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See also: south-western 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 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 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 altitude of 900 ft., and Inkpen Beacon, on the See also: borders of Berkshire, See also: Wiltshire and Hampshire, reaches ro11 ft
.
Scattered in thousands over the downs 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 Stonehenge and 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 Dorset, was a royal See also: deer-See also: park as early as the reign of See also: John, and, like Savernake Forest, contains many
See also: noble old oaks and beeches
.
The See also: main See also: part of the New Forest belongs to Hampshire; but No See also: Man's See also: Land and Hampworth See also: Common, its outlying heaths and coppices, encroach upon the south-eastern corner of Wilts
.
Bentley See also: Wood, 5 M
.
E. of Salisbury, and the Great See also: Ridge and Grovely Woods between the Nadder and Wylye, are See also: fine uplands parks
.
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-west of See also: Earl Stoke near 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
.
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
.
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 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 See also: Gault See also: Clay runs regularly at the See also: foot of the Upper Greensand; it is excavated in several places for 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 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: White
See also: Horse, is occupied by See also: Jurassic rocks
.
The Upper Lias—the See also: oldest formation in the county—forms the floor of the valley near Box; it is followed by the overlying Inferior Oolite and See also: Fuller's See also: Earth
.
Then succeeds the Great Oolite 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 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 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 place it is brought into apposition with Cretaceous rocks through the agency of an east to west 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 age lie in the vale of Wardour about Teffont Evias
.
At Dinton in the same vale the See also: Wealden formation just makes its 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, 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 loam, with a subsoil of broken stones, in the north-west, but lighter in the chalk region, is essentially that of a pastoral country, although there are wide tracts of richer land, suitable for See also: wheat and beans
.
Oats, however, are the largest grain crop
.
There is a small acreage classified as See also: hill pasture
.
The
See also: green crops consist mainly of turnips, mangolds and swedes
.
See also: Bacon-curing is carried on
.
Large numbers of
See also: sheep are bred on the downs, and See also: dairy-farming is practised in the north-west
.
There are manufactures of condensed milk
.
An agricultural See also: college is established at Downton
.
Manufactures.—A 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-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: stone are quarried for building purposes, while iron ore from mines near Westbury is smelted in that
See also: town
.
Communications.—Three great railway lines See also: traverse Wiltshire from E. to W., throwing out a number of branch lines to the larger towns
.
In the N. the Great Western main line passes through Swindon on its way from London to Bath
.
A second line of the same See also: system runs also to Bath from Hungerford, by way of Devizes
.
South of Salisbury Plain the South-Western main line goes through Salisbury and the southern quarter of Wilts on its way into Somerset
.
The chief branch line is that between Salisbury and Westbury on the Great Western
.
The Midland & South-Western Junction See also: rail-way runs north from See also: Andover by Swindon, Cricklade and Cirencester
.
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 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 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—Calve (pop
.
3457), Chippenham (5o74), Devizes (6532), Malmesbury (2854), Marl-See also: borough (3887), Salisbury, a 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 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 commission of the peace
.
There are 33 5 See also: civil parishes
.
Wiltshire is mainly in the diocese of Salisbury, but a considerable part is in that of Bristol, and small parts in those of See also: Gloucester, Oxford and 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—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 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 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: church; the possessions of the
See also: crown covered one-fifth; while among the chief See also: lay proprietors were See also: Edward of Salisbury, See also: William, count of
See also: Ewe, See also: Ralph de See also: Mortimer, See also: Aubrey de See also: Vere, Robert See also: Fitzgerald, See also: Miles See also: Crispin, Robert d'Oily and Osbern Giffard
.
The first earl of Wiltshire after the Conquest was William le Scrope, who received the honour in 1397
.
The title subsequently passed to See also: Sir See also: James
See also: Butler in 1449, Sir John Strafford in 1470, Sir
See also: Thomas Boleyn in 1529, and in 1550 to the Paulett
See also: family
.
The See also: Benedictine See also: foundations at Wilton, Malmesbury and See also: Amesbury existed before the Conquest; the Augustinian See also: house at Bradenstoke was founded by Walter d'See also: Evreux in 1142; that at Lacock by Ela, countess of Salisbury, in 1232; that at Longleat by Sir John See also: Vernon before 1272
.
The Cluniac priory of Monkton Farleigh was founded by Humphrey de See also: Bohun in 1125; the Cistercian house at Kingswood by William de See also: Berkeley in 1139; and that of See also: Stanley by the Empress Maud in 1154
.
Of the See also: forty Wiltshire hundreds mentioned in the Domesday Survey, Selkley, Ramsbury, Bradford, Melksham, Calne, Whorwellsdown, Westbury, Warminster, Heytesbury, Kinwardstone, Ambresbury, Underditch, Furstfield, Alderbury and Downton remain to the See also: present See also: day practically unaltered in name and extent; Thorngrave, Dunelawe and Cepeham hundreds See also: form the See also: modern See also: hundred of Chippenham; Malmesbury hundred represents the Domesday hundreds of Cicemethorn and Sterchelee, which were held at See also: farm by the See also: abbot of Malmesbury; High-worth represents the Domesday hundreds of Crechelade, Scipe, Wurde and
See also: Staple; Kingbridge the hundreds of Chingbridge, Blachegrave and Thornhylle; Swanborough the hundreds of Rugeberge, Stodf ed and Swaneberg; Branch the hundreds of Branchesberge and Dolesfeld; Cawden the hundreds of Cawdon and Cadworth
.
