WSA has a very large number of maps, from 16^th-20^th centuries, mainly manuscript surveys of individual parishes and estates. They come in various sizes, but one of the largest, was recently found in the attic of the parish office in Calne. Measuring 12 feet x 9 feet (3.6m x 2.75m), the equivalent of a good sized room in a modern house, it was so long that the only way to get it out of the house was for it to be lowered from a first floor window to the street below.

The map laid out on a row of tables

It is a beautifully drawn and accurately surveyed map of the parish of Calne also including Blackland and Calstone Wellington that was made by land surveyor Thomas Cruse in 1827 and 1828 at a scale of 20inches to the mile. The archive team at WSHC was alerted and brought it to the History Centre. It is a very important discovery because of the wealth of topographical information it provides about Calne more than 180 years ago. A copy of the schedule giving details of owners/occupiers field names, acreages and state of cultivation is held the archives as is the associated map of the borough. Years of neglect have taken its toll and the map cannot be available until it has been cleaned and conserved, although it is complete and there will virtually no loss of detail.

Detail of damage the map has sustained

It presents quite a challenge to the archive conservators as it is bigger that the vertical wall board on which maps are repaired, and will have to be repaired in sections. However, they are experienced in handling some large items, and once cleaned and mounted on a new cloth backing it will be available for researchers to use in the History Centre.

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The Wiltshire Community History web site – http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/ - has scored a century this week. 100 completed communities are now on the site with the recent appearance of Langley Burrell. This is the parish where the diarist Francis Kilvert served his father as curate in the 1870s and recorded many local people and events.

The Church of St. Peter, Langley Burrell, where the diarist Francis Kilvert was curate

Every completed community has short histories of the civil parish and of each church, chapel and school. There are maps from 1773, prints and photographs old and new, population tables, and information on historic buildings, local authors and literary associations. Links take you to all archaeological sites in each parish and to all wills proved at Salisbury Diocesan Court between the 1530s and 1857.
You can also ask us local history questions and get e-mailed replies, look at about 9,400 pages from important early books on Wiltshire, find the words of over 1,000 folk songs and over 40 Mummers’ plays collected in the county, and see locations of photographs and sites plotted on aerial photographs and maps.
Back in Langley Burrell you find information on another famous resident, Maud Heath. In 1474 she gave property and land to finance a causeway from the top of Wick Hill in Bremhill to Chippenham Market. The trust she set up continued to maintain it and you can still walk this 15th century pathway today.


Part of the 1811 structure of 64 arches that carries Maud Heath’s Causeway over the lowlands by the river Avon



In 1698 the Maud Heath Trust erected this 12 foot high monument by the river at Kellaways. This features a three faced block sundial with Latin inscriptions


1966 Memorial plaque to Francis Kilvert in Langley Burrell Church

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