The Calne Blue Plaque Trail is a fascinating walk around the centre of the town in the Heritage Quarter visiting ten points of interest, which act as a reminder of the town’s past, including the site of the Harris bacon factory, the wool trade workshop, the wharf (end of the canal) and Castle House.
This is the story of an empire founded on pigs and the curing of bacon, and a family of pioneers and entrepreneurs who brought wealth and fame, to a small town on the river Marden, once prosperous from the wool industry.
It began in 1770, when widow Sarah Harris and her ten-year-old son John came to Calne, and opened a small butcher’s shop in Butcher Row, now known as Church Street. The family business grew over the years. Sarah’s grandsons John, expanded the Church Street shop, and grandson Henry opened his own butcher’s shop in the High Street. The Harris brothers Charles, Thomas, and George (who sadly died young) were at the heart of the business in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, pioneers in curing and refrigeration. They built an ice house in 1856, which led to the first mechanised refrigeration plant in 1885. The businesses amalgamated in 1888 to form C. & T. Harris (Calne) Ltd.
In 1925, Marsh and Baxter took over the company, and employed architect and engineer, Dixon Washington from Kansas to modernise all the factories. In 1962, FMC Ltd. (Fatstock Marketing Company) took over The Harris Group but following decades of economic uncertainty, competition from Danish bacon, foot and mouth, and underinvestment, it closed in 1982. At its peak, Harris employed 2,000 people, processing 5,000 pigs a week, producing 100 tonnes of pies, sausages and cooked meats.
After the Calne factory was demolished, 1984-86, the six-acre site, which covered the area from the Heritage Centre to Bank House and over the river to The Pippin and Sainsburys, was eventually developed. The town centre was transformed with library, shops and houses. The river Marden had been exposed and redirected to create a beautiful green area - home to wild life. A far cry from styes and slaughterhouses, a few hundred yards away.
A new century. Queen Victoria, Empress of India, aged 80, the last year of her 63-year- reign. A time of industrial progress and wealth. The small Wiltshire market town, with a thriving wool industry, now famous for Charles & Thomas Harris, Bacon Curers, the life blood of the local economy. Calne is flourishing, prosperous. Everything on your doorstep from bakers, brewers, tailors and shoe makers to watchmakers, blacksmiths and coach builders.
The sounds. Clip-clopping of horses’ hooves and rumble-tumble of carts and carriage wheels and klaxons, warnings of approaching motor vehicles. The hissing and huffing of steam trains arriving at the station, bringing live pigs and collecting boxes of hams, pies, sausages and lard for shops around the country. Whistling errand boys, clack-clacking of the wooden clogs of Harris men on their way to work. The rumble of steam turbines in the Engine House, sweating, groaning men covered from head to foot in black dust as they shovel coal into the furnaces to power the factory. The squeal of pigs as herdsmen shout and swear, steering the pigs through the streets, navigating pedestrians and traffic on The Strand, onwards to The Pippin styes and slaughterhouses.
The smells. The delicious smell of bread baking, meat roasting, beer brewing – mingling, sadly, with the constant stink that accompanies hundreds of pigs being killed, cut up, smoked, salted, sliced, minced, ground, prepared for the nation’s platters. The Marden running red with blood from the slaughterhouse, drains blocked with fat and offal. Bones and skins waiting for collection to be used for other products. Leftovers. Scraps. Refuse. Manure and animal matter dumped in empty corners and patches of land around the town - near people’s homes.
It’s part of everyday life. The Harrises are good employers. Decent pay, no retirement age and plenty of jobs for women now. You have widow Sarah Harris, and ten-year old son John, to thank for all this, who opened a small butcher’s shop in Butcher Row, in 1777. I know the family are abstainers but … raise your glass ‘To Queen and Country and Mr Charles and Mr Tom.’
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