a
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c
d
list of figures
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introduction to the study
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executive summary
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introduction to the town
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planning policy
transport
urban design
sustainability
socio-economic and market
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I n t r o d u c t i o n t o t h e To w n
markets
The town of Devizes originally developed around the Norman castle which
was probably built c.1080 by Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury to the south of
the town. There is little evidence of prehistoric settlement on the site, but
some Roman remains have been found in the Southbroom area of the town.
The castle was built on a promontory on the western edge of the Marlborough Downs with the valley of the Avon to the west and the Pewsey Vale
to the east and burnt down in 1113. It was rebuilt in stone quarried from
nearby Box and Hazelbury by and described by a contemporary as ‘the finest
and most splendid in Europe’. Little of it, however, now remains apart from
fragments of the foundations and the current building which was built in the
19th century is now used as a private residence.
The first mention of a market in Devizes is for 1228 although there were
probably earlier ones established without royal permission. In 1567 a second
market was granted, to be held in St. Mary’s parish on Mondays, but it seems
to have ceased by 1814. A Thursday market, which had been established by
1609, is still held weekly in the Market Place.
During the 12th and 13th centuries the town of Devizes developed outside
the castle with craftsmen and traders setting up businesses to provide the
residents of the castle with goods and services. In the mid 1100’s the right
to hold a market was granted to the people of Devizes a tradition which
still remains today and gives the main public space its name and following
the granting of this charter, the town grew rapidly. The layout of the streets
followed the line of the castle’s defence ditches, forming a ‘D’ shape which is
clearly visible today in the remaining Medieval street pattern of the centre.
The regularity of the burgage plots in New Park Street and the Market Place
suggests that it was deliberately planned, rather than developing piecemeal.
The medieval market place was in the large space outside St Mary’s Church,
rather than in the modern Market Place, which at that time would have been
within the castle’s outer bailey. A market cross stood near to the White Bear
Inn in Monday Market Street.
The town had achieved such importance by 1295 that it was summoned
to send two representatives to Edward I’s Model Parliament, and continued
to be represented in most other parliaments of the period, although there
seems to have been an economic decline from 1332 to1336 when the
town’s importance was reduced and it was not represented.
The chief products in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries were
corn, wool and yarn, with cheese, bacon and butter increasing in importance
later. Fish was brought up from Poole, and John Aubrey considered Devizes
to be the best fish market in the county. By the early nineteenth century
there was a twice weekly market for butchers meat and in 1842 the market
for corn and malt was described as one of the most important in England.
Over the centuries various commodity markets lapsed and were revived
again. The cheese market had finally ceased by 1903 when the market was
said to be for corn, poultry, butter and vegetable. In 1939 corn, cattle, pigs
and poultry were sold, though by then cattle and corn were of minor importance.
1773 map of Devizes From Andrews’ and Dur y ’s Map of W iltshire :
The sites of the different markets have changed over the years. The first markets were held in front of St Mary’s Church, but with the physical deterioration of the castle defences the townspeople gradually took over the open
area of the castle bailey where the present Market Place is situated. Other
areas which have been used include Short Street, Wine Street, St. John’s
Street and High Street.
A number of market halls were built at different periods to house the corn
market, cheese market, wool market and butchers shambles. The Corn Exchange was built in 1857 and has a statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of
the harvest, surmounting it. The Shambles, in the corner of the Market Place,
was built in 1838, and now houses market stalls on Tuesdays, Thursdays,
Fridays and Saturdays.
1810 map of Devizes From Andrews’ and Dur y ’s Map of W iltshire, 1810
c i v i l wa r
The direct involvement of Devizes in the war between King Charles I and
Parliament was due partly to its position between the King’s headquarters
in Oxford and the south west of England where he had strong support. This
made the town of strategic importance to both sides.
Devizes was under Royalist control for several years, during which time the
King arranged for more work to be done on improving the castle’s fortifications. The moat was cleared and the drawbridge repaired.
the infor mation in this section is based on original research by Gillespies in
addition to the following sources and in p ar ticular :
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk /community/getcom.php?id=77
http://www.old-ma ps .co.uk
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Devizes Town Trail published by the Trust for Devizes
Medieval Town Trail published by Kennet District Council
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Cromwell reached Devizes in September 1645 and bombarded the castle
from The Market Place and the Royalists surrendered. Parliament ordered
that the castle should be destroyed and this was carried out in 1648.
