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Wiltshire

Wiltshire (/ˈwɪlt.ʃər, -ʃɪər/;[1] abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west. The largest settlement is Swindon, and Trowbridge is the county town.

Wiltshire
Wiltshire within England
Coordinates: 51°18′N 1°54′W / 51.3°N 01.9°W / 51.3; -01.9
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionSouth West
EstablishedAncient
Time zoneUTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time)
Members of ParliamentList of MPs
PoliceWiltshire Police
Ceremonial county
Lord LieutenantSarah Troughton
Area3,485 km2 (1,346 sq mi)
 • Ranked14th of 48
Population (2021)720,060
 • Ranked34th of 48
Density207/km2 (540/sq mi)
Unitary authority
CouncilWiltshire Council
ExecutiveConservative
Admin HQCounty Hall, Trowbridge
Area3,255 km2 (1,257 sq mi)
 • Ranked6th of 296
Population513,411
 • Ranked11th of 296
Density158/km2 (410/sq mi)
ISO 3166-2GB-WIL
ONS code00HY
GSS codeE06000054
ITLUKK15
Websitewiltshire.gov.uk
swindon.gov.uk
Districts

Districts of Wiltshire
Unitary
Districts
  1. Wiltshire
  2. Swindon

The county has an area of 3,485 km2 (1,346 square miles) and a population of 720,060. The county is mostly rural, and the centre and south-west are sparsely populated. After Swindon (183,638), the largest settlements are the city of Salisbury (41,820) and the towns of Chippenham (37,548) and Trowbridge (37,169). For local government purposes the county comprises two unitary authority areas, Swindon and Wiltshire.

Undulating chalk downlands characterize much of the county; the North Wessex Downs in the east, Salisbury Plain in the centre, and Cranbourne Chase in the south. The north-west is part of the Cotswolds, a limestone area. The county's two major rivers are both called the Avon; the northern Avon enters the county in the north-west and flows in a south-westerly direction before leaving it near Bradford-on-Avon, and the southern Avon rises on Salisbury Plain and flows through Salisbury, then into Hampshire.

Salisbury Plain is noted for the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles, which together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and other ancient landmarks. Much of the plain is a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its medieval cathedral. Large country houses open to the public include Longleat, where there is also a safari park, and the National Trust's Stourhead.

Toponymy edit

The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire,[citation needed] is named after the former county town of Wilton.[2]

History edit

 
Stonehenge

Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology. The Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK.

In the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, and King Wulfhere of Mercia.[3] In 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown and the church.

At the time of the Domesday Survey, the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural; 390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock. In the succeeding centuries sheep-farming was vigorously pursued, and the Cistercian monastery of Stanley exported wool to the Florentine and Flemish markets in the 13th and 14th centuries.

 
Hand-drawn map of Wiltshire, 1576, by Christopher Saxton

In the 17th century, English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian. The Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes.

In 1794, it was decided at a meeting at the Bear Inn in Devizes to raise a body of ten independent troops of Yeomanry for the county of Wiltshire, which formed the basis for what would become the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, who served with distinction both at home and abroad, during the Boer War, World War I and World War II. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry lives on as Y (RWY) Squadron, based in Swindon, and B (RWY) Squadron, based in Salisbury, of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.[4]

Around 1800, the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway.

Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available at Wiltshire Council's Wiltshire Community History website which has maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories.[5]

 
The flag of the historic county of Wiltshire

The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is "Moonrakers". This originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in a village pond. When confronted by the excise men they raked the surface to conceal the submerged contraband with ripples, and claimed that they were trying to rake in a large round cheese visible in the pond, really a reflection of the full moon. The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone, allowing them to continue with their illegal activities. Many villages claim the tale for their own village pond, but the story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes.[6][7]

Geology, landscape and ecology edit

 
Cherhill White Horse, east of Calne

Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a mostly rural county, lies on chalk, a kind of soft, white, porous limestone that is resistant to erosion, giving it a high chalk downland landscape. This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and stretching from the Dorset Downs in the west to Dover in the east. The largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan HillMilk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale, just to the north of Salisbury Plain, at 295 m (968 ft) above sea level.[8]

The chalk uplands run north-east into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and south-west into Dorset as Cranborne Chase. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age and Bronze Age archaeology. The Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), a 1,730 km2 (670-square-mile) conservation area.

In the north-west of the county, on the border with South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset, the underlying rock is the resistant oolite limestone of the Cotswolds. Part of the Cotswolds AONB is also in Wiltshire, in the county's north-western corner.

Between the areas of chalk and limestone downland are clay valleys and vales. The largest of these vales is the Avon Vale. The Avon cuts diagonally through the north of the county, flowing through Bradford-on-Avon and into Bath and Bristol. The Vale of Pewsey has been cut through the chalk into Greensand and Oxford Clay in the centre of the county. In the south west of the county is the Vale of Wardour. The south-east of the county lies on the sandy soils of the northernmost area of the New Forest.

Chalk is a porous rock, so the chalk hills have little surface water. The main settlements in the county are therefore situated at wet points. Notably, Salisbury is situated between the chalk of Salisbury Plain and marshy flood plains.

