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WILTSHIRE [WILTS]
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See also:WILTSHIRE [WILTS] , a See also:south-western See also:county of See also:England, bounded N.W. and N. by See also:Gloucestershire, N.E. and E. by See also:Berkshire, S.E. by See also:Hampshire, S.W. and S. by See also:Dorsetshire, and W. by See also:Somersetshire. The See also:area is 1374.9 sq. m. A See also:great upland covers two-thirds of the county, comprising, in the See also:north-See also:east, See also:Marlborough See also:Downs, with Savernake See also:Forest; in the centre, the broad undulating sweep of See also:Salisbury See also:Plain; and in the south, the more varied hills and dales of the Nadder See also:watershed, the vale of See also:Chalk and Cranborne See also:Chase. Large tracts of the Chalk are over 600 ft. above the See also:sea, rising in many parts into steep and picturesque escarpments. Several peaks attain an See also:altitude of 900 ft., and Inkpen See also:Beacon, on the See also:borders of Berkshire, Wiltshire and Hampshire, reaches ro11 ft. Scattered in thousands over the downs See also:lie huge blocks of silicious See also:Tertiary grits, called sarsen stones or See also:grey wethers, which were used by the See also:primitive builders of See also:Stonehenge and See also:Avebury. The underlying See also:Greensand is exposed in the deeper valleys of the Chalk, such as the vale of Pewsey, dividing Salisbury Plain from Marlborough Downs, and the vale of Chalk, dividing the Nadder westward from the heights of Cranborne Chase. One of the most charming features of the county is its fertile and well-wooded valleys. Three See also:ancient forests remain: Cranborne Chase, which extends into See also:Dorset, was a royal See also:deer-See also:park as See also:early as the reign of See also: There is no great See also:sheet of See also:water, but the See also:reservoir near See also:Swindon, and the lakes of Longleat, Stourton and Fonthill in the south-See also:west of See also:Earl Stoke near See also:Westbury, and of Bowood, Corsham and Seagry near See also:Chippenham, deserve mention for the beauty of their scenery. The upper reaches of the See also:Thames skirt the north-eastern border, and three other considerable See also:rivers drain the Wiltshire Downs. The Kennet, rising west of Marlborough, winds eastward into Berkshire and meets the Thames at See also:Reading. The See also:Lower or See also:Bristol See also:Avon flows from its source among the Cotteswolds in See also:southern Gloucestershire, past See also:Malmesbury, Chippenham, See also:Melksham and See also:Bradford, where it curves north-eastward into See also:Somerset, finally falling into the Bristol Channel. Besides many lesser tributaries it receives from the south the See also:Frome, which forms for about 5 M. the boundary between Wilts and Somerset. The East or See also:Christchurch Avon, which rises near Bishops Cannings in the centre of the county, flows east and south into Hampshire, and enters the sea at Christchurch. See also:Close to Salisbury it is joined by the See also:united streams of the Nadder and the Wylye; by the Ebble, which drains the vale of Chalk; and by the See also:Bourne, which flows south by west from its See also:head near Ludgershall.
See also:Geology.—As has been said, about two-thirds of the See also:surface of Wilts is occupied by a great Chalk upland. Cropping out from beneath the Chalk is a fringe of the Selbornian—Upper Greensand and See also:Gault—the former is well exposed in the vale of Pewsey, west of See also:Devizes, and along the margins of the vale of Wardour; it forms a broad, hilly See also:tract from See also:Mere through Stourton to See also:Warminster. The Gault See also:Clay runs regularly at the See also:foot of the Upper Greensand; it is excavated in several places for See also:brick-making. The Lower Greensand, which oversteps the underlying formations, appears from beneath the Gault at Poulshot and follows the same See also:line of outcrop northwards; a small outlier at Seend is worked for the See also:iron it contains. About one-third of the county lying on the north-west See also:side of the Chalk downs, including a portion of the vale of the See also: The Upper See also:Lias—the See also:oldest formation in the county—forms the See also:floor of the valley near See also:Box; it is followed by the overlying Inferior Oolite and See also:Fuller's See also:Earth. Then succeeds the Great Oolite See also:Series, which includes the famous See also:building-stones of See also:Bath, quarried at Winsley Down, near Bradford, and at Box, Corsham Down and other places in the neighbourhood. Above the freestones near Bradford comes the Bradford clay, with the well-known fossil A piocrinus or See also:pear-encrinite, followed by the Forest See also:Marble limestones and See also:clays. The rubbly See also:Cornbrash crops at Westwood, See also:Trowbridge, and Malmesbury. Further east lies the outcrop of See also:Oxfordian strata, comprising the sandy Keilaways beds and overlying See also:Oxford Clay, together forming a broad See also:low-lying tract in which stand Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and See also:Cricklade. Rising up from the eastern margin of the Oxfordian vale is the irregular scarp formed by the See also:Corallian oolitic Iimestones and marls. The iron ores of Westbury are obtained in this formation. Another clay-bottomed vale lies on the eastern side of the Corallian ground, from near See also:Calne to Swindon, where it is exploited for bricks. It appears also between Seend, Coniston and West-See also:bury; also between Mere and Semley. About the former See also:place it is brought into apposition with Cretaceous rocks through the agency of an east to west See also:fault. At Tisbury and near Potterne are small outcrops of See also:Portlandian rocks which yield the See also:familiar building-stones of Tisbury and Chilmark. Limestones and clays of Purbeck See also:age lie in the vale of Wardour about Teffont Evias. At Dinton in the same vale the See also:Wealden formation just makes its See also:appearance.
