Wiltshire is an inland English county, bounded on the N. by Gloucestershire and Berkshire, on the E. by Berks and Hampshire, on the S. by Hants and Dorsetshire, and on the W. by Somersetshire and Gloucester. Its greatest length, north to south, is 54 miles; its greatest breadth, east to west, is 37; and the area is 1354 sq. m. or 866,677 acres. Pop. (1801) 183,820; (1841) 256,280; (1881) 258,970; (1891) 264,969. This unusually small proportion of inhabitants is due to the presence of extensive tracts of open pasture-land in the centre and north of the county—Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs. The river systems of the county divide near Devizes, whence the Lower or Somersetshire Avon, entering Wilts from Gloucester, flows to the Severn below Bristol; the Southern or Hampshire Avon flows by Salisbury to the English Channel at Christchurch; and the Kennet flows to join the Thames at Reading, thence to the German Ocean. The chief Wiltshire feeders of the Lower Avon are the Newnton, Meriden, Broughton, and Whaddon; and of the Southern Avon the Wyly (joined by the Nadder at Wilton) and the Bourn. By far the larger portion of the county is occupied by Chalk. This forms in the main a great upland separated by a broad hollow of Greensand, ranging by Devizes to Burbage, into the Marlborough Downs and Salisbury Plain, and rising on the Berkshire border into the highest point of the English Chalk, Inkpen or Hackpen Beacon (972 feet). Greensand also borders the Chalk north and west, and is succeeded by a band of Oolite exposing the Purbeck and Portland beds, the Kimmeridge Clay, Coral Rag, and Oxford Clay—the latter ranging from Frome, by Bradford, Chippenham, and Malmesbury. London and Plastic Clay and Bagshot Sands extend somewhat into the county from Berks and Hants; and there are Quaternary gravels near Salisbury and Melksham. The Wiltshire Oolites are in parts highly fossiliferous, and at points yield valuable building-stone—as at Fonthill, Tisbury, Chilmark, Swindon, Corsham, and Box. Iron ore was worked and smelted in the county in remote antiquity, but of late only in the vicinity of Seend, and since of Westbury, the upper beds of the Coral Rag there consisting of oolitic grains of hydrous oxide of iron cemented by calcareous matter. The railways are connected with the Great Western and London and South-Western systems, and the former company has extensive works at Swindon (q.v.). The industries are chiefly agricultural—dairy-farming predominating in the north, and grazing in the south. Large flocks of sheep feed on Salisbury Plain. There are extensive factories at Calne, which send out the Wiltshire bacon. There is also an important manufacturing element—Bradford and Trowbridge still maintain the old reputation of the West of England for the highest quality broadcloths; and the Wilton carpets are made at the town of that name. Marlborough is the seat of a great public school. The flora is noteworthy, and includes a number of rare plants. Though the rolling open country is as a rule monotonous and tame, there is much charming scenery in the valleys and amongst the broken hill districts, especially of its western borders; while there are fine stretches of woodland connected with its numerous seats—especially at Savernake, Bowood, Longleat, Wardour, and Wilton. Savernake Forest and Cranbourne Chace, indeed, have undergone little change for centuries. Wiltshire was well settled by the Romans, and played a prominent part in early Saxon days; and the defeat of the British by Cynric at Old Sarum in 552 was the first important Saxon success. Four years later the victory of Cynric and Cewlin at Barbury included the shire in the West Saxon kingdom, of which Wilton eventually became the capital. At Wilton Alfred suffered his first defeat from the Danes; and Edington, near Westbury, is suggested as the Ethandune where he defeated Guthrum. Wilton was the scene of another battle of note in the wars of Stephen and Matilda, when the presence of numerous castles and garrisons brought great suffering on the inhabitants of the district generally. The early importance of Wilton—itself named from the river Wyly—caused it to give name to the county as Wiltonseire. Waller's defeat at Roundway Hill, Devizes, and the gallant defence of Wardour Castle by Lady Arundell were the chief local episodes of the Great Rebellion. The civil record of Wilts is peculiar. Before 1832 it sent thirty-four members to parliament, including two from Old Sarum, which had neither house nor inhabitant. Old Sarum, Downton, Great Bedwyn, Heytesbury, Hindon, Ludgershall, and Wootton Bassett were then swept away, Calne, Malmesbury, Wilton, and Westbury reduced to one each, and the total made eighteen. Till 1867 the number of members was eighteen, then till 1885 fifteen, and now it is six only—five for county divisions and one for Salisbury. The municipalities are Calne, Chippenham, Devizes, Malmesbury, Marlborough, Salisbury, and Wilton.
From the standpoint of the archaeologist Wilts is the premier county in England. Stonehenge has been famed for ages throughout the civilised world. Still more remarkable are the less-known, much-rnined megalithic circles and avenues of Avebury—‘as much excelling Stonehenge as a cathedral doth a parish church’—while Silbury Hill, near by, is the largest tumulus in Europe. Barrows of various kinds so abound that it was in Wiltshire barrow-digging first became a science. Relics of paleolithic man are yielded by the river gravels near Salisbury and elsewhere; and thence downward human representation may be regarded as complete. Earthworks, like barrows, are exceptionally numerous. The Wansdyke stretches across the north of the county for miles, traversing the Marlborough Downs. Grimsditch intersects the south of the county near Downton. The huge ramparts of Old Sarum are unique in their record of successive occupation on English soil—in turn the stronghold of Celt, Roman, Saxon, Norman, and seat of the see until Salisbury was founded in the lowlands by the river. Bradford-on-Avon contains the most perfect Anglo-Saxon church in existence. Salisbury Cathedral is the noblest illustration of the Early English style. The Norman castle of Devizes was unmatched in England, but neither of that nor of its sister fortalices are there many traces left. There is magnificent Norman work in the remains of Malmesbury Abbey. Domestic buildings of the 14th and 15th centuries are numerous and good. Longleat has been regarded as the finest Elizabethan mansion in the kingdom. Among modern structures the most remarkable is the Lombardic church at Wilton built by the first Lord Herbert of Lea.
See the articles AVEBURY, SALISBURY, STONEHENGE, WHITE HORSE, &c.; works by John Aubrey (ed. by Rev. J. E. Jackson, Devizes, 1862), Sir R. C. Hoare (8 vols. 1812-44), John Britton (3 vols. 1801-25), H. Moody (Winchester, 1851), J. E. Jackson (2 vols. 1867-72), W. H. Jones (3 vols. 1865-80), E. Kite (Devizes, 1880), Stratford (1882), R. Jefferies (Life in a Southern County, 1882), A. C. Smith (1884-85), and the present writer, R. N. Worth (1887), besides the Wilts Archaeological and Natural History Magazine (since 1853).