Green belt edit

The county has a green belt mainly along its western fringes as a part of the extensive Avon Green Belt. It reaches as far as the outskirts of Rudloe/Corsham and Trowbridge, preventing urban sprawl particularly from the latter in the direction of Bradford-on-Avon, and affording further protection to surrounding villages and towns from Bath in Somerset.

Climate edit

Along with the rest of South West England, Wiltshire has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than counties further east.[9] The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C (50.0 °F). Although there is a marked maritime influence, this is generally rather less pronounced, than it is for other south-western counties, which have a greater proximity to the sea. The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately 22 °C (71.6 °F). In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 °C (33.8 °F) or 2 °C (35.6 °F) are usual and air frost normally occurs frequently. In the summer the Azores high pressure affects south-west England; however, convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours.[9]

In December 1998, there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton (Somerset). Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection, though a proportion is caused orographically (uplift over hills). A greater proportion of rainfall is in autumn and winter, caused by the Atlantic depressions, which is when they are most active. Even so, any month can be the wettest or driest in a given year but the wettest is much more likely to be in the winter half-year (Oct-Mar) and the driest in the summer half-year (Apr-Sept). In summer, a greater proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms, though it is often the northern half of the county that sees most of the showers with south-westerly winds, in summer, whereas in the south of the county, the proximity of a relatively cold English Channel, often inhibits the development of showers. In autumn and winter, however, the sea is often relatively warm, compared with the air passing over it and can often lead to a higher rainfall in the south of the county e.g. Salisbury recorded over 200mm of rain in Nov 2009 and January 2014. Average rainfall for the county is around 800 mm (31 in), drier parts averaging 700mm (28ins)and the wettest 900mm (around 35ins). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.[9]

Economy edit

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added (GVA) of Wiltshire at current basic prices[10] with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year Regional gross value added[11] Agriculture[12] Industry[13] Services[14]
1995 4,354 217 1,393 2,743
2000 5,362 148 1,566 3,647
2003 6,463 164 1,548 4,751

The Wiltshire economy benefits from the "M4 corridor effect", which attracts business, and the attractiveness of its countryside, towns and villages. The northern part of the county is richer than the southern part, particularly since Swindon is home to national and international corporations such as Intel, Motorola, Patheon, Catalent (formerly known as Cardinal Health), Becton-Dickinson, WHSmith, Early Learning Centre and Nationwide, with Dyson located in nearby Malmesbury. Wiltshire's employment structure is distinctive in having a significantly higher number of people in various forms of manufacturing (especially electrical equipment and apparatus, food products, and beverages, furniture, rubber, pharmaceuticals, and plastic goods) than the national average.

In addition, there is higher-than-average employment in public administration and defence, due to the military establishments around the county, particularly around Amesbury and Corsham. There are sizeable British Army barracks at Tidworth, Bulford and Warminster, and the Royal School of Artillery is at Larkhill. Further north, RAF Lyneham was home to the RAF's Hercules C130 fleet until 2011; the MoD Lyneham site is now a centre for Army technical training. Wiltshire is also distinctive for the high proportion of its working-age population who are economically active (86.6% in 1999–2000) and its low unemployment rates. The gross domestic product (GDP) level in Wiltshire did not reach the UK average in 1998, and was only marginally above the rate for South West England.[15]

Education edit

 
Marlborough College: court and chapel

Wiltshire has 30 county secondary schools, publicly funded, of which the largest is Warminster Kingdown, and eleven independent secondaries, including Marlborough College, St Mary's Calne, Dauntsey's near Devizes, and Warminster School. The county schools are nearly all comprehensives, with the older pattern of education surviving only in Salisbury, which has two grammar schools (South Wilts Grammar School and Bishop Wordsworth's School) and three non-selective schools.

There are four further education colleges, which also provide some higher education: New College (Swindon); Wiltshire College (Chippenham, Trowbridge and Salisbury); Salisbury Sixth Form College; and Swindon College. Wiltshire is also home to a University Technical College, UTC Swindon, specialising in engineering. A second UTC, South Wiltshire UTC, was based in Salisbury but closed in August 2020.

Wiltshire is one of the few remaining English counties without a university or university college; the closest university to the county town of Trowbridge is the University of Bath. However, Bath Spa University has a centre at Corsham Court in Corsham, and Oxford Brookes University maintains a minor campus in Swindon (almost 50 km from Oxford). Swindon is the UK's second largest centre of population (after Milton Keynes) without its own university.[citation needed]

Service Children's Education has its headquarters in Trenchard Lines in Upavon, Wiltshire.[16]

Demographics edit

 
Wiltshire population pyramid

The county registered a population of 680,137 in the 2011 Census. Wiltshire (outside Swindon) has a low population density of 1.4 persons per hectare, when compared against 4.1 for England as a whole.[17][18][19]

Wiltshire Swindon Total
Usual resident population 470,981 209,156 680,137
Age 65 or over 18.1% 13.7% 16.8%
Density (persons per hectare) 1.4 9.1 2.0
Households 194,194 88,360 282,554

Historical population of Wiltshire county:[20]

1801 1851 1901 1951 2001
185,107 254,221 271,394 386,692 613,024

Politics and administration edit

Europe edit

At the 2016 European Union membership referendum, Wiltshire voted in favour of Brexit.[21]

Westminster Parliamentary edit

At the 2019 general election, all seven Wiltshire constituencies (including the two Swindon constituencies) returned Conservative MPs. The two Swindon constituencies are seen as marginal, bellwether constituencies between Labour and the Conservatives. Conversely, the Chippenham constituency is traditionally contested between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, with Liberal Democrat Duncan Hames holding the seat until 2015. The Liberal Democrats also finished second in Devizes, North Wiltshire and Salisbury whereas Labour, in addition to the two Swindon seats, finished second in Wiltshire South West.

