By Tim Lambert
Early Melksham
Melksham is a market town in Wiltshire. It began as a Saxon village. Its name may have once been meolc ham, which means milk settlement. Obviously, there must have been a dairy farm there.
At the time of the Domesday Book, Melksham probably had a population of about 850. By the standards of the time, it was a large settlement. There were 8 watermills to grind grain into flour. There were 35 slaves in Melksham.
St Michael’s Church in Melksham was first built in the 12th century but it was largely rebuilt in the 15th century
In 1219, King Henry III granted Melksham a charter. The town was permitted to hold weekly markets and an annual fair.
In 1349, there were weavers in Melksham. The cloth industry in the town was most important during the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1555, there were two fulling mills in Melksham. Before cloth was woven, it was fulled. That means it was beaten in a mixture of water and clay, by wooden hammers worked by a mill. Fulling cleaned the wool. However, the cloth industry in Melksham declined in the 18th century.
On the other hand, in the late 18th century, many stagecoaches began passing through the town. However, they stopped once railways spread across Britain.
Melkham House was built in the early 18th century. The Roundhouse was also built in the 18th century. Originally, it was a wool drying room. The Kings Arms is another 18th century building. The Congregational Church was built in 1773.
Modern Melksham
In 1801, the population of Melksham was about 4,000. By the standards of the time, it was a fair-sized town. The town’s population rose to 5,800 in 1851. It then fell, and it was only 3,694 in 1901.
Meanwhile, Melksham gained gaslight in 1832. Melksham Town Hall was built in 1847 (originally it was a cheese hall). A police station was also built in Melksham in 1847.
The town gained a piped water supply in 1880, and a telephone service began in 1898. Melksham gained an electricity supply in 1924.
The railway reached Melksham in 1848. The railway station closed in 1966, but it reopened in 1985. The New Hall was built in 1887. From 1890, there was a rubber industry in Melksham.
A War Memorial was built in 1919. Melksham Community Hospital opened in 1938. Melksham library opened in 1964.
The population of Melksham rose rapidly during the 20th century. It was 6,739 in 1951. Today it’s 18,000.