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West Overton
West Overton is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough. The river Kennet runs immediately north of the village, separating it from the A4 road (England), A4 road. The parish includes the village of Lockeridge, also near the river, further east (downstream). History The area has many prehistoric sites, and the Avebury section of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage site extends into the northwest of the parish. Within that area, on the southern slopes of Overton Down, are seven Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age round barrows, forming a Barrow burial, cemetery which extends south onto Overton Hill, overlooking the river. In modern archaeology, this it the type site for the Overton Period of 2000–1650 BC. Also on Overton Hill, just over the parish boundary, is The Sanctuary, the site of a Neolithic British Isles, Neolithic monument wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wiltshire Council
Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters at County Hall, Trowbridge, County Hall in Trowbridge. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, being a county council which also performs the functions of a non-metropolitan district, district council. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, the latter additionally including Borough of Swindon, Swindon. The council went under no overall control in May 2025, after being controlled by the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party since 2000. History Elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, taking over administrative functions previously carried out by unelected magistrates at the quarter sessions.John Edwards, 'County' in ''Chambe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Kennet Avenue
Kennet Avenue or West Kennet Avenue is a prehistoric site in the English county of Wiltshire. It was an avenue of two parallel lines of stones 25m wide and 2.5 km in length, which ran between the Neolithic sites of Avebury and The Sanctuary. Excavations by Stuart Piggott and Alexander Keiller in the 1930s indicated that around 100 pairs of standing stones had lined the avenue, dated to around 2200 BC from finds of Beaker burials beneath some of them. Many stones have fallen or are missing, however. A second avenue, called Beckhampton Avenue, led west from Avebury towards Beckhampton Long Barrow. Maud Cunnington righted some of the stones during her work there in the early 20th century. Keiller restored the northern third of the avenue in 1934–1935. There are currently 27 upright stones and 37 concrete pillars marking original stone locations. The avenue is within the Avebury section of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site. It is in the freehold ownershi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wiltshire Victoria County History
The Wiltshire Victoria County History, properly called The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire but commonly referred to as VCH Wiltshire, is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England. It forms part of the overall Victoria County History of England founded in 1899 in honour of Queen Victoria. With eighteen volumes published in the series, it is now the most substantial of the Victoria County Histories. Overview A set of Wiltshire volumes was planned from the start; the authors engaged included Maud Davies, who began writing in 1906. However, the VCH central office ran into financial difficulty in 1908, and although work resumed in 1910 in ten counties, Wiltshire was not among them. In 1947 the Wiltshire project was revived, leading to publication of the first volume in 1953. For many years the project was chiefly funded by Wiltshire County Council and other Wiltshire local authorities and managed by the Wiltshire Victoria County History Committee. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wansdyke (earthwork)
Wansdyke (from ''Woden's Dyke'') is a series of early medieval defensive linear earthworks in the West Country of England, consisting of a ditch and a running embankment from the ditch spoil, with the ditching facing north. There are two main parts: an eastern dyke that runs between Savernake Forest, West Woods and Morgan's Hill in Wiltshire, and a western dyke that runs from Monkton Combe to the ancient hill fort of Maes Knoll in historic Somerset. Between these two dykes, there is a middle section formed by the remains of the London-to-Bath Roman road. Usage Wansdyke consists of two sections, long with some gaps in between. East Wansdyke is an impressive linear earthwork, consisting of a ditch and bank running approximately east–west, between Savernake Forest and Morgan's Hill. West Wansdyke is also a linear earthwork, running from Monkton Combe south of Bath to Maes Knoll south of Bristol, but less substantial than its eastern counterpart. The middle section, long, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alton Priors
Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) * Alton (surname) Places Australia * Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario * Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, in Taranaki United Kingdom * Alton, Derbyshire, England *Alton, Hampshire, England ** Alton Abbey ** Alton College * Alton, Leicestershire, England * Alton, Staffordshire, England **Alton Castle, presently a Catholic youth retreat centre **Alton Towers, theme park, formerly a country estate Alton Mansion *Alton, Wiltshire, England, a civil parish * Alton, a hamlet in Figheldean parish, Wiltshire * Alton Estate, Roehampton, Greater London, England *Alton Water, a manmade reservoir in Suffolk United States * Alton, Alabama, an unincorporated community * Alton, California, an unincorporated community * Alton, Florida, an unincorporated community *Alton, Illinois, a city * Alton, Indiana, a town *Alton, Iowa, a city *Alton, Kansas, a ci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marlborough Downs
