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Wiltshire

 
Dictionary: Wilt·shire   (wĭlt'shîr, -shər) pronunciation
 
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n.

A white sheep of a breed originating in England, characterized by a long head with spiraling horns.

[After Wiltshire, a county of south-central England.]


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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Wiltshire
 
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Administrative (pop., 2001: 432,973), geographic, and historic county, southern England. It is located in a watershed separating the basins of the Bristol Channel, the English Channel, and the River Thames; its administrative centre is Trowbridge. Chalk uplands constitute much of the county, and in prehistoric times they were the most heavily populated parts of England; Wiltshire has many prehistoric monuments, including Stonehenge and Iron Age hill forts. The town of Salisbury, long an ecclesiastical centre, is renowned for its cathedral. There is an industrial centre at Swindon; otherwise, agriculture is the most important economic activity.

For more information on Wiltshire, visit Britannica.com.

 
British History: Wiltshire
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Wiltshire is one of the larger counties, more than 50 miles from north to south. It is not easy to perceive much geographical coherence and the balance of the county has constantly changed. The northern towns of Cricklade and Malmesbury had little contact with Mere or Downton in the south, save occasionally at shire meetings, held often for convenience at Devizes in the middle. Most of Wiltshire was prosperous farming country, the north famous for cheese, the south for butter, and the middle, around Salisbury plain, given over to sheep. On the western fringes, around Trowbridge, Bradford, Westbury, and Melksham, there was a domestic cloth industry, described by Defoe in his tour of the 1720s as very flourishing.

The country took its name from Wilton, on the river Wylye, a tributary of the Salisbury Avon. As Wilton declined, prosperity shifted first to Old Sarum, then to New Sarum or Salisbury, which, by Tudor times, was one of the ten largest towns in the kingdom, with a population of 8, 000. In modern times, with the development of Swindon as a railway town, the balance swung again: a hamlet of just over 1, 000 people at Old Swindon in 1801 became by 1881 by far the largest town in Wiltshire, with 17, 000 people, and, by the 1990s, had risen to more than 170, 000.

In pre-Roman times, the area was one of the most thickly populated in the country, the settlers preferring dry chalk lands to the damp and heavily wooded valleys. Wiltshire is the richest of all counties in prehistoric remains, festooned with barrows, and in Stonehenge and Avebury claiming two of the greatest sites in Europe. Though the tribes of the Durotriges and the Atrebates had a reputation for bravery, the region fell easily to the Roman advance. By the later 6th cent. it had succumbed to the Saxons, who won a decisive victory at Old Sarum in 552. In the early 9th cent. it was heavily disputed between Mercia and Wessex and was a centre of Alfred's struggles against the Danes. The first evidence of its emerging identity is a reference in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 800 to the defeat of the Hwicce from Gloucestershire by the Wilsætes, under their ealdorman Woxtan. The most remarkable survival from the Saxon period is the tiny church at Bradford on Avon, used as a cottage for many years and only rediscovered in 1856.

During the Civil War, the region lay between royalist and parliamentary areas and saw much fighting. Wardour castle was held for the king by Lady Arundell, surrendered in 1643, but was retaken by her son and destroyed rather than let it be used by the enemy. Hopton's victory over Waller at Roundway Down in 1643 delivered most of the shire into royalist hands and they held Devizes until 1645. Penruddock's rising on behalf of Charles II in 1655 was a damp squib, captured Salisbury for one day, and fizzled out.

The 19th cent. saw considerable distress in parts of the county. The cloth industry found competition from Yorkshire hard to meet and there was agricultural depression, especially after 1815. Of Cricklade Cobbett remarked in 1821 that, ‘the labourers seem miserably poor. Their dwellings are little better than pig-beds … in my whole life, I never saw such human wretchedness equal to this; no, not even among the free negroes in America.’ ‘This Wiltshire’, he concluded, ‘is a horrible county.’ In the Swing riots of 1830, there were more prosecutions in Wiltshire than in any other county, mainly for machine-breaking.

The diffuse character of the shire made it difficult to agree on a suitable administrative headquarters. Quarter sessions met in turn at Marlborough, Devizes, Salisbury, and Warminster. The county council, instituted in 1888, began by meeting at Trowbridge, Salisbury, Swindon, and Trowbridge in turn. By 1930 the position was intolerable. It was carried to meet at Devizes, only for the vote to be reversed when the Trowbridge United football ground became available. County hall opened there in 1940.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Wiltshire
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Wiltshire (wĭlt'shĭr, –shər) or Wilts, county (1991 pop. 553,300), 1,345 sq mi (3,484 sq km), S central England. The county seat is Salisbury. More than half of Wiltshire is occupied by the chalky Salisbury Plain and by the Marlborough Downs. Primarily an agricultural county, Wiltshire affords large areas for sheep grazing in the uplands, and the fertile valleys of the Lower Avon, the East Avon, and the Kennet rivers have extensive dairy farming. Pigs are also raised and grains cultivated. Textiles, metal products, processed foods, farm machinery, and electrical goods are manufactured. Swindon, the leading industrial center, is known for its locomotive works. The county is rich in historical associations. At Stonehenge, Avebury, and Silbury Hill are the largest and oldest monuments of the early British, dating back 4,000 years. Old Sarum was a bishopric until the 13th cent., when the office was transferred to Salisbury, famous since then for its cathedral. Wilton, known for its carpets, was once the capital of the powerful Saxon kingdom of Wessex, where in the 9th cent. many of King Alfred's battles against the Danes were fought. His grandson, Athelstan, is buried at Malmesbury Abbey, and according to legend, Queen Guinevere spent her last days in the nunnery at Amesbury. Notable Wiltshire residents of the past include Joseph Addison, John Dryden, John Gay, George Herbert, and Christopher Wren.

