Westbury, an Overview
The parish Westbury, at 10,000 acres was one of the
largest in Wiltshire. The parish stretched from Heywood to
Dilton and from
Chapmanslade to Bratton. Westbury town was located at the centre, serviced
by springs emanating from the
exposed edge of the Upper Greensand strata which runs underneath the chalk
uplands of Salisbury Plain.
There is no other Westbury in
Wiltshire, but there are
several places of the same name in England, some of them in counties
adjoining Wiltshire: and as it lies under the northern escarpment of Salisbury Plain it used to be called “Westbury under the Plain” to
distinguish it more particularly from Westbury-on-Trym, near
Bristol, and
Westbury-upon-Severn in Gloucestershire, as well as from Westbury, near
Wells, Somerset.
With strong Saxon connections, Westbury is said to have been the location of a royal palace used by the ancient kings of Wessex. Westbury had a hand in the medieval wool and cloth industry, it is also known for leatherwork and glove making. Historic mills and picturesque weaver's cottages can be found throughout the town (I live in one). All Saints Church is noted for its faceless clock dating back to 1604. It also has the third heaviest peel of eight bells in the world.
The Victorian swimming pool, which has to be seen to be believed, was built in 1887 to be used by the local mill workers. It is still in use today, making it the oldest working swimming baths in the country. It is probably the only swimming baths where the most common style is back stroke!
Westbury has had some interesting archeologically finds from the Romano-British age. Collections of coins and pottery from the age are on display at Devizes Museum and a mosaic pavement was found on the Ham in Westbury during the Nineteenth century.
For a more comprehensive history
of the historic town of Westbury (not written by me, lifted from the
Wiltshire County Council
website) click on the word 'History' below. To investigate Westbury by location, click the map to your right.