HERITAGE centre volunteer Tim Havenith has been delving into the history of place names in Calne and has now published his first book.
Mr Havenith, who moved to the town in 2016, became interested in the history of his new home after reading photographic books by Peter Treloar.


But two years ago he started his own research and was helped by members of the Calne In Photographs Facebook group.
He said: “As I learned more about Calne, I became interested in understanding the names of different areas of Calne, such as Jelly Alley, Buckeridge Steps, and Angell Corner. 


“This led to a monthly blog series about the place names of Calne and after months of research and investigation: Calne Place Names was published. 


“Calne Place Names, is an attempt to share what I’ve learned and researched about Calne in my short four years of living here. 


“The idea of the book is to provide an overview of Calne’s history by the place names that have been chosen, officially and unofficially, over the centuries.” 
He found that place names dated from Saxon and Anglo-Norman origin, to the more recent names of mayors and benefactors.
The book contains more than 380 entries on the names of Calne’s streets, places, and developments. 


He found that Hog Street and Piggy Hill had links with Calne’s famous Harris bacon factory and that a first class England cricketer became a vicar and financed much of the restoration of St Mary’s Church.
You can also find out about the Calne Fates found recently in the grounds of St Mary’s School.


Among the other things he researched were Calne’s links with oxygen, a person who filmed an iconic music video at Curzon Park and where Calne’s answer to James Bond lived in the 1850s.


He said: “I hope people will join me in discovering the women and men that put their heart and soul into making Calne the place it is today.”
Calne Place Names is available as a Kindle ebook and as a print-on-demand paperback from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2V67jcN 
The 6x9 inch book features over 280 place name entries contained within 272 pages. It also includes more than 40 photographs from around Calne.