Discover Wiltshire
UK

If you take the lid off, to coin an over used phrase, what do you find in Wiltshire?

Well ... You name it.

In the pages of this website you will discover an eclectic selection of places to go, things to see, information on services, shopping, eating ... All within that great rural County.

What's Here

To whet your appetite:

• Try Stonehenge and Avebury Circle and many more prehistoric sites.
• And then there are the white horses both old and new. A lot of the downland is chalk and thus ideal for topographical artistry.
• Are you intrigued by Corn Circles which, until recently, were believed to be have been made by mysterious visitors from who knows where. The frequency of their appearance is less now as damage to valuable crops is not good. Still you have to admire the feat of creating them.
• How about visiting a Country House:Bowood, Lacock Abbey, Longleat and Stourhead. Just to name a few.

• Maybe a picture book archetypal English village such as Lacock and Castle Combe is what you are after.
Flight of Locks at Caen Hill
• How about canals and boating? The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the county. It is famous or infamous (for boaters at least) for the Caen Hill flight of locks at Devizes. It takes several hours hard slog to navigate your craft up or down.

• Famous roads pass through include the ancient Ridgeway, the Roman Fosse Way London-Bath Road and Ermin Way and for the petrol heads there are the M4 A4 A303 A350 and A417 roads.

• The highest point is The Tan Hill - Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey vale at 295m (968ft) not quite high enough to be called a mountain but still quite a good bump.

A Few Facts

Wiltshire is a land locked county in the south west of England. It is bordered by the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire and Berkshire. Geographically it contains the unitary authority of Swindon but that is no longer considered to be part of Wiltshire as regards local government and the like.

In old English it was known as Wiltunscir and then later Wiltonshire, named after the then county town of Wilton. The main centre of local government and county town is now Trowbridge. Hopefully it will never be named after that.

The total area is 3485 km² comprising high downland and wide valleys. A major part of that is the famous Salisbury Plain with many prehistoric sites. The population at the last census was 613,024.

Altogether there are 21 towns, one city and countless villages (Well I haven't counted them anyway). The one city is Salisbury at the southern end of the plain named after it.

The main river of the county is the Bristol Avon, cutting diagonally through Wiltshire after turning round on itself at Malmesbury.

It then runs on through Bath and Bristol and finally flows into the Severn estuary at Avonmounth (where else?) after passing under Clifton suspension bridge and the M5 motorway.

Tell me More!

You ask ...

There is so much to discover that we had better not waste any more time and start on the trail of discovery.

To keep up to date with new discoveries please subscribe to the blog using the buttons over there on the left.

So, without further ado, let's go ...

Wiltshire Towns Location Map There are 21 Wiltshire towns and one city. This map shows their locations

Wiltshire Towns There are 21 Wiltshire towns and one city. Swindon is geographically in Wiltshire but is is now a unitary authority and administratively separate from the County.

Wiltshire Coat Of Arms The Wiltshire Coat of Arms, and those of the old District Councils, illustrate significant features of the County

Archaeology of Wiltshire - Chronology of Periods The Archaeology of Wiltshire can be divided into a number of periods which cover the development of mankind from Prehistoric days up to Modern Times.

Neolithic Sites in Wiltshire The Neolithic Sites in Wiltshire are of three types, Enclosures, Barrows and Henges.