 
Wikipedia: Wiltshire
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Not to be confused with Wilshire.
For the former European Parliament constituency, see Wiltshire (European Parliament constituency).
Wiltshire

Flags
Image:EnglandWiltshire.png
Geography
Status Ceremonial county & (smaller) Unitary district
Origin Historic
Region South West England
Area
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area		 Ranked 14th
3,485 km² (1,346 sq mi)
Ranked 3rd
3,255 km² (1,257 sq mi)
Admin HQ Trowbridge
ISO 3166-2 GB-WIL
ONS code 00HY
NUTS 3 UKK15
Demography
Population
- Total (2007 est.[1])
- Density
- Admin. council		 Ranked 34th
452,500
139/km² (360/sq mi)
Ranked 8th
Ethnicity 97.5% White
Politics

Wiltshire Council
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Executive Conservative
Members of Parliament
Districts
  1. Wiltshire Council (unitary)
  2. Swindon (unitary)

Wiltshire (pronounced /ˈwɪltʃər/ or /ˈwɪltʃɪər/; also abbreviated Wilts) is a ceremonial county in the south west of England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers 3,485 km² (861,162 acres).[2] The ancient county town was Wilton, but since 1930 has been Trowbridge, where Wiltshire Council is based.

Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys. Salisbury Plain is famous as the location of the Stonehenge stone circle and other ancient landmarks and as the main training area in the UK of the British Army.

The city of Salisbury is notable for its medieval cathedral, and important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trust's Stourhead, near Mere.

Contents

Etymology

The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, later Wiltonshire, is named after the former county town of Wilton, itself named after the river Wylye, one of eight rivers which drain the county.

History

Main article: History of Wiltshire
Stonehenge

Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology. The Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people 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. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a Wessex nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, and King Wulfhere of Mercia.[3] In 878 the Danes invaded the county, and, following the Norman Conquest, 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 monasteries of Kingswood and Stanley exported wool to the Florentine and Flemish markets in the 13th and 14th centuries.

In the 17th century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian. The Battle of Roundway Down, a decisive Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes.

Around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway.

Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available on the Wiltshire Community History website, run by the Libraries and Heritage services of Wiltshire County Council. This site includes maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories.

Tale of Moonrakers

The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is moonrakers. 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 in order to conceal the submerged contraband 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 The Crammer in Devizes.[4]

Geology, landscape and ecology

Cherhill White Horse

Wiltshire is a mostly rural landscape, two thirds of the county lying on chalk, a kind of soft, white, porous limestone that is resistant to erosion, giving it a high chalk downland landscape. This chalk is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation that underlies large areas of Southern England from the Dorset Downs in the west to Dover in the east. The largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, a semi-wilderness used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point of the county is the Tan Hill-Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale on the northern edge of Salisbury Plain, at 294m (965 ft) above sea level.

The chalk runs northeast into West Berkshire in the Marlborough Downs ridge, and southwest 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 km² (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.

Climate

As with the rest of South West England, Wiltshire has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is 10 °C (50 °F) and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1 and 2 °C (33-35°F). July and August are the warmest months in the region with mean daily maxima around 21 °C (70 °F).

The number of hours of bright sunshine is controlled by the length of day and by cloudiness. In general December is the dullest month, June the sunniest. The south-west of England has a favoured location with respect to the Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer. Convective cloud often forms inland, especially near hills, and acts to reduce sunshine amounts. The average annual sunshine totals 1600 hours.

Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions or with convection. The Atlantic depressions are more vigorous in autumn and winter and most of the rain which falls in those seasons in the south-west is from this source. In summer, convection caused by solar surface heating sometimes forms shower clouds and a large proportion of rainfall falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year. Average rainfall is around 800–900 mm (31–35 in). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the South West.[5]

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added (GVA) of Wiltshire at current basic prices[6] with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year Regional gross value added[7] Agriculture[8] Industry[9] Services[10]
1995 4,354 217 1,393 2,743
2000 5,362 148 1,566 3,647
2003 6,463 164 1,548 4,751

The Wiltshire economy benefits from the "M4 corridor 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 Honda, Intel, Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent, Patheon, Catalent (formerly know as Cardinal Health), Becton-Dickinson WHSmith, Early Learning Centre and Nationwide, with Dyson (company) located in nearby Malmesbury. Wiltshire’s employment structure is distinctive in having a significantly higher number of people in various forms of manufacturing (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 and defence, due to the military establishments around the county, particularly around Amesbury and Corsham. Wiltshire is also distinctive in having a high proportion of its working age population who are economically active – (86.6% in 1999-2000), and its low unemployment rates. 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.[11]

