Place Names of Calne: King Edward Close Development

Charlotte Court

The development at King Edward Close was completed by Hills Property[1] c. 2005 and built upon land that was previously used as allotments since at least 1899[2]. This was controversial at the time, as Calne Town Council sold the beloved allotments for housing. However, Hill agreed to leave some land for the allotments and the council achieved £1.2 million which went towards building the Beversbrook Sports Facility.

Within this development ranging from maisonettes to 3 bed town houses, are a set of other Courts. At first, I thought that there may be a connection between the Courts of Falstaff, Savoy, and Globe pointing towards Shakespeare. However, I posed the question to the followers of my Facebook page, Calne Place Names, where I was quickly told of a much more sound theory[3].

So, for the full run down:

Garden Court: Garden is a commonly used term for land that was used for horticulture, or adjoining a domestic garden[4]. As we know that this land was an allotment, the choice of this name is clear.

All of the following street names relate to varieties of vegetables:

King Edward Close, is the main road for this development and connects Swaddon Street and Ridgemead.
Charlotte Court
Falstaff Court
Globe Court
Savoy Court

Interestingly, about 10 miles north of Calne, the village Great Somerford, Wiltshire has the accolade of having the oldest allotments in Britain. The parish rector for Great Somerford, also the chaplain to King George III, requested that some land in his parish be set aside from the enclosure of 1809. A field of 6 acres was set aside, ensuring that the poor still had land for personal cultivation[5].

References:
[1] Planning application N/03/03109/ADV
[2] OS Map, 1899/1900, Wiltshire XXVII.1, Ordnance Survey.
[3] Facebook. 2019. Facebook. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/CalnePlaceNames/photos/a.323524051586286/458971018041588/?type=3&av=320651761873515&eav=AfbneJ-mYsWN_lYv2lT7hjLEIlQ44jMD5SxQntgAOQM9nAQb-yCdBgvjVbr_QKvWEDI&theater. [Accessed 17 September 2019].
[4] Cavill, P., 2018. A New Dictionary of English Field-Names. 1st ed. Great Britain: English Place-Name Society.
[5] Wikipedia. 2019. Great Somerford - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Somerford#Allotment_gardens. [Accessed 01 October 2019].