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WILTSHIRE. 



WILTSHIRE. 



list 



,_ Th county is comprehended 



m ih* ltoe bteUsof h Tbmiae*, the Serern, and the Chriitoburob 

 IT aUttsbory A TOO ; that put of the south-wesiem border about Stour- 

 nr i-i sad Men which U drained by the Dorsetshire Stour being 

 in UM buin of the Avon, with which Uie Stour unite* in 

 haven. The northern chalk dutriet and the northern 



of th county, at far ai a line drawn from the neighbourhood of 

 duo to Bear Tetbury in Gloucestershire, ara iooluded in the basin 

 of the Thames; the southern chalk district, with the greentand 

 dMfiet which bginl it, the Vale of Pewagy eait of Devises and 

 Market Lavtngton, and the Vale of Wardour, belong to the basin 

 of UM Salisbury or ChrisUjhuroh Avon ; and the western side of the 

 county, nearly as far south as Warminster, belong! to the buin of the 



gffm+ of the streams which join the Thames in the upper part of its 

 t rise in this county. One, which has been considered by some 

 , but with vary little rwuon. as the true Thames, rises just on 

 r of the couuty whrro the Itouian road Akeman or Acniau 



jsMtbe Thamei and Severn Canal by ' Thames-head' bridge ; 



it joins the Churn or true Thames [THAMES] from Cirencester, about 

 a mile above Crioklade bridge. This paeudo-Thauies has a course of 

 boot nine miles before joining the true Thames. From Cricklade 

 bridge, whww the true Thames first touches the county, it flews four 

 miUs by Castle Eaton to the border of the county; then between 

 three and four miles farther along the border, separating Wiltshire 

 from Gloucestershire ; and quits the couuty altogether a little above 

 Leehlade. The A'ey (otherwise the Hay) rises in the greensand hills 

 near Wronghton ; it runs northward, passing to the west of Swindou, 

 and joins the Thames between Cricklade and the border of the county. 

 The CW rises near Chialedon, and flows northward, chiefly on the 

 border of the county, which it separates from Berkshire, and flows 

 into the Thames just beyond the border of the county. 



The most important feeder of the Thames in this county is the 

 Knuiet, which rises in the greensand district near its outer edge, in 

 UUtvanoj-fields between Clifle-Pypard and Yatesbury. It flows south 

 and south-east by Yatesbury and Avebury, to Silbury Hill on the 

 Bath road, near which it turns eastward by East Kennet, Manton, 

 Marl borough, Mildenball, and Chilton-Foliat, just below which it 

 touch** the border of the county, which it separates from Berkshire 

 for about a mile or a mile and a half, and then, at Hungerford, quits 

 it altogether. That part of the course of the Keuuet which belongs 

 to Wiltshire is about 20 miles Ion/. 



The Salisbury Avon rises in the southern slope of the northern 

 chalk district, in the neighbourhood of Devizes, and flows east-south- 

 east along the Vale of Pewsey. At Salisbury it is joined on the right 

 by the Wily (united with th Madder) : it is joined a little lower down, 

 OB the left bank, by the Bourne, and afterwards flows southward by 

 Sundfinch House to Downton, a little below which it quits the county : 

 its length from the neighbourhood of Devizes to the border of the 

 county is 42 mil'-a, [Avoir.] 



The It'i/y or Wiltey rises in the downs north of Mere, in the south- 

 wad part of the county, and flows first east, then north by the Deverills 

 to Warminster, near which it bends to the east-south-east, and flows past 

 Heytesbury, Wily, Steeple- Langford, Stapleford, Ditchampton, and West 

 Harnham, to Fisherton-Anger, a suburb of Salisbury, where it joins 

 the Avon. Its whole course is about 27 miles. Near Quidhampton 

 it is joined on the right by the Nadder, which rises close to the Dorset- 

 shire border near Shaftesbury. The Bourne rises just within the 

 northern boundary of the southern chalk district, and flows southward 

 by Collingbonrn-Kingston to Shipton, where it crosses a corner of 

 Hampshire, Cholderton, Allington, Idmiston, the Winterbournes, and 

 Larerwtock, near Salisbury, below which it joins the Avon : its whole 

 Irngth U about 23 miles. 



A very small part of the county about Mere, in the south-western 

 corner, is drained by the upper waters of the Dorsetshire Stour, which 

 rises at Stout-head in this county. The Stour and the Salisbury Avon 

 unite just above their outfall into the English Channel at Christchurch. 



That part of the county which belongs to the basin of the Severn 

 is drained by the Rritiol or Lower Avon, the sources of which are in 

 the Cotawold Hills, at Morton near Chipping-Sodbury iu Gloucester- 

 shire, and in the hilly district in the northern port of Wiltshire. The 

 united stream is joined at Malmesbury by a stream, eight miles long, 

 from Tetbnry and Brokenborough. From Miilmcsbury the Avon flows 

 In a winding channel 16 miles southward to Chippenham, and thence 

 80 miles in a winding channel south-west by Lay cook, Melksham, 

 Bradford, and Limpley-Stoke, to the border of thi county and Homer- 

 seUhire, between Bradford and Bath. The Harden rises in the green- 

 sad hills (Compron Hill) above Compton-Basset, flows by Calne, and 

 ftw a course in all of about 9 miles, flows into the Avon. The Were 

 and the Frome are also feeders of the Avon. The Were is formed by 

 the Junction of several streams which rise on the escarpment of the 

 chalk downs about Westbnry. The Frome belongs to Somersetshire, 

 but some part of its course is on the borders of this county. 



