Libraries in Calne have a long history With The Calne Literary Institution having 400 volumes accessible to annual subscribers by 1852. With around 80 members paying a shilling per quarter. By 1870, the Literary Institution had begun discussions about raising money for a free library for Calne. Canon Duncan was very active as the president of the literary institution and by 1871, the reading room and library was opened by Lord Fitzmaurice, M.P., free for use by the inhabitants of Calne, with 1200 volumes. During the opening Fitzmaurice said of the free library: “Although, in educational matters Calne had always held their equal position with neighbouring places, in this matter, it was infinitely ahead of them”. Calne's Carnegie Library Carnegie and Calne’s Free Library However, by the 1880s interest in the Literary Institution was fading, along with the funds. In 1903, George Gough, the Town Clerk had written to Andrew Carnegie’s private secretary as...