In the south-eastern corner of the county there are tracts of Tertiary Reading Beds and See also:London Clay east of Downton and on the See also:Clarendon Hills; these are covered by Bagshot Beds at See also:Alder-bury and Grinstead, also on Hampworth Common. Outliers of Reading Beds and London Clay occur about Great Bedwin; the sarsen stones previously referred to represent the last remnants of a See also:mantle of Tertiary rocks which formerly covered the See also:district. Here and there See also:drift gravels and brick earths, besides low-level See also:river gravels, See also:rest upon the older rocks.
See also:Agriculture.—Some five-sixths of the See also:total area, a high proportion, is under cultivation, but a large amount of this is in permanent pasture. The See also:soil, a heavy reddish See also:loam, with a subsoil of broken stones, in the north-west, but lighter in the chalk region, is essentially that of a See also:pastoral See also:country, although there are wide tracts of richer land, suitable for See also:wheat and beans. Oats, however, are the largest See also:grain See also:crop. There is a small acreage classified as See also: An agricultural See also:college is established at Downton.
Manufactures.—A See also:majority of the hands employed in factories and workshops are occupied in the See also:locomotive See also:works of the Great Western railway at Swindon. There are also large See also:engineering works at Devizes. See also:Cloth is still See also:woven, though in greatly diminished quantities, at Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and other places where water-See also:power is available. Carpets are woven at See also:Wilton, haircloth and coco-See also:nut fibre at Melksham, See also:silk at Malmesbury, Mere and Warminster. See also:Portland and Bath See also: Swindon, Salisbury and Westbury are the three centres of railway See also:traffic. The Avon is navigable as far as Salisbury, and goods are carried on the Thames & See also:Severn See also:Canal in the N.E., and on the Kennet & Avon Canal across Salisbury Plain. These waterways were formerly connected by a branch of the Berks & Wilts Canal, which runs S.W. from Berkshire, through Swindon and Melksham, but was closed in 1899. The area of the ancient county is 879,943 acres, with a See also:population in 1891 of 264,997 and in 1901 of 273,869. The area of the administrative county is 864,105 acres. The county contains 29 hundreds. The municipal boroughs are—See also:Calve (pop. 3457), Chippenham (5o74), Devizes (6532), Malmesbury (2854), See also:Marl-See also:borough (3887), Salisbury, a See also:city and the county town (17,117), Swindon (45,006), Wilton (2203). The See also:urban districts are—Bradford-on-Avon (4514), Melksham (2450) ,Trowbridge (11,526), Warminster (5547), Westbury (33o5). Other small towns are Cricklade (1517), Downton (1786), Highworth (2047), Mere (1977), Pewsey (1722), Wootton Bassett (2258). The county is in the western See also:circuit, and assizes are held at Salisbury and Devizes. It has one See also:court of quarter sessions, and is divided into 16 See also:petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Devizes and Salisbury have See also:separate courts of quarter sessions and commissions of the See also:peace, and the borough of Marlborough has a separate See also:commission of the peace. There are 33 5 See also:civil parishes. Wiltshire is mainly in the See also:diocese of Salisbury, but a considerable part is in that of Bristol, and small parts in those of See also:Gloucester, Oxford and See also:Winchester. It contains 322 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part. The county is divided into five See also:parliamentary divisions, each returning one member—See also:Northern or Cricklade, North-western or Chippenham, Western or West- bury, Eastern or Devizes and Southern or Wilton. It also contains the parliamentary borough of Salisbury, returning one member. See also:History.