The North Wessex Downs are an area of chalk downland landscapes located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The North Wessex Downs has been designated as a National Landscape (formerly known as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or AONB) since 1972. The name ''North Wessex Downs'' is not a traditional one, the area covered being better known by various overlapping local names, including the Berkshire Downs, the North Hampshire Downs, the White Horse Hills, the Lambourn Downs, the Marlborough Downs, the Vale of Pewsey and Savernake Forest. Topography The AONB covers an area of some . It takes the form of a horseshoe, with the open end facing east, surrounding the town of Newbury and the River Kennet catchment area. The northern arm reaches as far east as the suburbs of Reading in mid-Berkshire and as far north as Didcot in South Oxfordshire, whilst the southern arm extends to Basingstoke in northern Hampshire. To the west, the AON ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fyfield (near Marlborough)
Fyfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, in the Kennet Valley about west of Marlborough. The village is on the A4 road which was historically the main route from London to the west of England. History Fyfield Down has extensive remains from successive phases of prehistoric to post-medieval activity. A 300-acre field system extending onto Overton Down has produced Iron Age and Romano-British finds. The downland has many sarsen stones – pieces of dense, hard, sandy rock. In prehistoric times these were used for monuments, handaxes, quern-stones and other implements; medieval houses in Kennet Valley villages had walls made from sarsen blocks. Around 1850, Edward Free began a stone-cutting business at Fyfield which supplied much material for buildings, pavements and kerbs. The Free family moved to Marlborough in 1890; sarsen cutting declined after 1915 and ceased in 1939. Prior to the mid 19th century, the village was centred south of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest stands on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately . Most of the forest lies within the civil parish of Savernake. It is privately owned by the Marquess of Ailesbury and his son the Earl of Cardigan, and is administered by trustees. Since 1939 the timber of the forest has been managed by Forestry England on a 999-year lease. The private status of Savernake Forest is maintained by shutting the forest to the public one day per year. Geography Savernake's landform is rolling downland, dissected by both dry and wet valleys. The valleys within the forest, of which there are four, are all dry, and the presence of Cretaceous deposits of Clay-with-Flints creates the damp, heavy soils suited to dense cover of oak and beech. There are patches of poor drainage and wet soil. History The first mention of a woodland ''"Safernoc"'' was made in AD 934 in the written records of King Æthelstan, but th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilton Abbey
Wilton Abbey was a Benedictine convent in Wiltshire, England, three miles west of Salisbury, probably on the site now occupied by Wilton House. It was active from the early tenth century until 1539. History Foundation Wilton Abbey is first recorded in the 930s, but a 15th-century poem dates its foundation to the late 8th century by Weohstan, ealdorman of Wiltshire, and his widow Alburga is said to have been its abbess. This claim has been accepted by some historians, but it is rejected by the ecclesiastical historian, Sarah Foot, who describes it as a new foundation in the tenth century. The story is also dismissed by the historian Elizabeth Crittall. Alburga (or Æthelburh) is said to have been the half-sister of King Ecgberht of Wessex, but she is not mentioned in biographies of Ecgberht. Anglo Saxon era The community was to number 26 nuns. It was attached to St Mary's Church. Two daughters of king Edward the Elder and Ælfflæd, Eadflæd and Æthelhild, probably joine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domesday Book
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by the Latin name , meaning "Book of Winchester, Hampshire, Winchester", where it was originally kept in the royal treasury. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and dues owed to him. Written in Medieval Latin, it was Scribal abbreviation, highly abbreviated and included some vernacular native terms without Latin equivalents. The survey's main purpose was to record the annual value of every piece of landed property to its lord, and the resources in land, labour force, and livestock from which the value derived. The name "Domesday Book" came into use in the 12th century. Richard FitzNeal wrote in the ( 1179) that the book was so called because its de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Barrow
Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material represent the oldest widespread tradition of stone construction in the world. Around 40,000 long barrows survive today. The structures have a long earthen tumulus, or "barrow", that is flanked on two sides with linear ditches. These typically stretch for between 20 and 70 metres in length, although some exceptional examples are either longer or shorter than this. Some examples have a timber or stone chamber in one end of the tumulus. These monuments often contained human remains interred within their chambers, and as a result, are often interpreted as tombs, although there are some examples where this appears not to be the case. The choice of timber or stone may have arisen from the availability of local materials rather than cultural difference ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Woods
West Woods is a wood about southwest of the market town of Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough in the English county of Wiltshire, United Kingdom. Its area is approximately . It is open to the public, and is popular with visitors in the Spring, when Hyacinthoides non-scripta, bluebells cover the forest floor. History West Woods was once part of the Savernake Forest, Royal hunting forest of Savernake until the bounds were changed in the 1330s. West Woods is approximately one fifth of the size of Savernake and was clear felled in 1928 then replanted, mainly with beech. The woods have been visited since before the Bronze Age, supplying flints and later charcoal facilities. Archaeological link to Stonehenge In July 2020, it was announced that West Woods was the most likely origin of most of the Sarsen, sarsen stones used to build the outer circle and central trilithon horseshoe at Stonehenge. Archaeologists and geochemists analysed a core drilled from one of the upright sarse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