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies' initial proposals recommended wide-ranging changes to Wiltshire's electoral boundaries which would see the North Wiltshire seat extended across the county border into Gloucestershire.[22]

Councils edit

 
The coat of arms of Wiltshire County Council

The ceremonial county of Wiltshire consists of two unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council. As a result of elections held in 2021, Wiltshire Council comprises 61 Conservatives, 27 Liberal Democrats, seven Independents and three Labour members. Swindon Borough Council has 34 Conservative councillors and 23 Labour members.

Until the 2009 structural changes to local government, Wiltshire (apart from Swindon) was a two-level county, divided into four local government districts – Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury and West Wiltshire – which existed alongside Wiltshire County Council, covering the same area and carrying out more strategic tasks, such as education and county roads. However, on 1 April 2009 these five local authorities were merged into a single unitary authority called Wiltshire Council. With the abolition of the District of Salisbury, a new Salisbury City Council was created at the same time to carry out several citywide functions and to hold the city's charter.

Sport edit

 
The County Ground, Swindon is the home of Swindon Town, the only football league club in Wiltshire.

The county is represented in the Football League by Swindon Town, who play at the County Ground stadium near Swindon town centre. They joined the Football League on the creation of the Third Division in 1920, and have remained in the league ever since. Their most notable achievements include winning the Football League Cup in 1969 and the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1970, two successive promotions in 1986 and 1987 (taking them from the Fourth Division to the Second), promotion to the Premier League as Division One play-off winners in 1993 (as inaugural members), the Division Two title in 1996, and their promotion to League One in 2007 after finishing third in League Two.

Chippenham Town is the area's highest-ranked non-league football club; they currently play in the National League South after winning the Southern Premier League in 2016/17, with a league record points tally of 103. After Salisbury City went into liquidation in 2014, a new club, Salisbury, was formed and plays in the Southern Premier League.

Wiltshire County Cricket Club play in the Minor Counties league.

Swindon Robins Speedway team, who competed in the top national division, the SGB Premiership, had been at their track at the Blunsdon Abbey Stadium near Swindon since 1949. In 2020 they stopped racing due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and subsequently announced in 2022 that they would not be returning. Swindon Wildcats compete in the English Premier Ice Hockey League, the second tier of British ice hockey, and play their home games at Swindon's Link Centre.

Principal settlements edit

Wiltshire has twenty-one towns and one city:

 
A bridge over the River Avon at Bradford-on-Avon

A list of settlements is at List of places in Wiltshire.

Media edit

Local TV coverage is covered by BBC West and ITV West Country;[23] however, Swindon[24] and Salisbury[25] receive BBC South and ITV Meridian. [26]

The county's local radio stations are BBC Radio Wiltshire, Heart West, Greatest Hits Radio South West and Greatest Hits Radio South (covering Salisbury and surrounding areas).

County-wide local newspapers are the Gazette and Herald and Wiltshire Times.

Places of interest edit

 
The flight of 16 locks at Caen Hill on the Kennet and Avon Canal

Places of interest in Wiltshire include:

Areas of countryside in Wiltshire include:

Transport edit

Road edit

Roads running through Wiltshire include The Ridgeway, an ancient route, and Roman roads the Fosse Way, London to Bath road and Ermin Way. National Cycle Route 4 and the Thames Path, a modern long distance footpath, run through the county.

Routes through Wiltshire include:

Navigable inland waterways edit

Canals subject to restoration edit

Rail edit

Three main railway routes, all of which carry passenger traffic, cross Wiltshire.

Other routes include:

The major junction stations are Salisbury and Westbury, and important junctions are also found at Swindon, Chippenham and Trowbridge.

There is also the Swindon and Cricklade Railway in the Thames Valley.

In general, Wiltshire is well served by rail, with 14 stations within its boundaries, although towns not served include Calne, Marlborough and Devizes. Several destinations on bus routes, including the aforementioned three towns, have integrated through ticketing where one ticket may be bought to cover both the bus and rail journey.

