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Wiltshire county
Introduction
Equerry Homesearch have provided property search services throughout Wiltshire since September 2000.
It is a large southern county covering 3476 km² and bordering the counties of Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Its county town is Trowbridge, with other significantly-sized settlements being Devizes, Marlborough, Salisbury and Swindon. The county was named after the former county town of Wilton and was originally known as Wiltonshire.
The county is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys, of which Salisbury Plain, a vast expanse of semi-wilderness used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges, is the largest. Salisbury Plain is also home to the famous Neolithic site at Stonehenge.
The population of Wiltshire is approximately 620,000.
Interesting Facts & Figures
- In the 17th century English Civil War, Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian.
- The nickname for Wiltshire natives is ‘moonrakers’.
- At a parliamentary level, Wiltshire is represented entirely by Conservative MPs except for the built up area around Swindon which is represented by Labour.
Wiltshire’s key road and rail transit routes
There are good road connections throughout Wiltshire with the M4 motorway running east to west across the county and the A303 taking a slightly more circuitous route some miles south of it.
Travelling by car from Trowbridge to London takes approximately 2 hours 20 minutes and to Birmingham, 70 minutes. Further approximate car journey times are as follows:
| London | Birmingham | |
| Marlborough | 2 hrs 20 mins | 45 mins |
| Swindon | 2 hrs 20 mins | 60 mins |
There are regular rail services through the county.
Wiltshire Schools
Wiltshire has many excellent Independent and State Schools within its boundaries. The better known of the latter are probably Marlborough College and St Mary’s Calne. Equerry has contacts with many of these schools – and can, unofficially, help you with the kind of ‘local view’ that is not always portrayed in a prospectus!
Examples of some of the ISCis-approved Wiltshire schools follow:
- Godolphin Preparatory School, Laverstock Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2RB
- The Godolphin School, Milford Hill, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 1LR
- Marlborough College, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 1PA
- Leaden Hall School, The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2EP
- St Margaret’s Preparatory School, Curzon Street, Calne, Wiltshire SN11 0DF
- St Mary’s School Calne, Calne, Wiltshire SN11 0DF
- Salisbury Cathedral School, I The Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP1 2EQ
- Stonar School, Cottles Park, Atworth, Melksham, Wiltshire SN12 8NT
- Warminster School, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 8PJ
Where to stay and what to do in Wiltshire
By way of entertainment, Wiltshire has plenty of variety to choose from – and more than sufficient for those hoping to send weekend visitors off for the day! There are numerous National Trust properties such as Great Chalfield Manor, an early Tudor, moated manor house; Longleat Safari Park, Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge or, for more extreme ‘entertainment’ there is the city-sized nuclear bunker with accommodation for 4000 people at Burlington.
Wiltshire offers a comprehensive range of three and four star hotels within its boundaries and many excellent pubs. Just a few of which are:
- Woolley Grange Hotel, Woolley Green, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire BZ15 1TX. 01225 864705
- Bishopstrow House Luxury Hotel & Spa, The Wylye Valley, Nr Warminster, Wiltshire.
- Compasses Pub, Chicksgrove, Wiltshire SP3 6NB. 01722 714318
- The Horseshoe, Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire SP5 5JF. 01722 780474
- The Boot Pub, Berwick St James, Wiltshire SP3 4TN. 01722 790243
- The Forester, Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire SP7 9EE. 01747 828038
- The Malet Arms, Newton, Wiltshire SP4 0HF. 01980 629279
- The George & Dragon, Rowde, Wiltshire SN10 2PN. 01380 723053