Wiltshire

Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a in the  of. Considered as a, it is landlocked and borders the counties of , , , , and , and contains the  of. The county covers 858,931 s (3476 km²)

The county is characterised by its high and wide s.  is famous as the location of  and other ancient landmarks. The city of is notable for its.

Etymology
The county, formerly 'Wiltonshire' or 'Wiltunscir' (9th century), is named after the former county town of (itself named after the river, one of eight rivers that drain the county). The new is  in the Trowbridge community area.

The local for  Wiltshire natives is. This originated from a story of who managed to foil the local police by hiding their  in a pond. They raked the surface in order to conceal the submerged alcohol with ripples, and claimed that they were trying to rake in the moon. The police took them for mad and left them alone, allowing them to continue with their illegal goods.

History


Wiltshire is particularly well-known for its pre-. The, and  people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. and are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK.

In the sixth and seventh centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Britain, as  and the  prevented the advance to the west. The battle of was fought in 675 between, a  nobleman who had seized the throne of , and  of. In 878 the invaded the county, and, following the, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown and the church.

At the time of the the industrial pursuits of Wiltshire were almost exclusively ; 390  are mentioned, and  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 and  markets in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

In the seventeenth century Wiltshire was largely.

Around 1800 the was built through Wiltshire providing a route for transporting a range of cargoes from  to, which was successful in encouraging local commerce for some years before the development of the.

A growing amount of 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, thumbnail histories, faqs, and information on schools and churches.

Geology, landscape and ecology


Wiltshire is a mostly rural landscape and about two thirds of the county lies on, giving it a high  landscape. This chalk is part of the that underlies large areas of Southern England from the  in the west to  in the east. The largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is, a vast expanse of semi-wilderness used mainly for  and by the  as training ranges. The highest point of the county is the - ridge in the on the northern edge of, at 294m (965 ft) above sea level.

As well as Salisbury Plain the chalk runs northeast into in the  ridge, and southwest into Dorset as. Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age and Bronze Age. The Marlborough Downs are part of the (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), a 1,730  (668 ) conservation area.

In the north west of the county, on the border with and, the underlying rock is the resistant   of the. Part of the Cotswolds AONB is also in Wiltshire.

Between the areas of chalk and limestone downland are s and s.  The largest of these vales is the. The Avon cuts diagonally through the north of the county, flowing through and into  and. The Vale of Pewsey has been cut through the chalk into and  in the centre of the county. In the south west of the county is the. The south east of the county lies on the sandy soils of the.

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
Along with the rest of, Wiltshire has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10°C and shows a and a  variation. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 1 and 2°C. July and August are the warmest months in the region with mean daily maxima around 21°C.

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

tends to be associated with  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 s and a large proportion of rainfall falls from showers and at this time of year. Average rainfall is around 800–900 mm. About 8–15 days of is typical. November to March have the highest mean speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the South West.

Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Wiltshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

The Wiltshire economy benefits from the " effect", which attracts business, and the attractiveness of its countryside, villages and some of its towns which make it a desirable place to live, visit and work. The northern part of the County is relatively more economically dynamic than the southern part, particularly since Swindon has attracted several national and international corporations such as, , , and. Wiltshire’s employment structure is distinctive in having a significantly higher number of people in various forms of : especially and apparatus,  products, and, , , and  goods than the national average. In addition, there are is higher than average employment in and, probably due to the scale of  establishments around the county. 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 rates. The (GDP) level in Wiltshire did not reach the UK average in 1998, and was only marginally above the rate for.

Demographics
The county registered a population of 613,024 in the. The 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.

Population of Wiltshire:
 * 1801: 185,107
 * 1851: 254,221
 * 1901: 271,394
 * 1951: 386,692
 * 2001: 613,024

Politics and administration
Wiltshire is a shire county, mostly under the control of Wiltshire County Council. This is divided into four local government districts,, , and. Additionally, is a  that forms part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff, but does not come under county council control.

The announced on 25 July 2007 that Wiltshire County Council would become a unitary authority, replacing the four District Councils of West Wiltshire, North Wiltshire, Kennet and Salisbury.

Following the elections in May 2005, 28, 16 , three and two  (Christopher Newbury and John Syme) are members of Wiltshire County Council. Conservatives hold most of the more rural areas while the hold several towns, including,  and. The county divisions of and  elected the two, while the three Labour members hold their seats in the towns of ,  and.

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

Sport
The country is represented in the by, who play at the  near  town centre. They joined the on the creation of the  in, and have remained in the league ever since. Their most notable achievements include winning the in, two successive promotions in  and  (taking them from the  to the ), promotion to the  as  playoff winners in , the Division Two title in , and their recent promotion to  in  after finishing third in.

Settlements
Notable towns and cities in Wiltshire are:


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A full list of settlements is at.

Places of interest
Notable places of interest in Wiltshire are: Notable areas of countryside in Wiltshire are:


 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png|Accessible open space]]
 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png|Accessible open space]]
 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png|Accessible open space]]
 * [[Image:UKAL icon.png|Accessible open space]]

Notable routes through Wiltshire are:


 * trunk road
 * old Roman road
 * railway
 * railway
 * [[Image:HR icon.png|Heritage Railway]]
 * , a long distance footpath
 * 4
 * [[Image:HR icon.png|Heritage Railway]]
 * , a long distance footpath
 * 4
 * 4