Air edit

Airfields in Wiltshire include Old Sarum Airfield and Clench Common Airfield. RAF Lyneham was an air transport hub for British forces until its closure in 2012. Airports with scheduled services near Wiltshire include Bournemouth Airport, Bristol Airport, Cardiff Airport, Exeter Airport, Gloucestershire Airport, Oxford Airport, Heathrow Airport and Southampton Airport.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Wiltshire". Collins Dictionary. from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Wiltshire Community History: Wilton". Wiltshire Council. from the original on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  3. ^ Pearson, Michael (2003). Kennet & Avon Middle Thames: Pearson's Canal Companion. Rugby: Central Waterways Supplies. ISBN 0-907864-97-X.
  4. ^ British Army Website. . Regimental Page. British Army. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  5. ^ "Community History". Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. Wiltshire Council. from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  6. ^ . Devizesheritage.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 April 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  7. ^ "Moonraking: The Folklore". Where I live: Wiltshire. BBC Wiltshire. from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  8. ^ Bathurst, David (2012). Walking the county high points of England. Chichester: Summersdale. pp. 138–147. ISBN 978-1-84-953239-6.
  9. ^ a b c "South West England: climate". Met Office. from the original on 25 February 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  10. ^ [1][dead link]
  11. ^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
  12. ^ includes hunting and forestry
  13. ^ includes energy and construction
  14. ^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
  15. ^ (PDF). Wiltshire CPRE. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2006.
  16. ^ "Service Children's Education Annual Report and Accounts 2012–2013" (). Service Children's Education. PDF p. 3/62. Retrieved on 28 February 2015. "Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at Headquarters Service Children's Education, Trenchard Lines, Upavon, Wiltshire"
  17. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Swindon Local Authority (1946157355)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  18. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Wiltshire Local Authority (1946157357)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  19. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – England Country (2092957699)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  20. ^ "Wiltshire Community History – Census". Wiltshire Council. from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  21. ^ "BREXIT: How Wiltshire voted". The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. 29 March 2019. from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  22. ^ "Plans to move Cirencester out of Cotswold constituency slammed". Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. 19 March 2022. from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  23. ^ https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/Mendip
  24. ^ "Full Freeview on the Oxford (Oxfordshire, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. from the original on 13 July 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  25. ^ "Full Freeview on the Salisbury (Wiltshire, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. May 2004. from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  26. ^ "BBC nations and regions - overview map". UK Free TV. from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  27. ^ . This is Bath. Western Daily Press. 24 February 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2012.

