Early history Excavations in 2021 in the grounds of
Melksham House found fragments of locally made pottery from the early
Iron Age (7th to 4th centuries BC). There is evidence of settlement continuing into the later Iron Age and
Roman periods, including Roman clay roof tiles. Melksham developed at a ford across the
River Avon. The name is presumed to derive from "
meolc", the
Old English for milk, and
"ham", a village. On
John Speed's map of
Wiltshire (1611), the name is spelt both
Melkesam (for the
hundred) and
Milsham (for the town itself). Melksham is also the name of the
Royal forest that occupied the surrounding of the area in the Middle Ages.
Landowners In 1268,
Henry III of England gave the manor of Melksham to
Amesbury Abbey for the souls of his late cousins
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany and
Arthur I, Duke of Brittany. In 1539 the
prioress and nuns of
Amesbury surrendered to the king their Melksham estates, which they had held for some 250 years. This property, which consisted of the
lordship of the
manor and hundred, was in 1541 granted to
Sir Thomas Seymour. He then sold it to Henry Brouncker, who also had lands nearby at
Erlestoke. At some uncertain date, perhaps about 1550, Brouncker built a residence for himself near Melksham church on the site of an earlier mansion. This was known as Place House.
Melksham Bank An announcement was made in the
Bath Chronicle in June 1792 of the establishment of the Melksham Bank by the firm of Awdry, Long & Bruges. In November 1813 the misquoting of part of an advertisement in two London newspapers caused panic amongst the bank customers, many of whom quickly withdrew their money, reportedly causing "some bustle" among the partners of the bank. There was further trouble in 1812, when the bank was listed on a Parliamentary Paper of the
House of Commons under the title "Country Banks Becoming Bankrupt". Moule's bank became the North Wilts Banking Company in 1835, which merged in 1877 to form
Capital and Counties Bank. The latter developed a nationwide branch network and was taken over by
Lloyds Bank in 1918.
Masonic Lodge The Chaloner Lodge of
Freemasons (no.2644) was named after its first
Worshipful Master Richard Godolphin Walmesley Chaloner, 1st Baron Gisborough, who, when not in London, resided at
Melksham House. He was the brother of the 1st
Viscount Long. The lodge was
consecrated on 27 February 1897, with the first meeting scheduled for 4 pm 19 March, held at the town hall. Writing from London while attending his Parliamentary duties as MP for Westbury, he complained that this date was inconvenient due to his having to be at
Melton Mowbray to ride in the House of Commons point to point
steeplechase the next day. Despite this, the meeting went ahead and Chaloner initiated 13 of the candidates, returning to London overnight by train, getting virtually no sleep before his ride in the steeplechase early the next morning, resulting in him twice falling heavily from his horse. Later while deciding what extra furniture the lodge required, he asked that he have a special footstool, as his chair was high and his feet "dangled unpleasantly". == Buildings and structures ==