Melksham, Wiltshire Family History Guide
Melksham is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Wiltshire. Seend and Erlestoke are chapelries of Melksham.
Other places in the parish include: Woodrow, Cannonhold, Blackmore, and Beanacre.
Alternative names:
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1568
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1605; 1622
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Particular Baptist, Primitive Methodist, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
MELKSHAM, a town, a parish, a sub-district, district, and a hundred, in Wilts.
The town stands on the river Avon, and on the Wilts and Berks canal, adjacent to the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth railway, 9¾ miles E by S of Bath; 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.
It 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, and a polling-place; and has a head post office, a railway station with telegraph, a banking office, two chief inns, a town hall and cheese-market, a four-arched bridge, a church, four dissenting chapels, national and British schools, and a literary institution. The town hall and cheese-market was built in 1847, at a cost of £3,350; and is in the Italian style, of white freestone.
The church is a large cruciform structure, partly of the 12th century; has an embattled and pinnacled tower, rising from the W end; includes two side chapels; was restored and enlarged in 1845, at a cost of £2,000; and contains monuments of the Awdrys, the Jenkinses, and others.
The dissenting chapels are for Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and Wesleyans.
Two mineral springs, respectively saline and chalybeate, were discovered near the town in the last century; a new saline spring was obtained, at a depth of 351 feet, in 1816; and a bath and pump-room, with a crescent and promenade, was subsequently erected, at considerable cost, in expectation of making the town a watering-place; but it proved a failure.
A cattle and cheese market is held on every alternate Tuesday; and a cattle-fair, on 27 July. The manufacture of fancycloth and sacking is carried on; and there is a large cornmill. Pop. in 1851, 2,931; in 1861, 2,452. Houses, 577. The decrease of pop. was caused by diminished employment in the clothing and dyeing factories.
The parish includes also the tythings of Beanacre, Blackmoor, Cannonhold, and Woodrow, and the chapelry of Send. Acres, 12,572. Real property, £38,678; of which £5,000 are in mines, and £196 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 6,073; in 1861, 5,337. Houses, 1,229.
The manor belonged anciently to King Harold, and belongs now to Richard Long, Esq. Beanacre was the seat of the Selfs; Send, of the Awdrys; and Melksham House, of the Longs.
The living is a vicarage, united with the chapelries of Send and Earl Stoke, in the diocese of Salisbury. Value, £1,215. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. The vicarage of Shaw and Whitley is a separate benefice.
The sub-district contains also the Parish of Whaddon, the chapelry of Semington, and the tything of Littleton. Acres, 14,248. Pop. in 1851, 6,671; in 1861, 5,866. Houses, 1,304.
The district comprehends also the sub-district of Trowbridge, containing the parishes of Trowbridge and Hilperton. Acres of the district, 17,768. Poor rates in 1863, £10,424 Pop. in 1851, 18,815; in 1861, 17,233. Houses, 3,835. Marriages in 1863, 115; births, 550, of which 24 were illegitimate; deaths, 470, of which 183 were at ages under 5 years, and 15 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,286; births, 5,584; deaths, 3,931.
The places of worship, in 1851, were 9 of the Church of England, with 2,469 sittings; 2 of lndependents, with 1,289 s.; 12 of Baptists, with 5,340 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 100 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 100 s.; 9 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 2,056 s.; 3 of Primitive Methodists, with 280 s.; and 1 of Latter Day Saints, with 300 s.
The schools were 14 public day-schools, with 1,950 scholars; 31 private day-schools, with 754 s.; 27 Sunday schools, with 3,605 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 46 s.
The workhouse is in Semington chapel, about 2 miles from the town; and, at the census of 1861, had 160 inmates.
The hundred contains six parishes, and part of another. Acres, 21,492. Pop. in 1851, 19,252; in 1861, 17,696. Houses, 3,969.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Bennett John, Melksham, Wiltshire, cornfactor, March 4, 1824.
Flooks George, Melksham, Wilts, innkeeper, Dec. 10, 1833.
Flower Thomas, Melksham, Wilts, timber dealer, Nov. 10, 1826.
Harding Edward, Melksham, Wiltshire, victualler, Jane 3, 1836.
Parsons Willinm, Melksham, Wiltshire, rope and sack maker, May 29, 1827.
Parish Registers
Marriages Out of Parish
| Details | Place of Marriage |
|---|---|
| John Athery, of Melksham, & Judeth Whitaker 2 Mar. 1684/5 | Bratton Wiltshire |
| Nimrod Bristow, widr., & Dorcas Kington, wid., of Melksham, lic. 1 June 1757 | Bratton Wiltshire |
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Maps
Vision of Britain historical maps
Administration
- County: Wiltshire
- Civil Registration District: Melksham
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Salisbury
- Diocese: Salisbury
- Rural Deanery: Potterne
- Poor Law Union: Melksham
- Hundred: Melksham
- Province: Canterbury