Wiltshire

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Wiltshire

Geography
Status	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Region:	South West England
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 14th 3,485 km² Ranked 13th 3,255 km²
Admin HQ:	Trowbridge
:	GB-WIL
ONS code:	46
NUTS 3:	UKK15
Demographics
Population - Total (2004 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked {{English cerem counties / km² Ranked {{English admin counties
Ethnicity:	97.5% White
Politics
Wiltshire County Council http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/
Executive
Members of Parliament	Michael Ancram James Gray Robert Key Andrew Murrison Anne Snelgrove Michael Wills
Districts
Salisbury West Wiltshire Kennet North Wiltshire Swindon (Unitary)
Traditional County
Area - Total - % Water	Ranked 14th 880,248 acres ? %
County town	Wilton
Chapman code	WIL

Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. Considered as a ceremonial county, it is landlocked and borders the counties of Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and contains the unitary authority of Swindon. The county town is Trowbridge, situated in the west of the county at [51°19′11″N, 2°12′32″W]. The county covers 858,931 acres (3476 km²)

The county is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys. Salisbury Plain is famous as the location of Stonehenge and other ancient landmarks. The city of Salisbury is notable for its cathedral.

The county, formerly Wiltonshire or Wiltunscir (9th century), is named after the former county town of Wilton (itself named for the river Wylye, one of eight rivers that drain the county).

History

Wiltshire is particularly well-known for its pre-Roman archaeology. The mesolithic, neolithic and bronze age Celtic tribes that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous neolithic sites in the UK.

In the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. In 878 the Danes invaded the county, and, following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country fell into the hands of the crown and the church. In the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian.

Geology, landscape and ecology

As well as Salisbury Plain the chalk runs north east into Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and south-west into Dorset as Cranborne Chase. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much stone age and bronze age archaeology. The Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), a 1,730 sq km (668 square mile) conservation area.

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

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

Demographics

Population of Wiltshire:

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

Politics

At the parliamentary level Wiltshire is represented entirely by Conservative MPs, except for the built up area around Swindon which is represented by Labour. Since 1992 Devizes has been represented by the front bencher Michael Ancram.

Stonehenge

A bridge over the river Avon at Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire

Settlements

• Calne
• Chippenham
• Devizes
• Marlborough
• Salisbury
• Swindon
• Trowbridge
• Warminster
• Westbury

Places of interest

• Avebury, neolithic stone circle
• Barbury Castle
• Bentley Wood
• Bowood House
• Burlington, city-sized nuclear bunker with accomodiation for 4000 people
• Castle Combe
• Castle Hill, Mere
• Cherhill Whitehorse
• Chisbury Chapel
• Coate Water, East Swindon
• Crofton Pumping Station
• Great Chalfield Manor
• Iford Manor and gardens
• Lacock Abbey
• Longleat Safari Park
• Lydiard Park and House, West Swindon.
• Old Sarum, the former cathedral
• Old Wardour Castle
• Salisbury Cathedral
• Silbury Hill
• Stonehenge
• Stourhead
• West Kennet Long Barrow
• Westwood Manor
• Woodhenge
• Wilton House
• Wilton Windmill
• Part of Win Green (shared with Dorset)

• Cranborne Chase
• Marlborough Downs
• Salisbury Plain
• Vale of Pewsey

• A4 road
• M4 motorway
• A303 trunk road
• Fosse Way old Roman road
• The Great Western Railway
• Kennet and Avon Canal
• Swindon and Cricklade Railway
• The Thames Path, a long distance footpath
• Wiltshire Cycleway

Economy

Note 1: includes hunting and forestry

Note 2: includes energy and construction

Note 3: includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Note 4: Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

See also

• [List of images/Places/Europe/United Kingdom/Counties/WiltshireList of photographs of Wiltshire]

External links

• [Wiltshire County Council]
• [List of Councillors]
• [Wiltshire Constabulary Online]
• [BBC Wiltshire]
• [Wiltshire Tourist Office]
• [John Aubrey's The Natural History of Wiltshire]
• [White horses of Wiltshire]

References

• Office for National Statistics, 1991. [Census Data].
• [Geology map of Wiltshire] (PDF)
• [Wiltshire & Swindon Intelligence Network]

1. redirect

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