External links edit

wiltshire, confused, with, wilshire, wilshere, this, article, about, county, england, other, uses, disambiguation, ɪər, abbreviated, wilts, ceremonial, county, south, west, england, borders, gloucestershire, north, oxfordshire, north, east, berkshire, east, ha. Not to be confused with Wilshire or Wilshere This article is about the county in England For other uses see Wiltshire disambiguation Wiltshire ˈ w ɪ l t ʃ er ʃ ɪer 1 abbreviated to Wilts is a ceremonial county in South West England It borders Gloucestershire to the north Oxfordshire to the north east Berkshire to the east Hampshire to the south east Dorset to the south and Somerset to the west The largest settlement is Swindon and Trowbridge is the county town WiltshireCeremonial countyKennet Avenue near Avebury Salisbury Cathedral and a view of SwindonWiltshire within EnglandCoordinates 51 18 N 1 54 W 51 3 N 01 9 W 51 3 01 9Sovereign stateUnited KingdomConstituent countryEnglandRegionSouth WestEstablishedAncientTime zoneUTC 00 00 Greenwich Mean Time Summer DST UTC 01 00 British Summer Time Members of ParliamentList of MPsPoliceWiltshire PoliceCeremonial countyLord LieutenantSarah TroughtonArea3 485 km2 1 346 sq mi Ranked14th of 48Population 2021 720 060 Ranked34th of 48Density207 km2 540 sq mi Unitary authorityCouncilWiltshire CouncilExecutiveConservativeAdmin HQCounty Hall TrowbridgeArea3 255 km2 1 257 sq mi Ranked6th of 296Population513 411 Ranked11th of 296Density158 km2 410 sq mi ISO 3166 2GB WILONS code00HYGSS codeE06000054ITLUKK15Websitewiltshire wbr gov wbr uk swindon wbr gov wbr ukDistrictsDistricts of Wiltshire UnitaryDistrictsWiltshire SwindonThe county has an area of 3 485 km2 1 346 square miles and a population of 720 060 The county is mostly rural and the centre and south west are sparsely populated After Swindon 183 638 the largest settlements are the city of Salisbury 41 820 and the towns of Chippenham 37 548 and Trowbridge 37 169 For local government purposes the county comprises two unitary authority areas Swindon and Wiltshire Undulating chalk downlands characterize much of the county the North Wessex Downs in the east Salisbury Plain in the centre and Cranbourne Chase in the south The north west is part of the Cotswolds a limestone area The county s two major rivers are both called the Avon the northern Avon enters the county in the north west and flows in a south westerly direction before leaving it near Bradford on Avon and the southern Avon rises on Salisbury Plain and flows through Salisbury then into Hampshire Salisbury Plain is noted for the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles which together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and other ancient landmarks Much of the plain is a training area for the British Army The city of Salisbury is notable for its medieval cathedral Large country houses open to the public include Longleat where there is also a safari park and the National Trust s Stourhead Contents 1 Toponymy 2 History 3 Geology landscape and ecology 3 1 Green belt 4 Climate 5 Economy 6 Education 7 Demographics 8 Politics and administration 8 1 Europe 8 2 Westminster Parliamentary 8 3 Councils 9 Sport 10 Principal settlements 11 Media 12 Places of interest 13 Transport 13 1 Road 13 2 Navigable inland waterways 13 3 Canals subject to restoration 13 4 Rail 13 5 Air 14 See also 15 References 16 External linksToponymy editThe county in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir later Wiltonshire citation needed is named after the former county town of Wilton 2 History editMain article History of Wiltshire nbsp StonehengeWiltshire is notable for its pre Roman archaeology The Mesolithic Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK In the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga and King Wulfhere of Mercia 3 In 878 the Danes invaded the county Following the Norman Conquest in 1066 large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown and the church At the time of the Domesday Survey the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural 390 mills are mentioned and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock In the succeeding centuries sheep farming was vigorously pursued and the Cistercian monastery of Stanley exported wool to the Florentine and Flemish markets in the 13th and 14th centuries nbsp Hand drawn map of Wiltshire 1576 by Christopher SaxtonIn the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian The Battle of Roundway Down a Royalist victory was fought near Devizes In 1794 it was decided at a meeting at the Bear Inn in Devizes to raise a body of ten independent troops of Yeomanry for the county of Wiltshire which formed the basis for what would become the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry who served with distinction both at home and abroad during the Boer War World War I and World War II The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry lives on as Y RWY Squadron based in Swindon and B RWY Squadron based in Salisbury of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry 4 Around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available at Wiltshire Council s Wiltshire Community History website which has maps demographic data historic and modern pictures and short histories 5 nbsp The flag of the historic county of WiltshireThe local nickname for Wiltshire natives is Moonrakers This originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs in a village pond When confronted by the excise men they raked the surface to conceal the submerged contraband with ripples and claimed that they were trying to rake in a large round cheese visible in the pond really a reflection of the full moon The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone allowing them to continue with their illegal activities Many villages claim the tale for their own village pond but the story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes 6 7 Geology landscape and ecology editSee also List of hills of Wiltshire and List of rivers of Wiltshire nbsp Cherhill White Horse east of CalneTwo thirds of Wiltshire a mostly rural county lies on chalk a kind of soft white porous limestone that is resistant to erosion giving it a high chalk downland landscape This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and stretching from the Dorset Downs in the west to Dover in the east The largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale just to the north of Salisbury Plain at 295 m 968 ft above sea level 8 The chalk uplands run north east into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge and south west into Dorset as Cranborne Chase Cranborne Chase which straddles the border has like Salisbury Plain yielded much Stone Age and Bronze Age archaeology The Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty a 1 730 km2 670 square