Education

Wiltshire has a mostly comprehensive education system with two grammar schools and three secondary modern schools in the Salisbury district. There are 29 state and 13 independent secondary schools - notably Marlborough College and Dauntsey's School, not including the three further education colleges - Wiltshire College, Salisbury College and Swindon College, all of which provide limited levels of higher education. There is also a sixth form college (New College) in Swindon. All schools in West Wiltshire have sixth forms, and only two in North Wiltshire do not. For the other two districts, it is half-and-half.

North Wiltshire has the largest school population, with Kennet the smallest. West and North Wiltshire have school year sizes around 200-250, whereas the other districts have school year sizes around 120.

As yet there are no universities within Wiltshire, although the Oxford Brookes University maintains a minor campus in Swindon. Outline plans for a possible University of Swindon/University of Wiltshire campus were announced in November 2008, although these are still at the drawing-board stage. Notably, Swindon is the UK's largest centre of population without its own university.

Demographics

The county registered a population of 613,024 in the Census 2001. The population density is low at 178 inhabitants per square kilometre (460 /sq mi). In 1991 there were 230,109 dwellings in the county. In 1991 98.3% of the population was indigenous and 17.9% of the population were over 65.[12]

Population of Wiltshire:

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

Politics and administration

The ceremonial county of Wiltshire consists of two unitary authority areas: Wiltshire and Swindon, governed by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council.

Until 1 April 2009 Wiltshire County Council was a two-level county area was divided into four local government districts, Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury and West Wiltshire. On that date the county council became a unitary authority and took the name "Wiltshire Council".

With the abolition of the District of Salisbury, it has been intended to create a new City of Salisbury parish council to hold the City's charter.

Following the elections in June 2009, Wiltshire Council is comprised of 62 Conservatives, 24 Liberal Democrats, seven Independents, three Devizes Guardians and two Labour members.

The county council has been led by Jane Scott (Conservative) since 2003.

At the parliamentary level Wiltshire is represented entirely by Conservative Members of Parliament, except for the predominantly urban area of Swindon which is represented by Labour. Since 1992 Devizes has been represented by the front bench Conservative Michael Ancram.

Sport

The county is represented in the Football League by Swindon Town, who play at the County Ground near Swindon town centre. They joined the Football League 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, two successive promotions in 1986 and 1987 (taking them from the Fourth Division to the Second), promotion to the Premier League as Division One playoff winners in 1993 (as inaugural members), the Division Two title in 1996, and their recent promotion to League One in 2007 after finishing third in League Two.

Swindon Robins Speedway team, who compete in the Sky Elite League, have been at their track at the Blunsdon Abbey Stadium since 1949.

Principal settlements

Wiltshire has twenty-one towns and one city

A list of settlements is at List of places in Wiltshire.

Places of interest

Places of interest in Wiltshire include:

The flight of 16 locks at Caen Hill on the Kennet and Avon Canal.
Areas of countryside in Wiltshire are
Routes through Wiltshire include

References and footnotes

  1. ^ "Mid 2007 UK England & Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland 21 08 08" (ZIP). National Statistics Online. Office for National Statistics. 21 August 2008. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/Mid_2007_UK_England_&_Wales_Scotland_and_Northern_Ireland%20_21_08_08.zip. Retrieved on 26 August 2008. 
  2. ^ http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/lca-dec-05-chapter-7.pdf
  3. ^ Pearson, Michael (2003). Kennet & Avon Middle Thames:Pearson's Canal Companion. Rugby: Central Waterways Supplies. ISBN 0-907864-97-X. 
  4. ^ Staff. "Moonraking: The Folklore". Where I live: Wiltshire. BBC Wiltshire. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/moonraking/folklore_moonraking.shtml. Retrieved on 1 December 2008. 
  5. ^ "About south-west England". Met Office. http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/southwestengland/index.html. Retrieved on 2006-05-28. 
  6. ^ "Regional Gross Value Added (pp.240-253)". Office for National Statistics. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/RegionalGVA.pdf. Retrieved on 2006-10-21. 
  7. ^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
  8. ^ includes hunting and forestry
  9. ^ includes energy and construction
  10. ^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
  11. ^ "Wiltshire Strategic Analysis (2002)". Wiltshire CPRE. http://www.cprewiltshire.org.uk/tpp/Wiltshire%20Strategic%20Analysis%20-%20LSP.pdf. Retrieved on 2006-10-21. 
  12. ^ "Census Data 1991 Wiltshire Census Data". Office for National Statistics. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/SearchRes.asp?term=Wiltshire Census Data. Retrieved on 2006-10-21. 

See also

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wiltshire

Coordinates: 51°19′11″N 2°12′32″W / 51.31972°N 2.20889°W / 51.31972; -2.20889

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Wiltshire
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wiltshire".  Read more

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