Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
in
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...
with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...
to the southwest,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lor ...
to the west,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
to the southeast,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of ...
to the north,
Oxfordshire to the northeast and
Berkshire to the east. The
county town was originally
Wilton, after which the county is named, but
Wiltshire Council is now based in the county town of
Trowbridge. Within the county's boundary are two
unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and
Swindon Borough Council.
Wiltshire is characterised by its high
downland and wide valleys.
Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connec ...
and
Avebury stone circles (which together are a UNESCO Cultural and World Heritage site) and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
. The city of
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
is notable for its
medieval cathedral.
Swindon is the county’s largest town and commercial centre, with a population of 230,000. Large
country houses open to the public include
Longleat (where there is also a
safari park) and the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
's
Stourhead.
Toponymy
The county, in the 9th century written as ''Wiltunscir'', later ''Wiltonshire'', is named after the former county town of
Wilton.
History
Wiltshire is notable for its pre-
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...
. The
Mesolithic,
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
and
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connec ...
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
Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The area is dominated by ...
and the
Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of
Bedwyn
Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. The village is on the River Dun about southwest of Hungerford, southeast of Swindon and southeast of Marlborough.
The Kennet and Avon Canal and the Reading to Taun ...
was fought in 675 between
Escuin, a
West Saxon
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
nobleman who had seized the throne of
Queen Saxburga, and
King Wulfhere of
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era=Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, y ...
. In 878 the
Danes invaded the county. Following the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...
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
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
markets in the 13th and 14th centuries.
In the 17th century
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
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
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
,
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry currently lives on as Y (RWY) Squadron, based in Swindon, and B (RWY) Squadron, based in Salisbury, of the
Royal Wessex Yeomanry.
Around 1800 the
Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
to London until the development of the
Great Western Railway.
Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available on Wiltshire Council's Wiltshire Community History
website which has maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories.
The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is "
Moonrakers
Moonrakers is the colloquial name for people from Wiltshire, a county in the West Country of England.
Legend
This name refers to a folk story set in the time when smuggling was a significant industry in rural England, with Wiltshire lying o ...
". 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
Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") refers to any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes o ...
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.
Geology, landscape and ecology
Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a mostly
rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are de ...
county, lies on
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...
, 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
The Chalk Group (often just called the Chalk) is the lithostratigraphic unit (a certain number of rock strata) which contains the Upper Cretaceous limestone succession in southern and eastern England. The same or similar rock sequences occur acro ...
and stretching from the
Dorset Downs in the west to
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...
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
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the
Tan Hill–
Milk Hill ridge in the
Pewsey Vale
Pewsey Vale vineyard was founded in Eden Valley, South Australia during 1847 by Englishman, Joseph Gilbert. It is currently part of S.Smith and son. It was the first vineyard established in what is now the Eden Valley wine region , just to the north of Salisbury Plain, at above sea level.
The chalk uplands run northeast into
West Berkshire in the
Marlborough Downs
The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name ''North Wessex Downs'' is not a traditional one, the area covered being better kno ...
ridge, and southwest into Dorset as
Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The area is dominated by ...
. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age and Bronze Age
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...
. The Marlborough Downs are part of the
North Wessex Downs AONB
The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name ''North Wessex Downs'' is not a traditional one, the area covered being bette ...
(Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), a conservation area.
In the northwest of the county, on the border with
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming ...
and
Bath and North East Somerset
Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a unitary authority district in England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. ...
, the underlying rock is the resistant
oolite limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
of the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...
. Part of the Cotswolds AONB is also in Wiltshire, in the county's northwestern corner.
Between the areas of chalk and limestone downland are
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...
valleys and
vale
A vale is a type of valley.
Vale may also refer to:
Places Georgia
* Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region
Norway
* Våle, a historic municipality
Portugal
* Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipa ...
s. 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
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
and
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
. 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 Vale of Wardour encompasses the valley of the River Nadder in the county of Wiltshire, England.
Geography Topography
The Vale of Wardour lies east of the town of Shaftesbury and is a relatively small but varied landscape. Named after th ...
. The southeast 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
The county has a
green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...
