CALNE’S first ever Heritage Week concluded on Sunday with over 150 people stepping back in time to revisit the grand opening of the 1886 town hall.

As well as the town hall time machine, an open afternoon of the 17th Century Almhouses on Kingsbury Street and open day at the Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum both proved very popular on Sunday.

Those who travelled back to 1886 enjoyed the Victorian photo booth, old-fashioned games and hand bell ringing as the hall was dressed up to replicate it’s opening day 129 years ago.

Sunday saw the first heritage week come to a close but Claire Selman, publicity and promotions officer at Calne Town Council, believes there’s much more still to come from the town’s history.

She said: “There’s so much heritage to Calne there’s lots we can do with in the future.

“It was a really successful week. We had good attendances at the majority of the events which is really good to see especially in the first time for something like this.

"I think people were surprised at how much there was to do in the week and were pleased with the variety of activities, it’s really promising to have a lot of people interested in the history.

“We would like to thank people for their support and look forward to seeing how it develops in the years to come.”

A full programme of events throughout the week saw the many guided walking tours of Calne prove particularly popular with local residents.

With up to 50 people attending some of the guided walks, these events may be ticketed next year.

A talk entitled ‘Bringing Home the Bacon’ by local historian Sue Boddington on the Harris family, their factory in the town and the famous Wiltshire Cure was also very well received on Wednesday.

Organisers will be hoping to uncover more hidden treasures from Calne’s past, and bring in visitors from a wider area, at next year’s event.