Town Lock Project

Following on from earlier restoration of the town lock, CARP are now actively seeking a grant from 'The Big Lottery' Community Spaces Fund to complete this project. The planned improvements include: Completion of brickwork restoration, faux lock gates at both ends of the lock structure, themed picnic tables/artworks within the lock, to give the appearance of a canal narrowboat in the lock, interpretation boards and other features. CARP have already secured £1500 from the Big Lottery fund for research, planning and development of this exciting project. If the main lottery bid is successful, work will start in the spring of 2011. A presentation of the proposals will be given at CARP's AGM, at the Town Hall, Calne on 15th July starting at 7pm. All are welcome to attend.

Chaveywell Spring project

A grant award of £7,254 from 'The Big Lottery fund', together with £2,000 from Wiltshire council has enabled CARP to undertake and complete this project. The walls around the Chaveywell spring area have been restored and masonry artwork in the form of some stone pig’s heads, which were once part of the roof buttresses in the old Harris factory in Calne, have been incorporated. A hard surface around the water’s edge and seating has also been provided.
Volunteers assisted the professional contractor with some of the work including some lime mortar repointing of the stone work.
The Big Lottery Fund distributes half of the National Lottery good cause funding across the UK. The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need.

Castle House Garden Project

In November 2007 CARP was awarded a grant of £68,600 from the National lottery’s 'Big Lottery Fund' towards the restoration of Castle House Gardens, part of the Castlefields Park area. The work involved the laying of new path surfaces, new benches and picnic tables, and fencing. Other ground and tree works were carried out to make more of the gardens accessible and attractive to local people and visitors to Calne. Most of this grant has now been allocated and, on the 13th September 2008, Carp held a ‘Party in the Park’ to show what had been achieved and to thank the people of Calne for their support. For more details click here.

View from the Gardens towards the canal		Castle House Gardens

Paths and access improvements

North Wilts District Council, the, then, owners of Castlefields Park, obtained funding through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, to improve the drainage and surfaces to the paths and cycleway within Castle park. The path improvement work was done in conjunction with improvements in Castle house gardens allowing a continuity of surfaces throughout the park. As well as the drainage and path work in the park, fencing has been erected along the River Marden at the Station Road entrance to the park.

The riverside pocket park

With the help of a grant from the Living Spaces scheme CARP have completed a pocket park at the edge of the River Marden on land formally part of the gardens of Marden House. the pocket park has been fully planted and is now into it's fourth year of growth.

Seating areas with artworks designed by local children and other ceramics by a local artist have been incorporated in the park.

Some of the artworks and seating in the pocket park		Spring flowers in the park

A tree and surrounding ceramic feature has been positioned in the path near to the Town Lock. This feature has been commissioned to celebrate the 30th year of the Calne Music & Arts Festival Held in October 2008.

Music & Arts Festival tree		Some of the ceramic segments surrounding the tree

Wild Flower Meadow

The wild flower meadow is cut twice a year in accordance with the Wildlife Trust's recommendations. . The first cut, around June, is designed to knock back thistles and vigorous grasses that may have taken hold over the winter and the autumn cut gives the meadow plants the best chance to flower and set seed

The bench seat installed on the edge of the meadow is in regular use and a stone cairn has been erected at the entrance to the meadow. The cairn incorporates an information panel which was designed by a student at Lackham Agricultural College, Lacock, as part of her studies on the HND countryside manage course.

The stone cairn, the beginning of the Fitness Trail and one of the Nature Trail brass rubbing posts, in the wild flower meadow

Some of the fitness trail equipment around the wild flower meadow.

Activities within Castle park include:

Nature trail:

                         A series of eight brass etchings around the park. Children, or adults, can follow the arrows and collect 'rubbings' from the brasses using a crayon and some paper.

Fitness trail:

                         A series of six exercise platforms around the park enabling a person to jog from one to another performing a different exercise on each.

Calne Town Lock

Restoration on the brickwork at the downstream end of the lock is now complete. Volunteers from the Waterway Recovery Group have held several work parties at the site and the Melksham, Calne & Chippenham Branch of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust have continued with the brickwork along the lock chamber since then. The next phase of the Town lock restoration will continue as funds allow.

The eventual aim is to restore the brickwork at the upstream end and to fit a lock gate at both ends giving the impression of a fully working lock. The Trust are also hoping to install a pipe along the floor of the lock chamber to facilitate, subject to abstraction approval, a water flow into the canal. When these works are completed, they will not only provide a future water supply for the Wilts and Berks Canal through the Calne branch, but will establish the lock as a historic feature within the park and so provide a visible link to the Wilts & Berks Canal as part of Calne's industrial heritage.

Interpretation Boards

There are two main interpretation boards, one situated at the entrance to the Park in Station Road, Calne and the other along the cycleway as you enter the Park from the direction of Chippenham, near Black Dog Halt.
They continue to be a great success in promoting the Castlefields Canal and River Park vision, as well as supplying general information to our visitors.
A further board by Chaveywell Bridge shows Castle Park’s position with respect to the Wilts & Berks Canal.

Bi-monthly Meetings

CARP now hold bi-monthly Committee Meetings, usually in the Council Chamber of Calne Town Hall, at 7.00pm on the third Thursday of each alternate month. Visitors are welcome. Please come along and learn of CARP’s activities. If you would like to join us, become a member and participate in the future planning and programming of works you will be most welcome.

updated 23/6/2010