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
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
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
Along with the rest of
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...
, Wiltshire has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than counties further east.
The annual mean temperature is approximately . 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 . In winter mean minimum temperatures of or are usual and air frost normally occurs frequently. In the summer the
Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
high pressure affects southwest England; however,
convective
Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the ...
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.
[
In December 1998 there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton (Somerset). Most of the rainfall in the southwest is caused by Atlantic depressions or by ]convection
Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the c ...
, 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 , 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 southwest.[
]
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added (GVA) of Wiltshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
The Wiltshire economy benefits from the "M4 corridor
The M4 corridor is an area in the United Kingdom adjacent to the M4 motorway, which runs from London to South Wales. It is a major high-technology hub. Important cities and towns linked by the M4 include (from east to west) London, Slough, Brackne ...
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
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...
, Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
, Patheon
Patheon is a service brand within Thermo Fisher Scientific’s brand portfolio. Contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services offered under the Patheon brand include small molecule API, biologics, viral vectors, cGMP plasmids ...
, Catalent (formerly known as Cardinal Health), Becton-Dickinson
Becton, Dickinson and Company, also known as BD, is an American multinational medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents. BD also provides consulting and analytics services in certai ...
, 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
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...
(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
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit es ...
and defence
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense indus ...
, due to the military establishments around the county, particularly around Amesbury and Corsham. There are sizeable British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
barracks at Tidworth, Bulford and Warminster
Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church o ...
, and the Royal School of Artillery
The Royal School of Artillery (RSA) is the principal training establishment for artillery warfare in the British Army. Established in 1915, it is located at Larkhill, Wiltshire, on the south edge of Salisbury Plain in the United Kingdom. The Schoo ...
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
This is a list of countries by unemployment rate. Methods of calculation and presentation of unemployment rate vary from country to country.
Some countries count insured unemployed only, some count those in receipt of welfare benefit only, some cou ...
. 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.
Education
Wiltshire has thirty 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
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
, which has two grammar schools (South Wilts Grammar School
South Wilts Grammar School, formerly South Wilts Grammar School for Girls, is a grammar school in Salisbury, south Wiltshire, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. Established in 1927, the school converted to an academy in 2011. In 2020, the name ...
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
Wiltshire College & University Centre is a tertiary college of education founded in 2002 by the merger of Chippenham Technical College, Lackham College and Trowbridge College. Consolidation was completed with the merger of Salisbury College, whi ...
(Chippenham, Trowbridge and Salisbury); Salisbury Sixth Form College
Salisbury Sixth Form College (S6C) is a free school sixth form in the city of Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire.
The college was established in 2014 and opened in temporary accommodation. However the college moved into a new purpose ...
; and Swindon College
Swindon College is a further education college in Swindon, England. Its campus is at North Star, just north of the town centre. The college offers HNC/Ds and Foundation Degrees, through to B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ...
. Wiltshire is also home to a University Technical College
A university technical college (UTC) is a type of specialist secondary school in England that is led by a sponsor university and has close ties to local business and industry. These university and industry partners support the curriculum developm ...
, UTC Swindon
UTC Swindon is a University Technical College (UTC) in Swindon, England that opened in September 2014 for students of ages 14–19. The college specialises in engineering and is sponsored by Oxford Brookes University and Johnson Matthey Fuel Cel ...
, 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
Bath Spa University is a public university in Bath, England, with its main campus at Newton Park, about west of the centre of the city. The university has other campuses in the city of Bath, and one at Corsham Court in Wiltshire.
The inst ...
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
Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...
) without its own university.
Service Children's Education
Service Children's Education (SCE) is an organisation of the United Kingdom government responsible for the education of the children of British Armed Forces families and Ministry of Defence (MoD) personnel serving outside of the United Kingdo ...
has its headquarters in Trenchard Lines
Royal Air Force Upavon or RAF Upavon is a former RAF station in Wiltshire, England. It was a grass airfield, military flight training school, and administrative headquarters of the Royal Air Force. The station opened in 1912 and closed in ...
in Upavon, Wiltshire.
