Welcome

The Well House Collection is comprised of documents, ephemera, books, photographs and audio/visual files that chronicle the history of Melksham and surrounding villages in Wiltshire, England.

Acquisitions are privately funded, donated and loaned to be freely seen and used for study by members of the public.

The collection is housed at Well House Manor, in a private residence. Documents, maps, books and transcribed censuses can be freely downloaded by clicking the links on the right sidebar. These files will be a treasured source of information for you researching your family roots, your house history, or just learning about the Melksham area in general and the remarkable people who once lived here.

Do you have items you think would be interesting to others? We accept donations and take items on temporary loan. Do you have old photographs of Melksham? We are happy to scan them for you so your treasures can be enjoyed without the originals becoming damaged. With our knowledge of Photoshop, we might also be able to help repair and supply you with a revised digital file.

The Well House Collection is passionate about Melksham history, and if you are too, and enjoy puzzles, forensics, research and learning, you might want to consider volunteering to help!

See us on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/thewellhousecollection

Including daily updates of "On this day ..." An interesting collection of local births, deaths and newspaper headlines of the day.

Current projects

Updated Saturday, 1 March, 2025

  • In just 3 weeks we have increased the size of the database from 31M to a whopping 115M!
  • We're constantly transcribing and during the month of Feruary, 553 people have been added; hundreds of burials and an expansion of the war memorial listings are included as well. However, you will only see the Avon Memorial for now. The data for 19 local war memorials and charts is there, just lurking in the background until we set up individual html pages for them. In other words, coming soon!
  • 1921 ENGLAND CENSUS: Now complete, and should be uploaded soon. Get in touch if I can help you find your Melksham family in this census in the meantime.
  • RESEARCH: Adding to the database has been ongoing and we're now past 51,0000 local names. Because of the addresses and occupations given in the 1921 census, your relative has now a more complete story.
  • 1841–1911 CENSUSES: Because of constant updates, the current downloads on this site are not up to date. Until I have all these revisions updated and posted, please do email me for a current copy.
  • LECTURES: Upcoming talks -- May 2025 "The Melksham Murderer" and October 2025 -- "The Trials of Rev Barnwell".
  • EMAIL ADDRESS CHANGE: If you have not upodated your records, please note my new email address.
  • Lisa Ellis lisa@sn12.net

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