Wilton, a market-town of Wiltshire, at the confluence of the Nadder and Wyly, feeders of the Avon, 3½ miles WNW. of Salisbury. The ancient capital of Wessex, it gave name to the county, and was the scene of Alfred's first battle as king with the Danes (871), and the seat of a bishopric (909-1050), but after 1244, when it had twelve churches, declined through the diversion of the great western road. The present church, erected in 1844 by Lord Herbert of Lea at a cost of £20,000, is an ornate Lombardic structure, with a wealth of marbles, mosaics, and stained glass, and a campanile 108 feet high. On the site of a Saxon nunnery is Wilton House, the seat of the Herberts (q.v.), where Sidney wrote part of the Arcadia. It is famous for its Van Dycks and other art-treasures, and for the beauty of its grounds. Since Elizabeth's reign Carpets (q.v.) have been manufactured at Wilton, which is a municipal borough, first chartered by Henry I., and reformed in 1885. It returned two members till 1832, and then one till 1885. Pop. 2120.
See the Registrum Wiltunense (Lond. fol. 1827), and James Smith's Wilton and its Associations (Sal. 1851).