OPC Vacancy
Contiguous Parishes (our neighbours)
Bishops Cannings – Calne – Calstone Wellington – Cherhill – Heddington
Websites of Interest
St. Peters Church – Services and events.
The Parish Church of St. Peter
St. Peter’s Gallery St. Peter’s Interior Gallery St. Peter’s Churchyard Gallery
Patrons of St. Peter’s 1191-Present Curates List 1567-1990 Incumbents List 1567-1997 Church Wardens 1663-1963 Officiating Ministers 1774-1980
Petition for Faculty to Restore St Peter’s Church 1858 Other Parish Officers 1867-1978 Extracts from the Parish Church Book 1869-1949 Faculty to Restore St Peter’s Church 1907
Church Improvement Fund Accounts 1903-1913 Documents concerning the Refit of St Peter’s Church 1907 PCC Members 1922-1948
Parish Register Transcripts
Baptisms
Marriages
Burials
Parish Registers held at WSHC
Baptisms 1761-1992
Marriages 1757-1991
Burials 1769-1992
Other Resources
Parish History
Situated 2km SE of the centre of Calne and 10km ESE of Chippenham with the River Marden flowing NW through it, Blackland is a small, rural community in North Wiltshire. Sited on the greensand and gault clay and extending east to the western edge of the Marlborough Downs, settlement is sparse and dispersed. It includes St Peter’s Church, Blackland House, Blackland Mill, Blackland Farm and Park Farm, together with a number of cottages along Blackland Street and at Theobald’s Green. Much of the land is still used for arable farming and pasture.
Historically, Blackland is closely linked to Calne and the neighbouring hamlet of Calstone Wellington to the South East. In or before the 10th Century the area was part of the land of Calstone, which may have been Calne’s east tun, and probably part of the king’s large estate of Calne. By the late 12th Century a church and manor house had been built in ‘the black land of Calstone’, North West of the Calstone hamlet. The church, the manor house, a farm and a mill all took the Blackland name.
Civil Registration
1837 – April 1936 Calne Registration District
April 1936 – Present Chippenham Registration District
Buildings and Land
Blackland Manor
Blackland Manor 1194 – Present
Farms
Blackland Farm
Occupants of 1841-1911 Census Data
Landowners
Land Surveys
Maps
Ordnance Surveyor’s Drawings 1808-1811
Tithe Awards
Tithe Award 1845 Tithe Award Certified 1845 Tithe Award Summary 1845
Crime and Legal Matters
Quarter Sessions Appearance
Directories
Post Office 1855 Kellys 1867 Post Office 1875 Gillmans 1900 Gillmans 1914 Swindon & District Year Book 1928 Kellys 1931
Education
Emigration and Migration
Employment and Business
Law
Articled Clerks
Miscellaneous Documents
Non Conformity and Other Places of Worship
People and Parish Notables
Wiltshire Friendly Society Membership 1837-1871 Postcard to Cicely Lock 1913
Census Returns Transcripts
| Census (Tything) | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | |||
| Census (Parish) | 1841 | 1851 | 1861 | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 |
A note added at the end of the 1861 Census return for Blackland Tything reads: “In recent times (Blackland Tything) is also in Calstone Wellington and Blackland (proper). There is much uncertainty about the District/ Area of the people, as the exact distinction between Calstone and Blackland in Calne and Calstone Wellington and Blackland Parishes is unknown to persons generally.” John Ladd, Registrar. From 1841 until 1890, census data for Blackland was recorded in two parts: a) the Parish of Blackland and b) the Tything of Blackland in the Parish of Calne. In 1890 Blackland and Blackland Tything became parts of the newly created Parish of Calne Without, with all Blackland census records now listed together.
Coroners Bills
County coroners were introduced in England in around 1194 once established other boroughs and liberties sought the right to have their own coroner. Often in Medieval times the coroner also assumed the role of the sheriff and his duties weren’t limited to holding inquests on dead bodies although almost a full time post they were unpaid for the duties apart from those that were deemed murder of manslaughter when they would receive 13s. 4d. From the 24th June 1752 a law was passed allowing the coroner to claim £1 for every inquest they attended not held in a gaol and also to claim 9d per mile travel allowance from the place of residence. Inquests held in any gaol were performed at a rate totalling no more than £1. These costs were to be paid from the county rates. In cases of homicide the coroner also received the former fee of 13s. 4d. The coroners submitted their bills at the quarter session sittings for approval. Coroners Bills 1752-1796
Elections and Polls
Poll of Freeholders 1772 Poll Book 1818 Voters List 1832 Voters Lists Revisions 1843
Family Notices
Parish Notables
David Hemmings, Actor & Director, was born in Guildford, Surrey on the 18th November 1941; died 3rd December 2003 in Bucharest, Romania; He is buried in the churchyard of St. Peters Church. The grave is marked with a simple headstone which can be viewed in the St. Peters Churchyard Gallery
Personal Research Items
Tuck Family Research Burial Extracts– These items were donated by Ken Tuck and contains entries that may or may not relate to the Tuck family however they have been published as such. Many references to Quaker entries may be found from across the county.
Poor Law, Charity and The Workhouse
Overseers of the Poor 1795-1889 Poor Rate Book 1795-1835
Probate
War, Conflict and Military Matters
War Memorials & Military Gallery
Chelsea Pensioners
WWI
Diocese of Salisbury Memorial Book 1914-1918 Calne & District Casualty Lists WWI St. Peter Roll of Honour WWI
Church Memorial Plaques
Harry Stanley & Sidney Miles Toppin 1914 & 1917
