Place Names of Calne: Ridgemead

RidgemeadRidgemead was built in the 1950s, after Calne Borough Council bought land at Newcroft Farm in 1954[1], and certainly by 1960[2] as part of a large development called the Newcroft Estate[3]. 

Ridgemead is so named due to it being on land that was known as Ridgemead. In the 1840s Tithe map, this was 309, a piece owned and occupied by Lord Hungerford Crewe, known as a landowner and peer. 

John Field, in his English Field Names[4] describes the two parts of the Ridgemead as follows:
Ridge, a basic unit of ploughing in common arable fields.
Mead(ow), grassland that is kept for mowing.

So, we can assume that this was a common field that was kept for harvesting grass.


[1]  Calne: The town in the 20th century | British History Online. 2019. Calne: The town in the 20th century | British History Online. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol17/pp44-51 . [Accessed 06 March 2019].
[2] Photo of Calne, Ridgemead, Newcroft Estate c.1960. 2019. Photo of Calne, Ridgemead, Newcroft Estate c.1960. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.francisfrith.com/uk/calne/calne-ridgemead-newcroft-estate-c1960_c228084 . [Accessed 06 March 2019].
[3] Calne Heritage Centre, The Growth of Calne over the last Thousand Years.
[4] Field, J., 1983. English Field Names: A Dictionary. Trafalgar Square.