mile conservation area In the north west of the county on the border with South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset the underlying rock is the resistant oolite limestone of the Cotswolds Part of the Cotswolds AONB is also in Wiltshire in the county s north western corner Between the areas of chalk and limestone downland are clay valleys and vales The largest of these vales is the Avon Vale The Avon cuts diagonally through the north of the county flowing through Bradford on Avon and into Bath and Bristol The Vale of Pewsey has been cut through the chalk into Greensand and Oxford Clay in the centre of the county In the south west of the county is the Vale of Wardour The south east of the county lies on the sandy soils of the northernmost area of the New Forest Chalk is a porous rock so the chalk hills have little surface water The main settlements in the county are therefore situated at wet points Notably Salisbury is situated between the chalk of Salisbury Plain and marshy flood plains Green belt edit Main article Avon Green Belt The county has a green belt mainly along its western fringes as a part of the extensive Avon Green Belt It reaches as far as the outskirts of Rudloe Corsham and Trowbridge preventing urban sprawl particularly from the latter in the direction of Bradford on Avon and affording further protection to surrounding villages and towns from Bath in Somerset Climate editAlong with the rest of South West England Wiltshire has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than counties further east 9 The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 C 50 0 F Although there is a marked maritime influence this is generally rather less pronounced than it is for other south western counties which have a greater proximity to the sea The summer months of July and August are the warmest with mean daily maxima of approximately 22 C 71 6 F In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 C 33 8 F or 2 C 35 6 F are usual and air frost normally occurs frequently In the summer the Azores high pressure affects south west England however convective cloud sometimes forms inland reducing the number of hours of sunshine Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1 600 hours 9 In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton Somerset Most of the rainfall in the south west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection though a proportion is caused orographically uplift over hills A greater proportion of rainfall is in autumn and winter caused by the Atlantic depressions which is when they are most active Even so any month can be the wettest or driest in a given year but the wettest is much more likely to be in the winter half year Oct Mar and the driest in the summer half year Apr Sept In summer a greater proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms though it is often the northern half of the county that sees most of the showers with south westerly winds in summer whereas in the south of the county the proximity of a relatively cold English Channel often inhibits the development of showers In autumn and winter however the sea is often relatively warm compared with the air passing over it and can often lead to a higher rainfall in the south of the county e g Salisbury recorded over 200mm of rain in Nov 2009 and January 2014 Average rainfall for the county is around 800 mm 31 in drier parts averaging 700mm 28ins and the wettest 900mm around 35ins About 8 15 days of snowfall is typical November to March have the highest mean wind speeds and June to August have the lightest winds The predominant wind direction is from the south west 9 Economy editMain article Economy of Wiltshire This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added GVA of Wiltshire at current basic prices 10 with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling Year Regional gross value added 11 Agriculture 12 Industry 13 Services 14 1995 4 354 217 1 393 2 7432000 5 362 148 1 566 3 6472003 6 463 164 1 548 4 751The Wiltshire economy benefits from the M4 corridor effect which attracts business and the attractiveness of its countryside towns and villages The northern part of the county is richer than the southern part particularly since Swindon is home to national and international corporations such as Intel Motorola Patheon Catalent formerly known as Cardinal Health Becton Dickinson WHSmith Early Learning Centre and Nationwide with Dyson located in nearby Malmesbury Wiltshire s employment structure is distinctive in having a significantly higher number of people in various forms of manufacturing especially electrical equipment and apparatus food products and beverages furniture rubber pharmaceuticals and plastic goods than the national average In addition there is higher than average employment in public administration and defence due to the military establishments around the county particularly around Amesbury and Corsham There are sizeable British Army barracks at Tidworth Bulford and Warminster and the Royal School of Artillery is at Larkhill Further north RAF Lyneham was home to the RAF s Hercules C130 fleet until 2011 the MoD Lyneham site is now a centre for Army technical training Wiltshire is also distinctive for the high proportion of its working age population who are economically active 86 6 in 1999 2000 and its low unemployment rates The gross domestic product GDP level in Wiltshire did not reach the UK average in 1998 and was only marginally above the rate for South West England 15 Education editSee also List of schools in Wiltshire nbsp Marlborough College court and chapelWiltshire has 30 county secondary schools publicly funded of which the largest is Warminster Kingdown and eleven independent secondaries including Marlborough College St Mary s Calne Dauntsey s near Devizes and Warminster School The county schools are nearly all comprehensives with the older pattern of education surviving only in Salisbury which has two grammar schools South Wilts Grammar School and Bishop Wordsworth s School and three non selective schools There are four further education colleges which also provide some higher education New College Swindon Wiltshire College Chippenham Trowbridge and Salisbury Salisbury Sixth Form College and Swindon College Wiltshire is also home to a University Technical College UTC Swindon specialising in engineering A second UTC South Wiltshire UTC was based in Salisbury but closed in August 2020 Wiltshire is one of the few remaining English counties without a university or university college the closest university to the county town of Trowbridge is the University of Bath However Bath Spa University has a centre at Corsham Court in Corsham and Oxford Brookes University maintains a minor campus in Swindon almost 50 km from Oxford Swindon is the UK s second largest centre of population after Milton