Of these numerous rivers but few are navigable, and then only for 

 n short distance in this county. This is the consequence of its central 

 position and comparative elevation, from which it results that the 

 principal streams have only their sources or the upper part of their 

 courses in it The navigation of the Thames, the Kennet, and the 



Bristol Avon does not commence until after those rivers have quitted 

 the county. 



The want of river navigation iu Wiltshire is partially suppl 

 canals, of which three lines are connected with this couuty. Tho 

 northernmost line U that of the Thames and Severn Canal, which in 

 its course from the Thames at Lechlade iu Qlouoastershire 

 .Stroud water Canal at Stroud in the same county, connect! i 

 rivers Thames and Severn, crosses the northern part of this . 

 near Castle Eaton and Cricklodo. The second line is that . 

 Kennet and Avon Canal, which also connects the Thames wi- 

 Severn by means of their respective tributaries the Kunuet an 



Avon. This canal ia 67 miles long : it commences at the head 

 of the navigation of the river Kennet at Newbury iu IWkuliii 

 terminates in the river Avon at Bath. About 41 miles of ita course 

 is in Wiltshire, which county it enters near Hungurford. It passes 

 Great Bedwyn, Devizes, and Trowbridge, and quits the couuty 4 

 from Bradford, at the Dundas aqueduct, by which it is carried over 

 the Avon. The third line of canal navigation ia that of the Wi ' 

 Berks Canal : it lies between the two lines already noticed, unit con- 

 nects the Thames near Abingdon with the Kennet ;md Avon Canal at 

 Semiugton, between Devizes and Bradford. At Lower Eastcott, near 

 Su in. Ion, is a branch nearly all in Wiltshire 84 miles long, passing the 

 town of Cricklade to the Thames and Severn Canal at Lattou in 

 Gloucestershire, near Cricklade. 



The principal conch-roads are the former mail-roads from London 

 bury and Exeter, and to B;ith and Bristol. There are several 

 roads from London to Exeter besides the mail-road. One of these 

 branching from the mail-road at Salisbury passes through Combe- 

 Bisset, and enters Dorsetshire near Woodyates Inn. Another bran li- 

 ing from the mail-road at Audover enters the county at Park House, 

 and runs across Salisbury Plain through Amesbury and Wiutcrbourne- 

 Stoke to Mere, beyond which it enters Somersetshire. The road from 

 London to the Old Passage on the Severn, opposite the mouth of the 

 Wye, branches from the Bath road at Chippenham, and rune by Yatton- 

 Keynell, Castle-Combo, and Nettletou into Gloucestershire. There 

 are several roads from Salisbury, the county town : one runs south 

 by west to Cranbourue, Wiuibourne-Minster, and Poole in Dorsetshire, 

 branching from the road to Exeter (through Blandford, Dorchester, 

 and Honiton) a little beyond Combe-Bisset ; one southward by Downton 

 to Fordingbridge, Lyndhurst, and Christchurch in the New Forest in 

 Hampshire ; two south-east to Southampton one through Bramshaw, 

 the other through Komsey ; two eastward to Winchester one by 

 Komsey, and one (branching from the London and Exeter main-road) 

 through Stockbridge ; and two north-east to Bath and Bristol one 

 through Heytesbury, Wariniuster, Westbury, and Bradford ; the other 

 branching from this at Warminster, and ivjoinin<* it at Bath. 



The main line of the Great Western railway crosses this county in 

 a direction nearly parallel to that of the Wilts and Berks Canal. It 

 enters Wiltshire between the Shrivenlmm and Swimlon stations, the 

 latter of which ig 77 miles from the London terminus, and run 

 south-western direction by Swindon, Chippenliam, Corsham, and Box. 

 The Cheltenham branch quits the main line at Swindon station, and 

 runa in a generally north-western direction towards Stroud, a few 

 miles short of which it quits Wiltshire. Just before it leaves \Vil 

 the Cirencester branch runs off from it, but only two miles of thin 

 branch is in this county. Tho Wilts and Somerset branch quits the 

 main lino near the Chippenham station, south-by-west by Melksham, 

 Trowbridge, and Westbury to Warminster. At the Westbury station 

 a short branch diverges south-west to Frome, of which about three 

 miles are in this couuty. The Salisbury branch of the South-Western 

 railway enters the county at West Dean, and runs thence west-by- 

 north for seven miles to Salisbury, where it terminates. 



Climate, Soil, Agriculture. In an agricultural point of view the 

 county of Wilts may be divided into two districts the first or 

 southern district comprehending all the Wiltshire Downs, with their 

 intersecting valleys, and separated from the northern district by an 

 irregular line running round the foot of the chalk-hills from their 

 entrance into the north-east part of Berkshire to their south-west 

 termination at Maiden Bradley. 



South, or more properly, South-East Wiltshire, contains in round 

 numbers about 600,000 acres of laud. The Downs are an elevated 

 table-land intersected by valleys, which give the surface a broken 

 appearance. These valleys contain rivera and small streams. The 

 soil being generally more fertile there, and the climate milder, culti- 

 vation was originally confined to them, and there most of the villages 

 are situated: the higher and more exposed situations remain as 

 natural pastures for sheep and cattle. The air on the Downs is keen, 

 and healthy to robust constitutions. The valleys, although more 

 sheltered from the sweeping winds from the Atlantic, partake of this 

 keen air, which is drawn along their course in currents. The soil on 

 the Downs varies little, being thin, and uniformly resting on the chalk. 

 It produces excellent short herbage very well suited for sheep-)* 

 It is comparatively a small proportion which has been converted into 

 arable land, and chiefly on the borders of the valleys. As we descend 

 from the Downs into the valleys the soil generally becomes less mixed 

 with flints and of a more loamy nature, in consequence of the 

 washing down portions of the upper soil, of which the fnuT pal 

 are deposited on the sides of the hills, and form what is called white 