Demographics
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.
Historical population of Wiltshire county:
Politics and administration
Europe
At the 2016 European Union membership referendum, Wiltshire voted in favour of Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...
.
Westminster Parliamentary
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
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
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.
Councils
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
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
and West Wiltshire
West Wiltshire was a local government district in Wiltshire, England, formed on 1 April 1974, further to the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the former urban districts of Bradford-on-Avon, Melksham, Trowbridge, Warminster and Westb ...
– which existed alongside Wiltshire County Council
Wiltshire County Council (established in 1889) was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county.
As a result of the 2009 restructur ...
, 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
The county is represented in the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
by Swindon Town, who play at the County Ground stadium near Swindon town centre. They joined the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
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
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
as Division One
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Div ...
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
Chippenham Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club club based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. They are currently members of and play their games at Hardenhuish Park.
History
The club states it was established in 1873, 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
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
, was formed and plays in the Southern Premier League.
Wiltshire County Cricket Club play in the Minor Counties league.
Swindon Robins Speedway team, who compete in the top national division, the SGB Premiership, have been at their track at the Blunsdon Abbey Stadium near Swindon since 1949. Swindon Wildcats
The Swindon Wildcats are a professional ice hockey team based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. They play in the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL). Since their inception, the Wildcats have played their home games at the 1600-capacity Link Centre ...
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
The Link Centre is a leisure centre in Swindon, England. The building, owned by Swindon Borough Council and operated by Greenwich Leisure under the brand "Better", is best known for its national-sized ice rink which houses a National Ice Hockey ...
.
Principal settlements
Wiltshire has twenty-one town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an o ...
s and one city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
:
* Amesbury
* Bradford-on-Avon
* Calne
*Chippenham
Chippenham is a market town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It lies northeast of Bath, west of London, and is near the Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon and some form of settlement i ...
* Corsham
* Cricklade
* Devizes
* Highworth (Borough of Swindon)
* Larkhill
* Ludgershall
* Malmesbury
* Marlborough
* Melksham
* Mere
* Royal Wootton Bassett
*Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
(city)
* Swindon (Borough of Swindon)
* Tidworth
* Trowbridge
*Warminster
Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church o ...
* Westbury
* Wilton
A list of settlements is at List of places in Wiltshire.
Television
The county is covered by BBC West
BBC West is one of BBC's English Regions serving Bristol, the majority of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire; northern and eastern Somerset and northeastern Dorset.
Services Television
BBC West's television service (broadcast on BBC One) consis ...
and ITV West; however, Swindon and Salisbury receive BBC South and ITV Meridian
ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise for the South and South East England, South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadca ...
.
Places of interest
Places of interest in Wiltshire include:
Areas of countryside in Wiltshire include:
*Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The area is dominated by ...
*Marlborough Downs
The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name ''North Wessex Downs'' is not a traditional one, the area covered being better kno ...
* Salisbury Plain
* Vale of Pewsey
Transport
Road
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
Between these, the route runs through Reading, Bath, Bristol, Newport, Swansea and St David's. Within Wales, sections of the route follow branches of the Celtic Trail cycle route.
Route
The total length of the path is 443.6 miles and takes an ...
and the Thames Path, a modern long distance footpath, run through the county.
Routes through Wiltshire include:
* A4 road
* M4 motorway / M4 Corridor
The M4 corridor is an area in the United Kingdom adjacent to the M4 motorway, which runs from London to South Wales. It is a major high-technology hub. Important cities and towns linked by the M4 include (from east to west) London, Slough, Brackne ...
* A303 trunk road
*A350 road
The A350 is a north–south primary route in southern England, that runs from the M4 motorway in Wiltshire to Poole in Dorset.
Route
Starting at junction 17 of the M4 motorway north of Chippenham, the first three miles are a dual carriageway t ...
* A417 road
Navigable inland waterways
*River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
* Kennet and Avon Canal
Canals subject to restoration
*Thames and Severn Canal
The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south-west of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a cargo route from Bristol and the Midlands to London, linking England's two largest rivers for bett ...