Keynes without its own university citation needed Service Children s Education has its headquarters in Trenchard Lines in Upavon Wiltshire 16 Demographics edit nbsp Wiltshire population pyramidThe county registered a population of 680 137 in the 2011 Census Wiltshire outside Swindon has a low population density of 1 4 persons per hectare when compared against 4 1 for England as a whole 17 18 19 Wiltshire Swindon TotalUsual resident population 470 981 209 156 680 137Age 65 or over 18 1 13 7 16 8 Density persons per hectare 1 4 9 1 2 0Households 194 194 88 360 282 554Historical population of Wiltshire county 20 1801 1851 1901 1951 2001185 107 254 221 271 394 386 692 613 024Politics and administration editEurope edit At the 2016 European Union membership referendum Wiltshire voted in favour of Brexit 21 Westminster Parliamentary edit At the 2019 general election all seven Wiltshire constituencies including the two Swindon constituencies returned Conservative MPs The two Swindon constituencies are seen as marginal bellwether constituencies between Labour and the Conservatives Conversely the Chippenham constituency is traditionally contested between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives with Liberal Democrat Duncan Hames holding the seat until 2015 The Liberal Democrats also finished second in Devizes North Wiltshire and Salisbury whereas Labour in addition to the two Swindon seats finished second in Wiltshire South West The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies initial proposals recommended wide ranging changes to Wiltshire s electoral boundaries which would see the North Wiltshire seat extended across the county border into Gloucestershire 22 Councils edit Main articles Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council elections Swindon Borough Council and Swindon Borough Council elections nbsp The coat of arms of Wiltshire County CouncilThe ceremonial county of Wiltshire consists of two unitary authority areas Wiltshire and Swindon governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council As a result of elections held in 2021 Wiltshire Council comprises 61 Conservatives 27 Liberal Democrats seven Independents and three Labour members Swindon Borough Council has 34 Conservative councillors and 23 Labour members Until the 2009 structural changes to local government Wiltshire apart from Swindon was a two level county divided into four local government districts Kennet North Wiltshire Salisbury and West Wiltshire which existed alongside Wiltshire County Council covering the same area and carrying out more strategic tasks such as education and county roads However on 1 April 2009 these five local authorities were merged into a single unitary authority called Wiltshire Council With the abolition of the District of Salisbury a new Salisbury City Council was created at the same time to carry out several citywide functions and to hold the city s charter Sport edit nbsp The County Ground Swindon is the home of Swindon Town the only football league club in Wiltshire The county is represented in the Football League by Swindon Town who play at the County Ground stadium near Swindon town centre They joined the Football League on the creation of the Third Division in 1920 and have remained in the league ever since Their most notable achievements include winning the Football League Cup in 1969 and the Anglo Italian Cup in 1970 two successive promotions in 1986 and 1987 taking them from the Fourth Division to the Second promotion to the Premier League as Division One play off winners in 1993 as inaugural members the Division Two title in 1996 and their promotion to League One in 2007 after finishing third in League Two Chippenham Town is the area s highest ranked non league football club they currently play in the National League South after winning the Southern Premier League in 2016 17 with a league record points tally of 103 After Salisbury City went into liquidation in 2014 a new club Salisbury was formed and plays in the Southern Premier League Wiltshire County Cricket Club play in the Minor Counties league Swindon Robins Speedway team who competed in the top national division the SGB Premiership had been at their track at the Blunsdon Abbey Stadium near Swindon since 1949 In 2020 they stopped racing due to the Covid 19 Pandemic and subsequently announced in 2022 that they would not be returning Swindon Wildcats compete in the English Premier Ice Hockey League the second tier of British ice hockey and play their home games at Swindon s Link Centre Principal settlements editSee also List of settlements in Wiltshire by population Wiltshire has twenty one towns and one city nbsp A bridge over the River Avon at Bradford on AvonAmesbury Bradford on Avon Calne Chippenham Corsham Cricklade Devizes Highworth Borough of Swindon Larkhill Ludgershall Malmesbury Marlborough Melksham Mere Royal Wootton Bassett Salisbury city Swindon Borough of Swindon Tidworth Trowbridge Warminster Westbury WiltonA list of settlements is at List of places in Wiltshire Media editLocal TV coverage is covered by BBC West and ITV West Country 23 however Swindon 24 and Salisbury 25 receive BBC South and ITV Meridian 26 The county s local radio stations are BBC Radio Wiltshire Heart West Greatest Hits Radio South West and Greatest Hits Radio South covering Salisbury and surrounding areas County wide local newspapers are the Gazette and Herald and Wiltshire Times Places of interest edit nbsp The flight of 16 locks at Caen Hill on the Kennet and Avon CanalKey nbsp Abbey Priory Cathedral nbsp Accessible open space nbsp Amusement Theme Park nbsp Castle nbsp Country Park nbsp English HeritageForestry Commission nbsp Heritage railway nbsp Historic House nbsp Places of Worship nbsp nbsp Museum free not free nbsp National Trust nbsp Theatre nbsp ZooPlaces of interest in Wiltshire include Arc Theatre at the Trowbridge campus of Wiltshire College 27 nbsp Ashcombe House nbsp Avebury Neolithic stone circle nbsp Avebury Manor and Garden nbsp Avon Valley Path nbsp Barbury Castle nbsp Bentley Wood nbsp Bowood House nbsp Caen Hill Locks Devizes Castle Combe village Castle Hill Mere nbsp Central Government War Headquarters Corsham underground nuclear bunker with accommodation for 4000 Cherhill White Horse Chisbury Chapel nbsp Coate Water East Swindon nbsp Corsham Court nbsp Cotswold Water Park The Courts Garden Holt Crofton Pumping Station Edington Priory nbsp Fonthill Abbey nbsp Great Chalfield Manor Iford Manor and gardens nbsp Kennet and Avon Canal Museum Devizes nbsp Kennet Avenue Avebury nbsp King Alfred s Tower Stourhead Lacock Abbey nbsp nbsp Lacock village largely owned by the National Trust nbsp Littlecote House nbsp Longleat Safari Park nbsp nbsp Ludgershall Castle Lydiard Park amp House West Swindon nbsp nbsp Malmesbury Abbey nbsp Maud Heath s Causeway near Chippenham