Wiltshire

Wiltshire

File:County Flag of Wiltshire.svg File:Arms of Wiltshire County Council.svg
File:EnglandWiltshire.png
Geography
Status	Ceremonial & (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Region:	South West England
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 14th 2,165 miles² (3,485 km²) Ranked 13th 2,022 miles² (3,255 km²)
Admin HQ:	Trowbridge
ISO 3166-2:	GB-WIL
ONS code:	46
NUTS 3:	UKK15
Demographics
Population - Total (2005 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 34th 630,700 181 / km² Ranked 30th 446,700
Ethnicity:	97.5% White
Politics
Wiltshire County Council http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/
Executive	Conservative
Members of Parliament	Michael Ancram James Gray Robert Key Andrew Murrison Anne Snelgrove Michael Wills
Districts
Salisbury West Wiltshire Kennet North Wiltshire Swindon (Unitary)

Wiltshire (short: Wilts) is an English county. It borders the counties of Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, and contains the unitary authority of Swindon. The county town is Trowbridge, in the west of the county at . The county covers 858,931 acres (3476 km²)

Settlements

Notable towns and cities in Wiltshire are:

• Bradford on Avon
• Calne
• Chippenham
• Devizes
• Malmesbury
• Marlborough
• Salisbury (city)
• Swindon
• Trowbridge
• Warminster
• Westbury

A full list of settlements is at List of places in Wiltshire.

Places of interest

Key
National Trust	Owned by the National Trust
English Heritage	Owned by English Heritage
	Owned by the Forestry Commission
Country Park	A Country Park
Accessible open space	An Accessible open space
Museum (free)	Museum (free)
Museum	Museum (charges entry fee)
Heritage railway	Heritage railway
Historic house	Historic House

Notable places of interest in Wiltshire are:

Ashcombe House Historic house Avebury, Neolithic stone circle Accessible open space Avebury Manor & Garden Avon Valley Path Accessible open space Barbury Castle Country park Beckhampton Avenue Bentley Wood Accessible open space Bowood House Historic house Burlington, city-sized nuclear bunker Castle Combe Castle Hill, Mere Accessible open space Cherhill White Horse Chisbury Chapel Coate Water, East Swindon Country park Corsham Court Historic house Cotswold Water Park Courts Garden Creative Planet, Science Museum, Wroughton Crofton Pumping Station Edington Priory Fonthill Abbey Great Chalfield Manor Iford Manor and gardens Historic house Kennet & Avon Canal Museum, Devizes Museum King Alfred's Tower Lacock Abbey

Littlecote House Historic house Longleat Safari Park Country parkHistoric house Ludgershall Castle, Ludgershall Lydiard Park and House, West Swindon. Country parkHistoric house Malmesbury Abbey Maud Heath's Causeway Mompesson House Old Sarum, the former cathedral Accessible open space English Heritage Old Wardour Castle Philipps House & Dinton Park Salisbury Cathedral Shearwater Lake Silbury Hill Stonehenge Stourhead Swindon Steam Railway Museum Heritage Railway Trafalgar House Historic house Wardour Castle West Kennet Long Barrow Accessible open space Westbury White Horse Westwood Manor Woodhenge Accessible open space Wilton House Historic house Wilton Windmill Wilts and Berks Canal Part of Win Green (shared with Dorset) Accessible open space

Notable areas of countryside in Wiltshire are:

• Cranborne Chase Accessible open space
• Marlborough Downs Accessible open space
• Salisbury Plain Accessible open space
• Vale of Pewsey Accessible open space

Notable routes through Wiltshire are:

• A4 road
• M4 motorway
• A303 trunk road
• Fosse Way old Roman road
• Great Western Main Line railway
• Wessex Main Line railway
• Kennet and Avon Canal
• Swindon and Cricklade Railway Heritage Railway
• Thames Path, a long-distance footpath
• Wiltshire Cycleway
• National Cycle Route 4

Wiltshire is "Mid-Wessex" in the novels of Thomas Hardy

• Wiltshire
• Salisbury
  Salisbury
• Salisbury
  Salisbury
• Wiltshire
  Wiltshire
• Avebury
  Avebury
• Wilton House
  Wilton House
• Longleat
  Longleat
• Stourhead
  Stourhead
• Stonehenge
  Stonehenge

Other websites

• Wiltshire County Council
• List of Councillors Archived 2008-12-21 at the Wayback Machine
• Wiltshire Constabulary Online Archived 2005-12-24 at the Wayback Machine
• BBC Wiltshire
• Wiltshire Tourist Office
• John Aubrey's The Natural History of Wiltshire
• White horses of Wiltshire Archived 2007-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Wiltshire Gazette & Herald
• Wiltshire Times & Chippenham News
• Geology map of Wiltshire (PDF)
• Wiltshire & Swindon Intelligence Network