Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west. The largest settlement is Swindon.
The county has an area of and had an estimated population of in . The county is mostly rural, and the centre and south-west are sparsely populated. Swindon is in the north-east of the county, and its other major settlements include the city of Salisbury in the south-east and the towns of Trowbridge and Chippenham in the west. For local government purposes, the county comprises two unitary authority areas, Swindon and Wiltshire.
The north-west of Wiltshire is part of the limestone Cotswolds, and the remainder of the county is characterised by chalk downlands. The Marlborough Downs lie in the north-east of the county and encompass Savernake Forest. To their south is the Vale of Pewsey, south of which, in the centre of the county, is Salisbury Plain. The south-west contains the West Wiltshire Downs, to the south of which is the Vale of Wardour, and the far south comprises part of Cranborne Chase. The south-east contains part of the New Forest. The county's two major rivers are both called the Avon. The northern Avon enters the county in the north-west and flows south-westward before exiting near Bradford on Avon, its vale separating the Cotswolds from the rest of the county. The southern Avon rises on Salisbury Plain and flows south through Salisbury, then into Hampshire. Much of the county is protected: the Marlborough Downs, West Wiltshire Downs, Vale of Wardour, Cranborne Chase, and the Cotswolds are each part of national landscapes, and the New Forest is a national park.
Salisbury Plain is noted for the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles, which together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as other ancient landmarks. Much of the plain is a training area for the British Army. Salisbury is notable for its medieval cathedral. Large country houses open to the public include Longleat, which also features a safari park, and the National Trust's Stourhead.
Toponymy The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir, is named after the former county town of Wilton.
History
Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology. The Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people who 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 West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, and King Wulfhere of Mercia. In 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, 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 monastery of Stanley exported wool to the Florentine and Flemish markets in the 13th and 14th centuries.
In the 17th century, during the English Civil War, Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian. The Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes.
In 1794, it was decided at a meeting at the Bear Inn in Devizes to raise a body of ten independent troops of Yeomanry for the county of Wiltshire, which formed the basis for what would become the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, who served with distinction both at home and abroad, during the Boer War, World War I and World War II. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry lives on as Y (RWY) Squadron, based in Swindon, and B (RWY) Squadron, based in Salisbury, of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.
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 at Wiltshire Council's Wiltshire Community History website, which has maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures, and short histories.
The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is 'Moonrakers'. This originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local excisemen by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in a village pond. When confronted by the excisemen, they raked the surface 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 madmen 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 with The Crammer in Devizes.
Geography
Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a mostly rural county, lies 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 a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and stretching from the Dorset Downs in the west to Dover in the east. The largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain, which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill–Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale, just to the north of Salisbury Plain, at above sea level.
The chalk uplands run north-east into West 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 conservation area.
In the north-west of the county, on the border with Gloucestershire and Somerset, the underlying rock is the resistant oolite limestone of the Cotswolds. Part of the Cotswolds AONB is also in Wiltshire, in the county's north-western corner.
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 northernmost area of the New Forest.
Chalk is a porous rock, so the chalk hills have little surface water, and the main settlements in the county were therefore established at wet points. Notably, Salisbury lies between the chalk of Salisbury Plain and the marshy flood plains.
Part of the Avon Green Belt reaches the outskirts of Rudloe, Corsham, and Trowbridge, preventing urban sprawl—particularly between Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge—while protecting surrounding settlements from the eastward expansion of Bath, Somerset.
Climate Along with the rest of South West England, Wiltshire has a temperate climate that is generally wetter and milder than that of counties further east. The annual mean temperature is approximately . Although there is a marked maritime influence, it is generally less pronounced than in other south-western counties, which are closer to the sea. July and August are the warmest months with mean daily maxima of approximately . In winter, mean minimum temperatures of or are usual, and air frost is frequent. In the summer, the Azores high-pressure system affects south-west England; however, convective clouds sometimes form inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly lower than the regional average of 1,600 hours.
In December 1998, there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton (Somerset). Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection, though a proportion is caused orographically (uplift over hills). Autumn and winter are the rainiest seasons, driven by Atlantic depressions, which are then most active. Even so, any month can be the wettest or driest in a given year, but the wettest is much more likely to occur between October and March, and the driest between April and September. In summer, a greater proportion of the rainfall is caused by the sun heating the ground, leading to convection, showers, and thunderstorms. It is often the northern half of the county that sees most of the showers with south-westerly winds in summer, whereas in the south of the county, the proximity of a relatively cold English Channel often inhibits showers. In autumn and winter, however, the sea is often relatively warm compared with the air passing over it, which can lead to higher rainfall in the south of the county (e.g., Salisbury recorded over 200mm of rain in November 2009 and January 2014). Average rainfall for the county is around , with drier parts averaging 700mm (28in) and the wettest 900mm (around 35in). About 8–15 days of snowfall are typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west.
Demographics
Ethnicity In the 2001 census, the ethnic composition of the ceremonial county of Wiltshire comprised: 90.3% White, 5.1% Asian, 1.6% Black, 2.0% Mixed, and 0.9% Other.
White (90.3%): English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British (85.1%), Irish (0.6%), Gypsy or Irish Traveller (0.1%), Roma (0.1%), Other White (4.4%) Asian (5.1%): Indian (2.7%), Pakistani (0.3%), Bangladeshi (0.3%), Chinese (0.4%), Other Asian (1.4%) Black (1.6%): African (1.0%), Caribbean (0.4%), Other Black (0.3%) Mixed (2.0%): White and Asian (0.6%), White and Black African (0.3%), White and Black Caribbean (0.6%), Other Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups (0.6%) Other (0.9%): Arab (0.1%), Any other ethnic group (0.8%) Note: Sub-group totals may not sum exactly to the group total due to rounding. Data for the ceremonial county are aggregated from its constituent unitary authorities.
+ Ethnic groups in Wiltshire (ceremonial county) Ethnic group 2001 census2011 census2021 census White 97.6% 94.5% 90.3% Asian 1.1% 2.9% 5.1% Black 0.4% 0.9% 1.6% Mixed 0.8% 1.4% 2.0% Other 0.2% 0.3% 0.9%
Religion
In the 2021 census, the religious composition of the ceremonial county of Wiltshire comprised: 49.0% Christian, 41.0% No religion, 1.3% Muslim, 1.1% Hindu, 0.6% Buddhist, 0.3% Sikh, 0.1% Jewish, 0.6% Other religion, and 5.9% Not stated.
+ Religion in Wiltshire (ceremonial county) Religion 2001 census2011 census2021 census Christian 74.7% 62.0% 49.0% No religion 16.2% 27.9% 41.0% Muslim 0.5% 0.8% 1.3% Hindu 0.2% 0.6% 1.1% Buddhist 0.2% 0.4% 0.6% Sikh 0.2% 0.2% 0.3% Jewish 0.1% 0.1% 0.1% Other religion 0.3% 0.5% 0.6% Not stated 7.5% 7.4% 5.9%
Governance
Unitary authorities
The ceremonial county of Wiltshire consists of two unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council.