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1896 map of From the Ordnance Sur v ey 1896 revision of the one inch to one
mile map. The modern civil p arish boundar y has been superimposed
trade and industry
the canal
the railway
There is little evidence of any established industry before the fourteenth
century but from this period the leather, metal and textile trades seem to
have predominated. In the sixteenth century Devizes became known for its
white woollen broadcloth but in the following century the trade in white
cloth apparently declined and was replaced by serge manufacture and later
the production of drugget, which was being exported to Russia up to about
1753. Felt was also made.
The Kennet and Avon Canal was constructed between 1794 and 1810. It
linked Devizes to Bristol and London, and to the Wilts and Berks Canal at
Semington and the Somerset Coal Canal.
Proposals for a railway service for Devizes were made as early as 1836 but
they come to nothing. Five years later the steep incline at Caen Hill caused
Brunel to adopt the Swindon to Chippenham main line route from London
to Bristol rather than taking the line through Devizes and Bradford-on-Avon.
Opposition from local landowners also delayed things but in 1856 the
Somerset and Weymouth Railway agreed to extend a single line track from
Holt Junction to Devizes and the service opened in 1857. In 1862 the Great
Western Railway opened an extension of the Berkshire and Hampshire line
from Hungerford which linked Devizes to London, but the building of the
Westbury line through Lavington again bypassed Devizes. The railway closed
in 1966 and Devizes remains without rail connections today.
From around 1785 there was a decline in the textile trades in Devizes but
other trades continued to establish themselves. These included clock making,
a bell foundry, booksellers, milliners, grocers and silversmiths.
Two trades of particular importance came to prominence in the eighteenth
century: these were brewing and tobacco. Brewing and malting had been
carried out on a small scale for centuries, but in the mid eighteenth century
the firm of Rose and Tylee was established and the site of their brewery, in
Northgate Street, is now part of the brewers Wadworth and Co. who were
founded in 1875. Wadworth’s brewery still dominates the character of the
western end of the town centre today.
The main cargo on the canal was coal from Somerset, and the Wharf became a depot for its distribution. Other cargoes included Devizes beer for
London, West Indian tobacco from Bristol for Anstie’s factory, and building
materials.
The success of the canal was short lived. The railway arrived in Devizes in
1857 but GWR had purchased the canal in 1852 and its use gradually declined and it fell into disuse.
In 1951 the fight to save the canal began in earnest with the formation of
the Kennet and Avon Canal Association, and in 1990 the Queen celebrated
the reopening of the full length of the canal by travelling through one of the
locks at Caen Hill. It is currently used for leisure and recreation and forms a
distinct edge to the north of the town.
development in the 20th and 21st centuries
More recent development of the late 20th and 21st centuries form the outer
edges to the east and west. The Brewery of the mid 1800’s on the corner of
Northgate Street and New Park Street marks the edge of the earlier part of
the town to the west.
From the early part of the eighteenth century tobacco was cured and snuff
ground in Devizes. The earliest records are of Richard Anstie who had a shop
on the corner of Snuff Street and the Market Place. For some years William
Leach used two windmills, originally built to grind oilseed rape, which stood
on the old castle motte, to grind snuff. The Anstie family continued its interest in tobacco with a factory in John Anstie’s former cloth factory. In 1944
the Imperial Tobacco Company bought the business. The production of snuff
ceased in 1957 and the curing of tobacco in 1961.
The construction of the Kennet and Avon Canal at the end of the 18th
century revealed a large area of Gault and lower greensand clays which were
ideal for brickmaking. The Devizes Brick and Tile Company was founded at
Caen Hill and continued production until its closure in 1961.
New industries developed in the nineteenth century and continued into
the twentieth. These included agricultural engineering (Brown and May, and
T.H.White Ltd.), building contractors (W.E.Chivers and Sons Ltd., and Rendells), dairy produce (North Wilts Dairy Co. Ltd.), bacon production (Central
Wiltshire Bacon Co.) and electrical manufacturing (Cross Manufacturing Co.
and the Hinchley Engineering Co.). During World War II a flax industry was
established to make parachute harnesses and tents.
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