Melksham, Wiltshire

Description
Melksham, a town and two parishes in Wiltshire. The town stands on the river Avon, and on the Wilts and Berks Canal, with a station on the G.W.R., 96 miles from London, and 9 3/4 E by S of Bath. The town was anciently surrounded by a forest of its own name, a favourite hunting-ground of Edward I.; was an important place in the Norman times, and in those of Edward I. and John; declined so much at a later period as to have escaped the notice of Leland in his description of its neighbourhood; rose again to importance as a seat of manufacture; underwent some decline after the introduction of railways; consists chiefly of one long street, irregularly aligned, but mostly well built; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, has a local board consisting of twelve members, and has two banks, two chief inns, a town-hall and cheese-market, a four-arched bridge, a church, four dissenting chapels, and a literary institution. The town-hall and cheese-market was built in 1847, and is in the Italian style of white freestone. The new hall is a building of Bath stone, and is used for meetings and lectures. The church is a large structure originallycruciform, partly of the 12th century, has an embattled and pinnacled tower, originally in the centre of the church, but removed to the W end in 1846, and includes two side chapels. It has been restored and enlarged at various times, anda handsomely sculptured reredos was erected in 1894. The church contains monuments of the Awdrys, the Jenkinses 1/2 and others. There are dissenting chapels for Congregational-ists, Baptists, and "Wesleyans, a Friends' meeting-house, and a cottage hospital. Two mineral springs, respectively saline and chalybeate, were discovered near the town in the 18th century; a new saline spring was found at a depth of 851 feet in 1816; and a bath and pump-room, with a crescent and promenade, was subsequently erected at considerablecost in expectation of making the town a watering-place, but it proved a failure. A cattle and cheese market is held every alternate Tuesday, and a cattle fair on 27 July. The manufacture of fancy-cloth and sacking is carried on, and there is an india-rubber factory, a dairy company, flour mills, foundries, and a feather refining factory. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. The former parish of Melksham was divided by the Local Government Act, 1894, into two separate parishes-viz., Melksham Within, the urban portion comprised in the local board area; and Melksham Without, the rural portion. The latter was divided for parish council purposes into four wards-Shaw and Whitley, Beanacre, Blackmore, and Woolmore. The parish council consists of fifteen members. Acreage of the united parish, 8406; population, 4284; of the ecclesiastical, 3638. The manor belonged anciently to King Harold. Beanacre was the seat of the Selfs, and Melksham Houseof the Longs. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; value, £191 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. The vicarage of Shaw and Whitley is a separate benefice. The church of St Andrew is about a mile from the town, and is a handsome building in the Early English style. There is a mission church at Beanacre.