I.

Introduction

Wiltshire (abbreviation, Wilts) county, south-western England, bordered on the north by Gloucestershire, on the east by West Berkshire, on the south-east by Hampshire, on the south by Dorset, and on the west by the county of Somerset and the unitary authorities of South Gloucestershire and Bath and North-East Somerset. In 1997, the area of the Thamesdown district council, comprising the town of Swindon and its rural environs in the north-east of the county, was administratively separated from Wiltshire to create a unitary authority called Borough of Swindon. However, the area remains part of Wiltshire for geographical and ceremonial purposes.

Wiltshire is a landlocked, predominantly agricultural county. It has a geographical area of 3,486 sq km (1,344 sq mi); the area administered by the county council (that is excluding Swindon Borough Council unitary authority area) is 3,256 sq km (1,257 sq mi). Trowbridge is the seat of local government. Wiltshire is rich in prehistoric monuments. Stonehenge is the best known, while Avebury is considered by archaeologists to be the most significant stone circle in the world.

II.

Land and Resources

Wiltshire consists mainly of a chalk upland, bordered by lowlands to the north-west and south-east, and an area of clay to the west. The chalk plateau, which occupies about two-thirds of the county and includes the Marlborough Downs and Salisbury Plain, provides open rolling countryside with poor soils and drainage, few trees, but perfect grazing land for sheep. The various chalk downs of southern England radiate in all directions from Salisbury Plain, on the northern edge of which lies the Vale of Pewsey. Savernake Forest, in the east of the county, is an area of oak and beech trees. The principal rivers are the Kennet; the Wylye; the Salisbury, or East Avon; and the Bristol, or Lower Avon. There are outcrops of sarsen (a kind of sandstone) in the Marlborough Downs, which the prehistoric inhabitants put to good use at Avebury and Stonehenge. At Chilmark, to the west of Salisbury, stone was quarried for building the cathedral, but Wiltshire is otherwise not rich in building stone. Flint and thatch are features of domestic architecture, as well as bricks and tiles made from local clay.

The county enjoys a moderate climate, with an average annual rainfall in the region of 760-1,000 mm (30-40 in).

III.

Population and Administration

The population of Wiltshire was estimated in 2001 at about 613,000; that of the administrative county (excluding Swindon) is estimated at 432,973 (2001). Swindon (1995 estimate, 173,769) is the largest town of the geographical county. Other major towns are Trowbridge, the county seat (1991, 29,334); Salisbury (2001, 114,614), the diocesan centre; Chippenham (1991, 25,961); and Devizes (1991, 13,205). Until April 1, 1997, Wiltshire was administered by a county council and five district councils: Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury, Thamesdown, and West Wiltshire. The administrative changes implemented on that date, which saw Thamesdown district council transformed into Swindon Borough Council unitary authority, have left the two-tier system of county and district councils in the remainder of Wiltshire unchanged. The police authority is the Wiltshire Constabulary, which has its headquarters at Devizes. There are Crown Courts at Salisbury and Swindon.

IV.

Education and Culture

The boys’ public school, Marlborough College, was founded in 1843. The Royal Military College of Science, affiliated to Cranfield University, has a campus in Shrivenham, adjacent to the Joint Services Command and Staff College.

Charles Dickens is said to have gained inspiration for The Pickwick Papers from the Wiltshire village of Pickwick, near Corsham. Malmesbury, one of the oldest towns in England, was the birthplace of philosopher Thomas Hobbes. English architect Sir Christopher Wren was born in the village of East Knoyle, near the Wiltshire-Dorset border. The village of Lacock, near Chippenham, was the home of William Henry Fox Talbot, one of the pioneers of the development of modern photography.

Swindon Town FC, based at the County Ground in Swindon, is the county’s only professional football club.

V.

Places of Interest

Salisbury and the monuments of Avebury and Stonehenge, described under “History” below, draw large numbers of visitors. Two stately homes, Longleat House (home of the Marquess of Bath) and Wilton House (home of the Earl of Pembroke) are among the finest in England. The first of Britain’s safari parks was created at Longleat in 1966. Stourhead, a Palladian-style mansion set in a country estate around the village of Stourton, is well known for its beautiful 18th-century landscaped gardens and is owned by the National Trust. Corsham Court, near Chippenham, is an Elizabethan stately home built on the site of an Anglo-Saxon royal manor. The whole village of Lacock is owned and administered by the National Trust, and includes a museum of photography and Lacock Abbey, a former monastic house that became a stately home after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.

The Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum holds material from archaeological sites in Salisbury and throughout South Wiltshire. Permanent displays and exhibitions devoted to local history from early man to the present day can be seen in the museum’s four main galleries. The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment (Salisbury) Museum, also known as the Redcoats in the Wardrobe, acknowledges the county’s long-standing military associations. Swindon is home to Steam, a museum dedicated to the history and development of the Great Western Railway (GWR). The Science Museum Wroughton, near Swindon, is a storage facility for the national collections of the Science Museum.

Arthurian legend maintains that the magician Merlin is buried at Marlborough. Salisbury Cathedral, its spire the tallest in England, is one of the country’s greatest architectural treasures; it was a favourite subject of the painter John Constable. Malmesbury Abbey, founded as a Benedictine Monastery during Saxon times, is situated on a ridge by the Avon, at the edge of the Cotswolds. Once home to English monk William of Malmesbury and the site of the tomb of Athelstan, first king of England, only one third of the original abbey building remains. South Wiltshire has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Salisbury Plain, extending for some 775 sq km (300 sq mi), is used largely for military purposes. Porton Down, near Salisbury, is the site of the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (previously called the Chemical Defence Establishment).

VI.

Economy

The industries of the geographical county of Wiltshire are diverse, and include car manufacturing, rubber, tanning, textiles, food processing (especially pig and bacon products), other light industries, and high-tech industries. Quality carpets have been made at Wilton since the 17th century. Wiltshire is an important farming county, with about 80 per cent of its land area used for this purpose. Wheat and barley are the main crops. Pig and sheep farming are also important. Swindon developed as an industrial centre round the GWR workshops established there in the 19th century, and has grown considerably since the 1950s, when it took overspill population from Greater London. In recent years, the Swindon area has had one of the fastest-growing local economies in Europe. Industries include car-manufacturing, food production, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and finance. Tourism is also an important source of revenue in Wiltshire.

VII.

History

The prehistoric inhabitants of Wiltshire have left behind rich remains, notably the Neolithic stone monuments of Avebury and Stonehenge, the curious artificial mound of Silbury Hill, and the enclosure by causeway of Windmill Hill. The lack of local building stone may be the reason why, as many scholars believe, the builders of Stonehenge brought the bluestone uprights of the stone circle from as far afield as Wales; another theory is that these stones could have been deposited in the region during the glaciation of the last Ice Age. The source of these, and the true purpose of the stone circles, remains a mystery. It is probable, however, that Stonehenge was in continuous use from about 3100 bc to 1100 bc, and that because of the position of the various stones in relation to the sun, some form of sun worship may have been involved; there are also theories that it may have been used as a form of calendar to predict important positions of the sun and moon, and thereby the seasons. At Avebury, the largest Stone Age monument in the world, there is a huge ditch enclosing some 11.5 hectares (28.5 acres) within which there were once 100 standing stones; inside this ring there are vestiges of two smaller circles. An avenue of paired stones, now partially restored, once ran southward for about 2 km (1 mi) to meet a double circle of stones on Overton Hill, called the Sanctuary, and now destroyed.

In addition to these major megalithic monuments, there are numerous Neolithic long barrows, burial chambers from the Bronze Age, and Iron Age hill forts. Old Sarum, the first site of Salisbury, was originally a hill fort, modified in turn by the Romans, the Saxons, and the Normans. The ancient grass track now known as the Ridgeway once ran from Avebury north-eastwards to the Uffington White Horse (in Oxfordshire) and the Berkshire Downs. Part of the Kingdom of Wessex under Saxon rule, Wiltshire was the site of ferocious battles with the Danes. The Westbury White Horse may have been cut to celebrate the victory by King Alfred over the Danes in the year 878.

At the time of the Norman Conquest, the county was purely agricultural. The Normans built a castle and a cathedral alongside one another at Old Sarum. This caused such friction that two centuries later the then bishop decided to build a new cathedral (on its present site) to the south. The body of the cathedral was finished by 1258; the spire (123 m/404 ft high) was added at the beginning of the 14th century. By this time the Cistercian monks had introduced sheep farming to the region and established the wool and cloth trades for which Wiltshire would become well known (see Medieval English Wool and Woollen Textile Industry). The county supported the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War. In the early 19th century Old Sarum achieved notoriety as one of the worst of the “rotten boroughs”.

At the end of the 19th century, large areas of Salisbury Plain were acquired for use as training grounds for the military. During World War I and World War II thousands of British, Commonwealth, and American soldiers and airmen received special training in Wiltshire.