—The See also:English See also:conquest of the district now known as Wiltshire began in 552 with the victory of Cynric at Old Sarum, by which the way was opened to Salisbury Plain. Four years later, pushing his way through the vale of Pewsey, Cynric extended the limits of the West Saxon See also:kingdom to the Marl-borough Downs by a victory at Barbury Hill At this See also:period the district south of the Avon and the Nadder was occupied by dense woodland, the See also:relics of which survive in Cranborne Chase, and the first See also:wave of West Saxon colonization was chiefly confined to the valleys of the Avon and the Wylye, the little township of Wilton which arose in the latter giving the name of Wilsaetan to the new settlers. By the 9th See also:century the district had acquired a definite administrative and territorial organization, Walstan, ealdorman of the Wilsaetan, being mentioned as early as Soo as repelling an attempted invasion of the Mercians. Moreover, " Wiltunscire " is mentioned by See also:Asser in 878, in which See also:year the Danes established their head-quarters at Chippenham and remained there a year, plundering the surrounding country. In the See also:time of IEthelstan mints existed at Old Sarum, Malmesbury, Wilton, Cricklade and Marlborough. Wilton and Salisbury were destroyed by the Danish invaders under Sweyn in 1003, and in 1015 the district was harried by Canute. With the redistribution of estates after the Conquest more than two-fifths of the county See also:fell into the hands of the See also: On the See also:division of the West Saxon see in 703 Wiltshire was included in the diocese of See also:Sherborne, but in 905 a separate diocese of Wilton was founded, the see being fixed alternately at Ramsbury, Wilton and Sunning in Berkshire. Shortly before the Conquest Wilton was reunited to the Sherborne diocese, and by the See also:synod of 1075–1076 the see was transferred to Salisbury. The archdeaconrics of Wiltshire and Salisbury are mentioned in 1180; in 1291 the former included the deaneries of Avebury, Malmesbury, Marlborough and Cricklade within this county, and the latter the deaneries of Amesbury, Potterne, Wilton, Chalke and Wylye. In 1535 the archdeaconry of Salisbury included the additional deanery of Salisbury, while Potterne deanery had been transferred to the archdeaconry of Wiltshire. The deaneries of the archdeaconry of Salisbury have remained unaltered; Wiltshire archdeaconry now includes the deaneries of Avebury, Marlborough and Potterne; and the deaneries of Chippenham, Cricklade and Malmesbury form part of the archdeaconry and diocese of Bristol.
The inhabitants of Wiltshire have always been addicted to See also:industrial rather than warlike pursuits, and the See also:political history of the county is not remarkable. In 1686, after the completion of the Domesday Survey, Salisbury was the See also:scene of a great See also:council, in which all the landholders took oaths of See also:allegiance to the king; and a council for the same purpose assembled at Salisbury in 1116. At Clarendon in 1166 was See also:drawn up the See also:assize which remodelled the provincial See also:administration of See also:justice. Parliaments were held at Marlborough in 1267 and at Salisbury in 1328 and 1384. During the See also:wars of See also:Stephen's reign Salisbury, Devizes and Malmesbury were garrisoned by See also:Roger, bishop of Salisbury, for the empress, but in 1138 Stephen seized the bishop and captured Devizes See also:Castle. In 1216 Marl-borough Castle was surrendered to See also: In the Civil See also:War of the 17th century Wiltshire actively supported the parliamentary cause, displaying a spirit of violent See also:anti-Catholicism, and the efforts of the See also:marquess of See also:Hertford and of See also:Lord See also:Seymour to raise a party for the king met with vigorous resistance from the inhabitants. The Royalists, however, made some progress in the early See also:stage of the struggle, Marlborough being captured for the king in 1642, while in 1643 the forces of the earl of See also:Essex were routed by See also: In 1295 Wiltshire was represented by no less than twenty-eight members in See also:parliament, the shire returning two knights, and the boroughs of Bedwin, Bradford, See also:Caine, Chippenham, Cricklade, Devizes, Downton, Ludgershall, Malmesbury, Marlborough, Old Sarum, Salisbury and Wilton, two burgesses each, but the boroughs for the most part made very irregular returns. Hindon, Heytesbury and Wootton Bassett were enfranchised in the 15th century, and at the time of the Reform See also:Act of 1832 the county with sixteen boroughs returned a total of See also:thirty-four members. Under the latter act Great Bedwin, Downton, Heytesbury, Hindon, Ludgershall, Old Sarum and Wootton Bassett were disfranchised, and Caine, Malmesbury, Westbury and Wilton lost one member each. Under the act of 1868 the county returned two members in two divisions, and Chippenham, Devizes and Marlborough lost one member each. Under the act of 1885 the county returned five members in five divisions; Cricklade, Caine, Chippenham, Devizes, Malmesbury, Marl-borough, Westbury and Wilton were disfranchised; and Salisbury lost one member. Antiquities.