1129 



WILTSHIRE. 



WILTSHIRE. 



1130 



standing in a noble park, in which are also extensive gardens. The 

 house contains a fine collection of paintings and antiquities, aud a 

 valuable library. 



WILTSHIRE, an inland county of England bounded N.W. and N. 

 by Gloucestershire, N.E. by Berkshire, S.E. by Hampshire, S.W. by 

 Dorsetshire, and W. by Somersetshire. The county ia of very com- 

 pact form, approximating to a quadrangle. Wiltshire is situated 

 between 50" 55' and 51 43 N. lat, 1" 29' and 2 21' W. long. The 

 greatest length of the county, north and south, ia about 51 miles ; 

 the greatest breadth, eaat and west, is 37 miles. The area is estimated 

 at 1352 square miles, or 865,092 statute acres. The population in 

 1341 was 256,230 ; in 1851 it was 254,221. 



.Surface and Geology. The geological formations of Wiltshire con- 

 sist chiefly of the cretaceous and oolitic series, with the intermediate 

 beds ; in the south-eastern corner the chalk is covered with the 

 tertiary formations of the chalk-basin of the Isle of Wight. 



The chalk formation may be considered, from its extent, as the 

 most striking geological feature of the county, forming as it does the 

 extensive downs which overspread the eastern, central, and southern 

 parts. The chalk district of Hampshire and Wiltshire constitutes 

 the- centre of the chalk formation in England, from which proceed 

 four great branches. The first great branch is the chalk range of the 

 Ci.iltern Hills, Dunstable and Koyston Downs, &c,, extending through 

 Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridge- 

 shire, Essex (just the north-western corner), Suffolk, and Norfolk, 

 across the Wash, reappearing in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, and 

 terminating in Flamborough Head ; the second branch is the North 

 Downs of Hampshire, Surrey, and Kent ; the third the South Downs 

 of Hampshire and Sussex ; and the fourth the North and South 

 Downs of Dorsetshire, inclosing between them the trough of I'oole. 



The Wiltshire portion of the great central chnlk district is divided 

 into two parts by the Vale of Pewsey, where the greeusand occupies 

 the bottom of the valley, and is skirted on each side by the chalk 

 hills. This valley extends east and west, and it may be convenient 

 to describe the two portions into which it divides the chalk district as 

 the northern and southern districts : Marlborough Downs belong to 

 the northern district ; Salisbury Plain belongs to the southern. 



The northern chalk district is bounded by a line entering the county 

 from Berkshire at the village of Bisuopston, and passes Avcbury, 

 K'Mington, or Heddington, it* westernmost point, Biahop's-Cannings, 

 Wootton-ltivers, and Great Bedwyn, to the border of Berkshire at 

 Great Shalbourue. The boundary may be traced throughout by a 

 tolerably steep escarpment overlooking the surrounding country. The 

 included chalk district is divided into two parts by the depression or 

 valley, running east and west, through which the Kennet passes from 

 Avebury to Hungerford; and the northernmost of the two parts is 

 .igiin divided by a valley running north and south, and drained by a 

 mnall feeder of the Kennet. This valley is occupied by the chalk, as 

 well as the higher ground on each side. The principal eminences are on 

 the boundary-line of the district, and are in several instances crowned 

 by ancient intreuchments, or rather earthworks. The following may 

 be enumerated : Charlbury Hill, above Little Uiutou; Beacon Hill, 

 crowned by an ancient introuchment called Liddington Castle, above 

 Liddington ; Barbury Hill, also crowned with an intrenchment ; Hack- 

 pen Hill, above the VVinterbournes ; Oldbury Castle, an intrenchment 

 on the summit of the hill above Cherhill, having a white horse carved 

 on the slope beneath ; Beacon Down, above Eddington ; Koundaway 

 Hill, above Devizes, the scene of a severe action in the civil war of 

 Charle* I. ; with Eastern Hill, St. Ann's Hill, and several other hills, 

 which are part* of the southern escarpment overlooking the Vale of 

 Pewsay. The northern chalk district forma an elevated platform, and 

 is to a considerable extent uncultivated and uninclojed. In the part 

 north of the valley of the Kennet, are Marlborough Downs, Aldbourn 

 Chace, Wanborough Plain, and Bishopston Down. South of the valley 

 of the Kennet aro the King's Play Down, Pound Down, Savernake 

 Forest, and Bedwyn and Wilton Commons. 



The southern chalk district is bounded by an extremely irregular 

 line, commencing on the north side of Inkpen Beacon, and making a 

 circuit by Westbury, Maiden-Bradley, and Wilton to Shaftesbury in 

 Dorsetshire, iU continuity being broken by three deep indentations 

 ia the npper part of the valleys of the Avon, Wily, and Nadder, 

 where the subjacent formations have been denuded. 



The south-eastern part of the county, inclosed by this boundary, is 

 occupied by the chalk which extends eastward into Hampshire and 

 southward into Dorsetshire, and forms an extensive hilly tract fur- 

 rowed by the valleys of the N adder, the Wily, the Avon, and the 

 Bourn, and a valley watered by a stream which passes Broad-Chalk, 

 Blshopstou, and Huraiiigton, which valleys unite near Salisbury to 

 form the Valley of the Lower Avon. South and east of Salisbury 

 the chalk is covered with the plastic clay formation belonging to the 

 cbalk baiin of the Isle of Wight, which is also observed in one or two 

 oth-r places in the district. 



