Calne

Directory Information 
 
Our Calne/Lyneham dentons directory (30th edition) is currently distributed to over 16,000 business and residential addresses in and around the Calne/Lyneham area. For more information on our directories, please click here.

About Calne

Calne town centre

Calne town centre

Calne is a market town in northern Wiltshire, situated at the north-western extremity of the North Wessex Downs hill range, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The town lies on the Wiltshire & Berkshire Canal, the River Marden and on the A4, 19 miles east of Bath, 6 miles east of Chippenham and 13 miles west of Marlborough. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Calne was considered to be one of the fastest expanding towns in the South West region. Calne is twinned with the towns of Charlieu in France, Caln Township in Pennsylvania, USA and Eningen in Germany.  

Markets are held weekly on Fridays offering local produce and household essentials.  There is a monthly Farmers’ market on the second Saturday of each month bring greater choice to the locality produce wares.  Calne High Street hosts a monthly arts & crafts market during the summer months and displays locally created jewellery, wood carvings, paintings and needlecrafts.  

History  

  • Calne had a significant woollen broadcloth industry in the 18th century and evidence of this can be seen on The Green where many buildings such as Georgian era clothiers’ houses and some of the 20 cloth mills originally involved in this industry along the River Marden in Calne still remain. St Mary’s parish church in Calne was built on the generous donations of wealthy local clothiers and medieval wool merchants in the 15th century.  

Pigs sculpture, Calne
Pigs sculpture, Calne
  • Lately, Calne’s best known industry was pork processing with a factory that dominated the town both architecturally and through providing employment until the early 1980s – at its closure in 1983 it employed over 2000 people out of a town population of 10,000. The pork curing industry developed here because pigs reared in Ireland were landed at Bristol and then herded across England’s drovers’ roads, passing through Calne, en route to Smithfield’s Market in London.   The factory started in the second half of the 18th century when brothers John and Henry Harris started in business. The factory has now been fully demolished and its site redeveloped as shops, housing and a library.  

Facts  

  • Population – 13,606 (2001)
  • Unitary Authority – Wiltshire Council
  • Major Industries – Light Industrial; Information Technology
  • Post Town – CALNE
  • Postcode District – SN11
  • Dialling Code – 01249
  • Police – Wiltshire Police
  • Fire – Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
  • Ambulance – Great Western Ambulance Service

Discover Calne – useful links to town guides, what’s on and places to see  

Bowood House, Derry Hill

Bowood House, Derry Hill

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