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Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. Considered as a ceremonial county, it is landlocked and borders the counties of Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and contains the unitary authority of Swindon. 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 cathedral.
Etymology
The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is moonrakers. HistoryWiltshire is particularly well-known for its pre-Roman archaeology. The Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people 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 sixth and seventh 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 Wessex nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, and King Wulfhere of Mercia.[1] In 878 the Danes invaded the county, and, following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown and the church.
In the seventeenth century English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian. Around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire providing a route for transporting a range of cargoes from Bristol to London, which was successful in encouraging local commerce for some years before the development of the Great Western Railway. Geology, landscape and ecologyImage:Cherhillwhitehorse.jpg Cherhill White Horse 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 in the Pewsey Vale on the edge of Salisbury Plain, at 295 m/968 ft. 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 km² (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 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 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. Image:Caen.hill.locks.in.devizes.arp.jpg The flight of 16 locks at Caen Hill on the Kennet and Avon Canal. ClimateAlong with the rest of South West England, Wiltshire has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than the rest of England. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10°C and shows a seasonal and a diurnal 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 sunshine 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 Azores high pressure when it extends its influence north-eastwards towards the UK, particularly in summer. Convective cloud often forms inland, especially near hills, and acts to reduce sunshine amounts. The average annual sunshine totals around 1600 hours. Rainfall tends to be associated with Atlantic depressions 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 clouds and a large proportion of rainfall falls from showers and thunderstorms at this time of year. Average rainfall is around 800–900 mm. About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, with June to August having the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the South West.[2] EconomyThis is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Wiltshire at current basic prices[3] with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
The Wiltshire economy benefits from the "M4 corridor 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. Wiltshire’s employment structure is distinctive in having a significantly higher number of people in various forms of manufacturing: especially electrical equipment and apparatus, food products, and beverages, furniture, rubber, and plastic goods than the national average. In addition, there are is higher than average employment in public administration and defence, probably due to the scale of military 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 unemployment rates. The Gross domestic product (GDP) level in Wiltshire did not reach the UK average in 1998, and was only marginally above the rate for South West England.[8] DemographicsThe 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.[9] Population of Wiltshire:
PoliticsFollowing the elections in May 2005, 28 Conservatives, 16 Liberal Democrats, three Labour members and two Independents (Christopher Newbury and John Syme) are members of Wiltshire County Council. Conservatives hold most of the more rural areas while the Liberal Democrats hold several towns, including Trowbridge, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon. The county divisions of Westbury Ham with Dilton and Warminster West elected the two Independents, while the three Labour members hold their seats in the towns of Salisbury, Melksham and Devizes. At the parliamentary level Wiltshire is represented entirely by Conservative Members of Parliament, except for the predominantly urban area of Swindon which is represented by Labour. Since 1992 Devizes has been represented by the front bench Conservative Michael Ancram. SettlementsImage:Wiltshire.bridge.750pix.jpg A bridge over the river Avon at Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire Notable towns and cities in Wiltshire are:
A full list of settlements is at List of places in Wiltshire. Places of interestNotable places of interest in Wiltshire are: Notable areas of countryside in Wiltshire are:
Notable routes through Wiltshire are:
References and footnotes
See also
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