Westbury, Wiltshire

Westbury is a town and civil parish in the west of the English county of Wiltshire, most famous for the Westbury White Horse.

Name
The most likely origin of the West- in Westbury is simply that the town is near the western edge of the county of Wiltshire, the bounds of which have been much the same since the Anglo-Saxon period.

The -bury part of the name is a form of borough, which has cognates in many languages, such as the German -burg and the Greek -pyrgos. It carries the idea of a hill or fortified town. For a fuller explanation, see borough. In Wiltshire, -bury often indicates an Iron Age or Bronze Age fortified hill fort, and such a site is to be found immediately above the Westbury White Horse.

Location
Westbury is located 18 miles (29 km) south east of the city of Bath and about 5 miles (7.5 km) south of Trowbridge. Other nearby towns and cities include Bristol, Frome, Salisbury, Swindon and Warminster. Nearby villages include Bratton, Chapmanslade, Dilton Marsh, Edington, North Bradley, Rudge, Standerwick, Semington, West Ashton and Upton Scudamore.

Features and history
In the past, Westbury was sometimes known as Westbury-under-the-Plain to distinguish it from other towns of the same name. Westbury is nestled under the north-western bluffs of Salisbury Plain, and it is there that the town's most famous feature can be seen: the Westbury White Horse. It is sometimes claimed locally that the White Horse was first cut into the chalk face as long ago as the year 878, to commemorate the victory of King Alfred the Great over the Danes in the Battle of Eðandun (probably, but not certainly, at the nearby village of Edington). However, scholars believe this to be an invention of the late 18th century, and no evidence has yet been found for the existence of the Westbury White Horse before the 1720s. The form of the current White Horse dates from 1778, when it was restored. In the 1950s it was decided that the horse would be more easily maintained if it were set in concrete and painted white. In recent years, there has been a multitude of calls to clean or paint the "old grey mare" and such a renovation began in May 2006.

The horse's original form may have been quite different from the horse seen today. One 18th-century engraving shows the horse facing to the right, but in its current form it faces to the left.

Westbury centres on its historic marketplace, with the churchyard of All Saints' Church (14th century) behind it. All Saints' boasts the third heaviest ring of bells in the world, an Erasmus Bible and a 16th-century clock with no face constructed by a local blacksmith.

Until the 1940s, the Westbury Sheep Fair was an important annual event.

The town has been home to the Army Officer Selection Board, located at Leighton House, since 1949.

In the early part of September 1877 there was found on Bremeridge Farm, in the parish of Dilton Marsh, Wilts, belonging to Charles Paul Phipps, esq. of Chalcot House, a hoard of 32 gold coins. They were found during repairs and improvements of the homestead, about a foot and a half below the surface, in the courtyard, piled, one above another, without any appearance of a purse or box.

Local government
The most significant local government functions (including schools, roads, social services, waste disposal and emergency planning, housing and leisure services, development control, refuse collection and street cleaning) are carried out by Wiltshire Council. Together with the neighbouring village of Dilton Marsh, Westbury is divided into two council divisions, each electing one member.

Westbury is a civil parish with an elected town council of sixteen members. This has an almost wholly consultative and ceremonial role, and the chairman of the town council has the title of Mayor of Westbury.


 * See also
 * West Wiltshire Council election, 1999
 * West Wiltshire Council election, 2003
 * West Wiltshire Council election, 2007
 * Wiltshire Council election, 1993
 * Wiltshire Council election, 1997
 * Wiltshire Council election, 2001
 * Wiltshire Council election, 2005

Representation in Parliament
The parliamentary constituency of Westbury dates back several centuries, but was abolished in 2010, the town now being part of the constituency of South West Wiltshire.

At one stage it was recognised as a rotten borough, which led to gifts from the owners of the parliamentary borough, including the magnificent town hall in Market Place donated by Sir Manasseh Massey Lopes.

Sport and leisure
Westbury has a Non-League football club Westbury United F.C. who play at Meadow lane.

Schools
Westbury currently has one secondary school, two primary schools, a junior school and an infants school. The secondary school, Matravers School, is designated a specialist arts and technology college. It has a sixth form offering a range of subjects. It serves both the community of Westbury and several of the surrounding villages, including Chapmanslade, Bratton, Dilton Marsh and Edington. Westbury Leigh School is a primary school serving mainly the Leigh Park Estate. Bitham Brook School is a primary school mainly serving the western part of the town. Westbury C of E Junior School serves the central part of the town and takes children from Year 3 to Year 6. It is fed by Westbury Infants School, which takes children from Reception to Year 2.

Road transport
The A350 road passes through the town and a controversial Westbury Bypass was once proposed which would have reduced traffic in parts of the town but would have had a negative effect on the landscape on the east of the town. The eastern bypass scheme was eventually rejected after an Independent Planning Inquiry recommended against it in 2009.

Railway transport
The town is an important junction point on the railway network, as it lies at the point where the main line railway from London to the Exeter and the West Country intersects the cross country line from South Wales, Bristol, Bath and Chippenham to Salisbury, Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton. Westbury (Wilts) railway station is on the west on the town.

Media
Westbury is served by a fortnightly free newspaper, the White Horse News, named after the famous and defining feature on the edge of the town. The newspaper is free and delivered to all homes in the town and the surrounding villages of Bratton, Dilton Marsh and Edington, amongst others. Westbury is also served by the weekly the Warminster Journal and the Wiltshire Times, and a radio station, Total Star FM. Westbury has been featured in the cult tv series Buffy the Vampire Slayer where it is the location of Willows' (Alyson Hannigan) recuperation from being evil.

Notable Westbury residents

 * Vernon Bartlett
 * George Bourne
 * Arthur Merric Boyd
 * Ruth May Fox
 * Hilary Hook
 * Abraham Laverton
 * Alexander Heriot Mackonochie
 * Joshua Marshman
 * Charles Paul Phipps
 * John Lewis Phipps
 * Charles Nicholas Paul Phipps
 * William Austin Zeal