—Wiltshire is extraordinarily See also:rich in prehistoric antiquities. The stone age is represented by a number of See also:flint and stone implements, preserved in the unsurpassed collection at Salisbury Museum. Stonehenge, with its circles of See also:giant stones, and Avebury, with its avenues of monoliths leading to what was once a stone circle, surrounded by an earthwork, and enclosing two lesser circles, are the largest and most famous megalithic works in England. A valley near Avebury is filled with immense sarsen blocks, resembling a river of stone, and perhaps laid there by prehistoric architects. There are also menhirs, dolmens and cromlechs. Sur-rounded as they were by forests and marshy hollows, it is clear that the downs were densely peopled at a very early period. Circles, formed by a ditch within a See also:bank, are common, as are See also:grave-mounds or barrows. These have been classified according to their shape as See also:bell-barrows, bowl-barrows and See also:long barrows. Bones, ashes, tools, weapons and ornaments have been dug up from such mounds, many of which contain kistvaens or See also:chambers of stone. The lynchets " or terraces which See also:score some of the hillsides are said to be the See also:work of primitive agriculturists. Ancient strongholds are scattered over the county. Among the most remarkable are See also:Vespasian's See also:Camp, near Amesbury; Silbury Hill, the largest artificial See also:mound in See also:Europe, near Avebury; the mounds of Marlborough and Old Sarum; the camps of Battlesbury and Scratchbury, near Warminster; Yarnbury, to the N. of Wylye, in very perfect preservation; Casterley, on a ridgeway about 7 M. E.S.E. of Devizes; Whitesheet and Winkelbury, overlooking the vale of Chalk; Chisbury, near Savernake; Sidbury, near Ludgershall; and Figbury See also:Ring, 3 M. N.E. of Salisbury. Ogbury, 6 m. N. of Salisbury, is an undoubted See also:British enclosure. Durrington Walls, N. of Amesbury, are probably the remains of a British See also:village, and there are vestiges of others on Salisbury Plain and Marlborough Downs. There are many signs of the See also:Roman See also:rule. \Vans Dyke or See also:Woden's Dyke, one of the largest extant entrenchments, runs west for about 6o m. from a point east of Savernake, nearly as far as the Bristol Channel, and is almost unaltered for several miles along the Marl-borough Downs. Its date is uncertain; but the work has been proved, wherever excavated, to be Roman or Romano-British. It consists of a bank, with a See also:trench on the north side, and was clearly meant for See also:defence, not as a boundary. Forts strengthened it at intervals. Bokerly Dyke, which forms a part of the boundary between Wilts and Dorset, is the largest among several similar entrenchments, and has also a ditch north of the rampart. Chief among the few monastic buildings of which any vestiges remain are the ruined abbeys of Malmesbury and of Lacock near Melksham. There are some traces of the See also:hospital for leprous See also:women afterwards converted into an See also:Austin priory at See also:Maiden See also:Bradley. Monkton Farleigh, farther north along the Somerset border, had its Cluniac priory, founded as a See also:cell of See also:Lewes in the 13th century, and represented by some outbuildings of the See also:manor-house. A college for a See also:dean and 12 prebendaries, afterwards a monastery of Bonhommes, was founded in 1347 at Edington. The church, Decorated and Perpendicular, resembles a See also:cathedral in See also:size and stately beauty. The 14th century buildings of Bradenstoke Priory or Cleck See also:Abbey, founded near Chippenham for Austin canons, are incorporated in a farmhouse. The finest churches of Wiltshire, generally Perpendicular, were built in the districts where See also:good stone could be obtained, while the See also:architecture is more See also:simple in the Chalk region, where flint was used perforce. Small wooden steeples and pyramidal bell-turrets are not uncommon; and the churches of Purton, 31 M. N.W. of Swindon, and Wanborough, 3 M. S.E., have each two