Mompesson House Salisbury Old Sarum the site of the former cathedral nbsp Philipps House amp Dinton Park Richard Jefferies Birthplace and Museum near Swindon nbsp REME Museum nbsp River Thames nbsp Salisbury Cathedral nbsp The Salisbury Museum nbsp Science Museum library and archives Wroughton Shearwater Lake Silbury Hill Stonehenge Stourhead Swindon and Cricklade Railway nbsp Swindon Steam Railway Museum nbsp Trafalgar House nbsp Wardour Castle nbsp West Kennet Long Barrow nbsp Westbury White Horse Westwood Manor nbsp Woodhenge nbsp Wilton House nbsp Wilton Windmill Wilts amp Berks Canal Wiltshire Museum Devizes nbsp Win Green Down nbsp nbsp Areas of countryside in Wiltshire include Cranborne Chase nbsp Marlborough Downs nbsp Salisbury Plain nbsp Vale of Pewsey nbsp Transport editRoad edit Roads running through Wiltshire include The Ridgeway an ancient route and Roman roads the Fosse Way London to Bath road and Ermin Way National Cycle Route 4 and the Thames Path a modern long distance footpath run through the county Routes through Wiltshire include A4 road M4 motorway M4 Corridor A303 trunk road A350 road A417 roadNavigable inland waterways edit River Thames Kennet and Avon CanalCanals subject to restoration edit Thames and Severn Canal North Wilts Canal Wilts amp Berks CanalRail edit Three main railway routes all of which carry passenger traffic cross Wiltshire Great Western Main Line Swindon and Chippenham Wessex Main Line Bradford on Avon Melksham Trowbridge Westbury Warminster Salisbury connects to Chippenham West of England line Salisbury and Tisbury Other routes include Reading to Taunton Line Heart of Wessex Line Golden Valley Line South Wales Main LineThe major junction stations are Salisbury and Westbury and important junctions are also found at Swindon Chippenham and Trowbridge There is also the Swindon and Cricklade Railway in the Thames Valley In general Wiltshire is well served by rail with 14 stations within its boundaries although towns not served include Calne Marlborough and Devizes Several destinations on bus routes including the aforementioned three towns have integrated through ticketing where one ticket may be bought to cover both the bus and rail journey Air edit Airfields in Wiltshire include Old Sarum Airfield and Clench Common Airfield RAF Lyneham was an air transport hub for British forces until its closure in 2012 Airports with scheduled services near Wiltshire include Bournemouth Airport Bristol Airport Cardiff Airport Exeter Airport Gloucestershire Airport Oxford Airport Heathrow Airport and Southampton Airport See also edit nbsp Geography portal nbsp Europe portal nbsp United Kingdom portal nbsp England portalCustos Rotulorum of Wiltshire Keepers of the Rolls Flag of Wiltshire Grade I listed buildings in Wiltshire Great West Way Healthcare in Wiltshire High Sheriff of Wiltshire List of civil parishes in Wiltshire List of Deputy Lieutenants of Wiltshire List of hills of Wiltshire List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire The Vly be on the Turmut unofficial song of the county Wiltshire UK Parliament constituency Wiltshire Horn a breed of sheepReferences edit Wiltshire Collins Dictionary Archived from the original on 24 September 2014 Retrieved 23 September 2014 Wiltshire Community History Wilton Wiltshire Council Archived from the original on 28 March 2022 Retrieved 13 December 2010 Pearson Michael 2003 Kennet amp Avon Middle Thames Pearson s Canal Companion Rugby Central Waterways Supplies ISBN 0 907864 97 X British Army Website Royal Wessex Yeomanry Regimental Page British Army Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 5 January 2016 Community History Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Wiltshire Council Archived from the original on 14 May 2023 Retrieved 14 May 2023 The Green and Crammer Pond Devizes Devizesheritage org uk Archived from the original on 23 April 2010 Retrieved 28 September 2017 Moonraking The Folklore Where I live Wiltshire BBC Wiltshire Archived from the original on 11 January 2009 Retrieved 1 December 2008 Bathurst David 2012 Walking the county high points of England Chichester Summersdale pp 138 147 ISBN 978 1 84 953239 6 a b c South West England climate Met Office Archived from the original on 25 February 2006 Retrieved 16 May 2017 1 dead link Components may not sum to totals due to rounding includes hunting and forestry includes energy and construction includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured Wiltshire Strategic Analysis 2002 PDF Wiltshire CPRE Archived from the original PDF on 1 June 2013 Retrieved 21 October 2006 Service Children s Education Annual Report and Accounts 2012 2013 Archive Service Children s Education PDF p 3 62 Retrieved on 28 February 2015 Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at Headquarters Service Children s Education Trenchard Lines Upavon Wiltshire UK Census 2011 Local Area Report Swindon Local Authority 1946157355 Nomis Office for National Statistics Retrieved 17 March 2018 UK Census 2011 Local Area Report Wiltshire Local Authority 1946157357 Nomis Office for National Statistics Retrieved 17 March 2018 UK Census 2011 Local Area Report England Country 2092957699 Nomis Office for National Statistics Retrieved 17 March 2018 Wiltshire Community History Census Wiltshire Council Archived from the original on 28 August 2022 Retrieved 14 May 2023 BREXIT How Wiltshire voted The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald 29 March 2019 Archived from the original on 17 April 2021 Retrieved 20 November 2020 Plans to move Cirencester out of Cotswold constituency slammed Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard 19 March 2022 Archived from the original on 6 October 2022 Retrieved 6 October 2022 https ukfree tv transmitters Mendip Full Freeview on the Oxford Oxfordshire England transmitter UK Free TV Archived from the original on 13 July 2023 Retrieved 19 November 2022 Full Freeview on the Salisbury Wiltshire England transmitter UK Free TV May 2004 Archived from the original on 19 November 2022 Retrieved 19 November 2022 BBC nations and regions overview map UK Free TV Archived from the original on 15 November 2022 Retrieved 19 November 2022 2 5m to revamp town college as vocational hub This is Bath Western Daily Press 24 February 2012 Archived from the original on 21 September 2013 Retrieved 4 March 2012 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wiltshire nbsp Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Wiltshire Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Community History Wiltshire Tourist Office Images of Wiltshire at the English Heritage Archive archived in 2012 Wiltshire at Curlie Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Wiltshire amp oldid 1210460739, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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