*North Wilts Canal
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
* Wilts & Berks Canal
Rail
Three main railway routes, all of which carry passenger traffic, cross Wiltshire.
* Great Western Main Line ( Swindon and Chippenham
Chippenham is a market town in northwest Wiltshire, England. It lies northeast of Bath, west of London, and is near the Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon and some form of settlement i ...
)
* Wessex Main Line ( Bradford-on-Avon, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster
Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church o ...
, Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
; connects to Chippenham)
*West of England line
The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from , Hampshire, to in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex Ma ...
(Salisbury and Tisbury)
Other routes include:
* Reading to Taunton Line
* Heart of Wessex Line
* Golden Valley Line
* South Wales Main Line
The major junction stations are Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
and Westbury, and important junctions are also found at Swindon, 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
Airfields in Wiltshire include Old Sarum Airfield
Old Sarum Airfield is a grass strip airfield north-north-east of Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.
The adjacent areas are a mix of vacant land, residential and industrial sites. Residential areas are to the south and east, occupying the old ai ...
and Clench Common Airfield
Savernake is a civil parish immediately south and southeast of Marlborough in Wiltshire, England. The settlements in the parish are the hamlets of Cadley, Clench Common and Forest Hill. Savernake Forest covers the eastern half of the parish ...
. RAF Lyneham was an air transport hub for British forces until its closure in 2012. Airports with scheduled services near Wiltshire include Bournemouth Airport
Bournemouth Airport (previously known as Hurn Airport and Bournemouth International Airport) is an airport located north-northeast of Bournemouth, in southern England. The site opened as RAF Hurn in 1941, but was transferred to civil contr ...
, Bristol Airport, Cardiff Airport
Cardiff Airport ( cy, Maes Awyr Caerdydd) is the only airport offering commercial passenger services in Wales. It has been under the ownership of the Welsh Government since March 2013, operating at an arm's length as a commercial business. ...
, Exeter Airport, Gloucestershire Airport, Oxford Airport, Heathrow Airport and Southampton Airport.
See also
* Custos Rotulorum of Wiltshire – Keepers of the Rolls
*Flag of Wiltshire
There are three flag designs associated with the English county of Wiltshire. Like the proposed flags of many other counties, two of the three have no official status as they were not designed by the College of Arms. One of the designs, the "Bus ...
* Grade I listed buildings in Wiltshire
* Great West Way
*Healthcare in Wiltshire
Healthcare in Wiltshire, England, is the responsibility of the integrated care board (ICB) for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.
History
Prior to 2022
Victoria Hospital in Swindon was established in 1887, at first with 12 ...
* High Sheriff of Wiltshire
*List of civil parishes in Wiltshire
This is a list of civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire, England. There are 275 civil parishes.
Swindon
Since 2017, the Borough of Swindon (formerly Swindon Municipal Borough and the surrounding Highworth Rural District) is ful ...
* List of Deputy Lieutenants of Wiltshire
*List of hills of Wiltshire
This is a list of hills in Wiltshire. Many of these hills are important historical, archaeological and nature conservation sites, as well as popular hiking and tourist destinations in the county of Wiltshire in southern England.
Colour key
The ...
* List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire
*Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
* The Vly be on the Turmut – unofficial song of the county
*Wiltshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Wiltshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of England from 1290 to 1707, of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832. It was represented by two Membe ...
*Wiltshire Horn
The Wiltshire Horn is a breed of domestic sheep originally from Wiltshire in southern England raised for meat.
The breed is unusual among native British breeds, for it has the unusual feature of moulting its short wool and hair coat naturally ...
, a breed of sheep
References
External links
Wiltshire Council
*
Merlin local information
(Wiltshire council)
*
Wiltshire Community History
(Wiltshire council)
*
Geology map of Wiltshire
( PDF) (Wiltshire council)
Wiltshire Tourist Office
Images of Wiltshire
at the English Heritage Archive
*
{{Authority control
Ceremonial counties of England
Counties of England established in antiquity
English unitary authorities created in 2009
Unitary authority districts of England
Local government districts of Wiltshire
Counties in South West England