A noticeable feature in the 14th century is the aggregation of church manors into distinct hundreds, at the court of which their ecclesiastical owners required their tenants to do suit and service
.
Thus the See also: bishop of Winchester had a separate hundred called Kurwel Bishop, afterwards absorbed in Downton hundred; the abbot of Damerham had that of Damerham; and the See also: prior of St Swithin's that of Elstub, under each of which were included manors situate in different parts of the county
.
The meeting-place of Swanborough hundred was at See also: Swan-borough Tump, a hillock in the parish of Manningford Abbots identified as the See also: moot-place mentioned in the will of See also: King
See also: Alfred; that of Malmesbury was at Colepark; that of Bradford at Brad-See also: ford See also: Leigh; that of Warminster at Iley See also: Oak, about 2 M. south of
Warminster, near Southleigh Wood
.
The See also: shire court for Wilt-shire was held at Wilton, and until 1446 the shrievalty was enjoyed ex officio by the castellans of Old Sarum
.
Edward of Salisbury was See also: sheriff at the time of the Domesday Survey, and the office remained hereditary in his family, descending to William Longespee by his See also: marriage with Ela, great-granddaughter of Edward
.
In the 13th century the assizes were held at Wilton, Malmesbury and New Sarum
.
On the division of the West Saxon see in 703 Wiltshire was included in the diocese ofSee 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 scene of a great council, in which all the landholders took oaths of 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 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: Louis by Hugh de Neville
.
Hubert de Burgh escaped in 1233 from Devizes Castle, where he had been imprisoned in the previous year
.
In the Civil War of the 17th century Wiltshire actively supported the parliamentary cause, displaying a spirit of violentSee also: anti-Catholicism, and the efforts of the See also: marquess of Hertford and of See also: Lord Seymour to raise a party for the king met with vigorous resistance from the inhabitants
.
The Royalists, however, made some progress in the early 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: Charles I. and
See also: Prince See also: Rupert at Aldbourne, and in the same year Waller, after failing to capture Devizes, was defeated in a skirmish at Roundway Down
.
The year 1645 saw the rise of the " Clubmen " of Dorset and Wiltshire, whose See also: sole See also: object was peace; they systematically punished any member of either party discovered in acts of See also: plunder
.
Devizes, the last stronghold of the Royalists, was captured by See also: Cromwell in 1645
.
In 1655 a rising organized on behalf of the king at Salisbury was dispersed in the same year
.
At the time of the Domesday Survey the industrial pursuits of Wiltshire were almost exclusively agricultural; 390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock
.
In the succeeding centuries sheep-farming was vigorously pursued, and the Cistercian monasteries of Kingswood and Stanlegh exported wool to the Florentine and Flemish markets in the 13th and 14th centuries
.
Wiltshire at this time was already reckoned among the chief of the clothing counties, theprincipal centres of the industry being Bradford, Malmesbury, Trowbridge, Devizes and Chippenham
.
In the 16th century Devizes was noted for its blankets, Warminster had a famous corn-market, and See also: cheese was extensively made in north Wiltshire
.
Amesbury was famous for its See also: tobacco pipes in the 16th century
.
The clothing See also: trade went through a period of great depression in the
17th century, partly owing to the See also: constant outbreaks of plague
.
See also: Linen, See also: cotton, gloves and cutlery were also manufactured in the county, silk at Malmesbury and carpets at Wilton
.
In 1295 Wiltshire was represented by no less than twenty-eight members in 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 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 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 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 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 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 hospital for leprous See also: women afterwards converted into an See also: Austin priory at See also: Maiden Bradley
.
Monkton Farleigh, farther north along the Somerset border, had its Cluniac priory, founded as a cell of See also: Lewes in the 13th century, and represented by some outbuildings of the See also: manor-house
.
A college for a 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 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 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 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 Norman tower and has Norman masonry in its chancel; while the chancel of St Mary's, in the same town, is also Norman, and the 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 cloister, and unique south chancel doorway, recessed beneath a stone 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 Cup," said to be fashioned out of a branch of the celebrated 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 Wraxall the 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 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 Journey through Wiltshire, A.D
.
1S4o-1542, with notes by J
.
E
.
See also: Jackson (Devizes, 1875) ; W
.
H
.
See also: Jones, Domesday for Wiltshire (Bath, r865); John
See also: Britton, The Beauties of Wiltshire (3 vols., London, 18o1–1825) ; J
.
E
.
Jackson, The Sheriff's Tourn, Co
.
Wilts, A.D
.
1439 (Devizes, 1872) ; see also Proceedings of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society
.
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