Wiltshire

{| border=1 cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width=300 style="margin:4px;" |- !colspan=2 align=center bgcolor="#ff9999"|Wiltshire |- |colspan=2 align=center| |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Geography |- |width="45%"|Status:||Ceremonial counties of England & (smaller) Administrative counties of England County |- |Region:||South West England |- |Surface area:
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area||List of Ceremonial counties of England by Area
1 E9 m� square kilometre
List of Administrative shire counties of England by Area
3,255 km² |- |Admin HQ:||Trowbridge |- |ISO 3166-2:GB:||GB-WIL |- |ONS coding system:||46 |- |Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 3:||UKK15 |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Demographics |- |Population:
- Total (2003 est.)
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop.||List of Ceremonial counties of England by Population
622,021
178 / km²
List of Administrative shire counties of England by Population
440,821 |- |Ethnicity:||97.5% White |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Politics |- |colspan=2 align=center|
Wiltshire County Council
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/ |- |Executive:||Conservative Party (UK) |- |colspan=2 align=center|MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 |- |colspan=2|Michael Ancram, James Gray (UK politician), Robert Key, Andrew Murrison, Anne Snelgrove, Michael Wills |- !colspan=2 bgcolor="#ff9999"|Districts |- |colspan=2| #Salisbury (district) #West Wiltshire #Kennet #North Wiltshire #Swindon (borough) (Unitary) |} Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern Counties of England. Considered as a Ceremonial counties of England it is landlocked and borders the counties of Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and contains the unitary authority of Swindon (borough). The county town is Trowbridge, situated in the west of the county at . 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 Salisbury Cathedral. ==History== Wiltshire is particularly well-known for its pre-Roman Britain 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 century and 7th century 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== Wiltshire is a mostly rural landscape and about two thirds of the county lies on chalk, 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 vast expanse of semi-wilderness used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point of the county is Milk Hill on Salisbury Plain, at 295m/968ft. 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 River Avon, Bristol. The Avon cuts diagonally through the north of the county, flowing through Bradford-upon-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== The county registered a population of 613,024 in the Census 2001. The population density is low at 178 people / km². 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. A local name for a Wiltshire native is ''moonraker''. Population of Wiltshire: * 1801: 185,107 * 1851: 254,221 * 1901: 271,394 * 1951: 386,692 * 2001: 613,024 ==Politics== As of 2005, 28 Conservative Party (UK), 16 Liberal Democrats (UK), three Labour Party (UK) and two independent councillors sit on Wiltshire County Council. Conservatives hold most of the more rural areas while Labour have the large towns of Salisbury and Devizes. Westbury, Wiltshire and Warminster elected independent councillors. At the Parliament of the United Kingdom level Wiltshire is represented entirely by Conservative MPs, except for the built up area around Swindon which is represented by Labour. Since 1992 Devizes (UK Parliament constituency) has been represented by the front bencher Michael Ancram. == Settlements == Notable towns and cities in Wiltshire are: *Calne *Chippenham, Wiltshire *Devizes *Marlborough, Wiltshire *Salisbury, England *Swindon *Trowbridge *Warminster *Westbury, Wiltshire A full list of settlements is at List of places in Wiltshire. ==Places of interest==

Notable places of interest in Wiltshire are: *Avebury, Wiltshire, neolithic stone circle * Barbury Castle *Bentley Wood * Bowood House *Castle Combe * Castle Hill, Mere *Chisbury Chapel *Crofton Pumping Station * Great Chalfield Manor * Iford Manor and gardens *Lacock Abbey *Old Sarum, the former cathedral *Old Wardour Castle *Salisbury Cathedral * Silbury Hill * Stonehenge * West Kennet Long Barrow * Westwood Manor * Woodhenge * Wilton House *Wilton Windmill Notable areas of countryside in Wiltshire are: * Cranborne Chase * Marlborough Downs * Salisbury Plain * Vale of Pewsey Notable routes through Wiltshire are: *Kennet and Avon Canal * Swindon and Cricklade Railway *The Thames Path, a long distance footpath ==See also== * Wikipedia:List of images/Places/Europe/United Kingdom/Counties/Wiltshire == External links == * [http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk Wiltshire County Council] * [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext04/nhwil10.txt John Aubrey's The Natural History of Wiltshire] * [http://www.wiltshire-web.co.uk/history/horse.htm White horses of Wiltshire] * [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/ BBC Wiltshire] ==References== * Office for National Statistics, 1991. [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/SearchRes.asp?term=Wiltshire Census Data]. * [http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/macnn/mineralsplanfig1.pdf Geology map of Wiltshire] (PDF) Wiltshire

Wiltshire

This category lists articles relating to the England county of Wiltshire. Counties of England

Wiltshire

Why is Hungerford listed as a town in Wiltshire...? I'm certain it's in Berkshire. User:Muntfish 13:18, 2004 Aug 26 (UTC) Hungerford is not in Wiltshire. The Association of British Counties lists Hungerford as being in Berkshire. However, I do remember reading somewhere that there quite a few places in Berkshire that were technically in Wiltshire because they were part of a feudal manor based in Wiltshire. I think an act of parliament in the nineteenth century cleared that up. Perhaps, it is better not to list Hungerford as being in Wiltshire. User:Garzo 12:56, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)

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W

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Words begining with Wiltshire:

Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire,_England
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Wiltshire/to_do
Wiltshire_County_Council
Wiltshire_North_(UK_Parliament_constituency)
Wiltshire_Regiment_Thiepval_7_August_1916.jpg
Wiltshire_Sound
Wiltshire_times
Wiltshire_Wildlife_Trust