The* principal hills in this southern cbalk district, as in the north- 

 ern, are on the boundary, which is for the most part indicated by a 

 steep escarpment. The principal eminences are Inkpen Beacon, the 

 highest point in the cbalk formation in England, 1011 feet high, near 

 the junction of Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Berkshire; Easton Hill 

 and Pewsey Hill, both commanding the Vale of Pewsey, and crowned 



with ancient earthworks ; Little Cheverill and Great Cheverill Hills ; 

 Eddington Hill, Battlesbury Camp, Titherington Hill, Chiselbury 

 Camp, with a circular iutrenchment, and White Sheet Hill, between 

 Wilton and Shaftesbury. In the central part of the district are Miz- 

 maze, Ashley, and Haruham hills, Tower Hill, Amesbury Down, 

 Newton Hill, and numerous others. 



This chalk district, known aa Salisbury Plain, forms an elevated 

 platform, uncultivated and unincloaed, except in the valleys. Wide 

 downs, covered by a scanty herbage, spread in every direction. The 

 population is collected in the valleys, where, along the streams which 

 water them, the villages stand very close to each other. The chalk is 

 generally bare of wood, except in three or four spots, such as Sever- 

 nake Forest, Grovely Wood, Vernditch Chase, and Cranbouru Chase. 



The greensand formation, comprehending the chalk-marl with the 

 greensand, crops out from beneath the escarpment of the two chalk 

 districts occupying the Vale of Pewsey, which separates them, as well 

 as the indentations in the boundary of the southern chalk district. 

 Consequently the outer edge of the greensand is rather more regular 

 than that of the chalk. The greensand rises gradually from the foot 

 of the chalk escarpment towards its outer edge, which is ia many 

 parts traceable by a well-defined and steep escarpment. 



From Eddiugton the outer edge of the greensand may be traced in 

 an irregular line by Devizes and Pottern to Market Laviugton ; then 

 westward by Westbury to the border of Somersetshire. It occupies 

 nearly all the county west of the chalk between Warminster and 

 Mere. About Warminster and Stourhead Park, in the south-western 

 part of the county, the greensand hills nearly equal those of the chalk 

 in height. Alfred's Tower, near Stourhead, is on a greensand hill 

 300 feet high. 



From beneath the outer edge of the greensand formation the 

 Weald clay, or Tetsworth clay, which usually separates the greensand 

 from the ironaand, crops out. It occupies only a narrow tract, sur- 

 rounding on every side the country occupied by the superior forma- 

 tions, and may be traced through the county with little interruption. 

 In the Vale of Wardour the clay occupies a very narrow strip skirting 

 the greeusand. The ironsand does not appear in this county, except 

 in a few places, and is described as being a pudding-stone composed of 

 rounded quartz united by a siliceous cement with a red calx of iron, 

 containing ore formerly in much request for the furnace aud the forge. 



In the absence of the ironsaud, the Weald clay is found to rest 

 along the northern and north-western borders of the county on the 

 Kimmeridge clay, which belongs to the uppermost division of the 

 oolitic group. This Kimineridge clay occupies a tract rarely exceeding 

 two miles in breadth, but extending in length from the Berkshire 

 border to Seend, west of Devizes, beyond which it is covered by the 

 westward extension of the overlying formations. At Swindon, in the 

 Kimmeridge clay district, beds of oolitic freestone, similar to the 

 Portland beds, intervene between the Weald clay and Kimmeridge 

 clay, and are extensively quarried. In the northern part of the county 

 the upper oolites are confined to low ground : in the Vale of Pewsey 

 they acquire some elevation, as in Lady Down near Tisbury. 



The formations already noticed occupy the whole of the county 

 south and east of a line drawn westward from the Berkshire bonier, 

 three miles south of Highworth, parallel to and a little to the north 

 of the Wilts and Berks Canal, by Stratton to Wootton-Basset and 

 Seend, to the Somersetshire border at Corsley near Frome ; the whole 

 line making a circuit convex to the north-west. Beyond this boundary 

 the strata of the middle oolites, comprehending tho coral rag and 

 calcareous grit, and the Oxford clay, crop out, occupying all the northern 

 border of the county, and extending westward to a line drawn south 

 by west from Cirencester to Gloucestershire, by Malmesbury, Chippen- 

 ham, Melksham, Trowbriilge, and North Bradley, to Frome in Somer- 

 setshire ; beyond which line the upper beds of the lowermost division 

 of the oolites appear. 



The tract occupied by the middle oolites has a breadth of eight miles 

 along the northern part of the county, where it extends into Glouces- 

 tershire : between Wootton-Basset and Cirencester, it ia 11 or 12 miles 

 broad ; thence diminishing towards the south and south-west, so that 

 near Westbury and Frome it is probably not more than one or two 

 miles broad. The lower or outer edge of the coral-rag and calcareous 

 grit may be traced by a range of low hills of this formation, extending 

 to tho north of Highworth, Swindon, and Wootton-Basset, aud then 

 westward by Lyneham, Breinhall, Bowood, and Bromham. Near 

 Seend, west of Devizes, there is a depression in these hills, through 

 which the Kennet and Avon Canal passes ; but the hills re-appear at 

 Steeple-Ashton, beyond which the coral-rag is covered by the westward 

 extension of the chalk and greensand. The average height of the 

 coral-rag hills seems to be about 400 feet above the level of the sea. 

 The Oxford or chinch clay occupies the lower ground at their foot, 

 including the valley of the Thames, and that of the Avon above 

 Malmeabury. There are some gentle eminences of Oxford clay between. 

 Cricklade and Malmesbury, and again about Melksham, Semingtou, 

 and Trowbridge. Mineral waters occur in this formation ; those of 

 Melksham, and of Holt, three miles south-west of Melksham, are im- 

 pregnated with purgative salts ; those of Seend near Devizes contain 

 iron and carbonic acid. The formations belonging to the lower oolites 

 in this county are the cornbrash, tho forest-marble, then a bed of clay, 

 in some places 80 feet thick, and then the great oolite. 