steeples, one in the centre, one at the west end. St See also:Lawrence's church at Bradford-on-Avon is one of the most perfect Saxonecclesiastical buildings in England ; and elsewhere there are fragments of Saxon work imbedded in later See also:masonry. Such are three See also:arches in the See also:nave of Britford church, within a mile of Salisbury; the east end of the See also:chancel at Burcombe, near Wilton; and parts of the churches at Bremhill, and at Manningford See also:Bruce or See also:Braose in the vale of Pewsey. St John's at Devizes retains its See also:original See also:Norman See also:tower and has Norman masonry in its chancel; while the chancel of St See also:Mary's, in the same town, is also Norman, and the See also:porch has characteristic Norman See also:mouldings. The churches of Preshute, near Marlborough, Ditteridge or Ditcheridge, near Box, and Nether Avon, near Amesbury, preserve sundry Norman features. Early English is illustrated by Salisbury Cathedral, its purest and most beautiful example; and, on a smaller See also:scale, at Amesbury, Bishops Cannings, Boyton in the vale of the Wylye, Collingbourne See also:Kingston, east of Salisbury Plain, Downton and Potterne, near Devizes. Bishopstone, in the vale of Chalk, has the finest Decorated church in the county, with a curious See also:external See also:cloister, and unique south chancel See also:doorway, recessed beneath a stone See also:canopy. Mere, close to the borders of Dorset and Somerset, is interesting not only for its Perpendicular church, but for a See also:medieval chantey, used as a schoolhouse by See also:Barnes, the Dorsetshire poet, and for its 14th-century dwelling-houses. The castles of Wiltshire have been almost entirely swept away. At Old Sarum, Marlborough and Devizes only a few vestiges are See also:left in walls and vaults. Castle See also:Combe and Trowbridge castle have long been demolished, and of Ludgershall castle only a small fragment survives. The ruins of Wardour castle, See also:standing in a richly wooded park near Tisbury, date from the 14th century, and consist of a hexagonal See also:outer See also:wall of great height, enclosing an open court. Two towers overlook the entrance. The 18th-century castle, one mile distant, across the park, is noteworthy for its collection of paintings, and, among other curiosities, for the " See also:Glastonbury See also:Cup," said to be fashioned out of a branch of the celebrated See also:thorn-See also:tree at Glastonbury. The number of old country houses is a marked feature in Wilts. Few parishes, especially in the N.W., are without their old manor-house, usually converted into a farm, but preserving its flagged roof, stone-mullioned windows, gabled front, two-storeyed porch and oak-panelled interior. Place House, in Tisbury, and See also:Barton Farm, at Bradford, date from the 14th century. Fifteenth-century work is best exemplified in the manor-houses of Norrington, in the vale of Chalk; Teffont Evias, in the vale of Nadder; Potterne; and Great Chaldfield, near Monkton Farleigh. At South See also:Wraxall the See also:hail of a very beautiful house of the same period is celebrated in See also:local tradition as the spot where tobacco was first smoked in England by Sir Walter See also:Raleigh and his See also:host, Sir Walter Long. Later styles are represented by See also:Longford Castle, near Salisbury, where the picture galleries are of great See also:interest; by Heytesbury Park; by Wilton House at Wilton, Kingston House at Bradford, Bowood near Caine, Longleat near Warminster, Corsham Court, Littlecote near Ramsbury, Charlton House near Malmesbury, See also:Compton See also:Chamberlayne in the Nadder valley, Grittleton House and the modern Castle Combe, both near Chippenham and Stourhead, on the borders of Dorset and Somerset. Each of these is noteworthy for its architecture, its See also:art treasures or the beauty of its surroundings. See See also:Victoria County History, Wiltshire; Sir R. C. See also:Hoare, The Ancient History of Wiltshire (2 vols., London, 1812–1821), The History of Modern Wiltshire (14 pts., London, 1822–1844) ; Aubrey's Collections for Wiltshire, edited by Sir T. Phillipps, pts. 1, 2 (London, 1821) ; See also:Leland's See also:Journey through Wiltshire, A.D. 1S4o-1542, with notes by J. E. See also:Jackson (Devizes, 1875) ; W. H. See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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