedestrians, and to the population living in the properties facing the road"[16]. The road width was very variable, as was the path width, some pavements being as little as 2'2", which would have worried pedestrians as heavy vehicles were mounting pavements on a daily basis. The four years prior to 1968 had seen 26 accidents involving motor vehicles, however this was only the number actually reported to Calne Police Station and likely was not the full total.
While the demolition of so many buildings was a loss to the town, it did allow the widening of the road, which opened up the area and increased the town's green space, known as Town Gardens. It is a well used park, particularly on Bike Meet day, which is well maintained with grass and flower displays. It's a delight to walk - or drive - past.
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| Curzon Close |
References:
[1] Pine, L., 1966. The story of surnames. 1st ed. London: Country Life Ltd.
[2] Curzon Name Meaning & Curzon Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®. 2019. Curzon Name Meaning & Curzon Family History at Ancestry.co.uk®. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=curzon. [Accessed 17 September 2019].
[3] Wikipedia. 2019. Notre-Dame-de-Courson - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame-de-Courson. [Accessed 17 September 2019].
[4] Gover, J., Mawer, A. and Stenton, F. (1970). The place-names of Wiltshire. Cambridge: At the University Press.
[5] Birch, W. (1875). Collections towards the History of the Cistercian Abbey of Stanley, in Wiltshire. The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, XV.
[6] 1728 Map of Wiltshire. Seen at Calne Heritage Centre.
[7] n.n (1839) 'INSANITY' Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 11 April 1839. Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000187/18390411/029/0001 [Accessed on 17 September 2019]
[8] n.n (1850) 'MENTAL AFFLICTION' Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 29 June 1850. Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000361/18500629/020/0001 [Accessed on 17 September 2019]
[9] Vaughan, D., 2017. Mad or Bad: Crime and Insanity in Victorian Britain. 1st ed. UK: Pen & Sword History.
[10] Wiltshire Times. 2019. Hidden history of home from home | Wiltshire Times. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/11660918.hidden-history-of-home-from-home/. [Accessed 17 September 2019].
[11] Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser. 31 January 1953.Calne's New Post Office. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001671/19530131/143/0005. [Accessed 17 September 2019].
[12] Calne: The town in the 19th century | British History Online. 2019. Calne: The town in the 19th century | British History Online. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol17/pp41-44#highlight-first. [Accessed 17 September 2019].
[13] Calne: The town in the 19th century | British History Online. 2019. Calne: The town in the 19th century | British History Online. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol17/pp41-44#highlight-first. [Accessed 17 September 2019].
[14] 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 17 September 2019].
[15] Moody, R., 2009. The Life And Letters Of William Lisle Bowles, Poet And Parson, 1762-1850. Hobnob Press.
[16] Broomhead, C.L., 1965. The Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health and Senior Public Health Inspector for the Year Ended 31st. December 1964.
[17] Planning application N/07/02450/CAC
