The county of Wiltshire – named after its former county town of Wilton and in turn the River Wylye – was formed in Saxon times, although the huge number of prehistoric remains (most notably Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge) are testament to its far older settlement. The Normans’ Domesday Survey mentioned 40 hundreds, almost half of which remain barely altered today.

The inhabitants of Wiltshire have always been addicted to industrious rather than warlike pursuits, and the political history of the county is notably peaceable in comparison to many other regions. After the completion of the Domesday Survey, Salisbury was the scene of a great council, in which all the landholders took oaths of allegiance to the king. In the Civil War of the 17th century, Wiltshire actively supported the parliamentary cause; Marlborough was captured for the king in 1642 and the Battle of Roundway Down, a decisive Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes.

At the time of Domesday the industrial pursuits of Wiltshire were almost exclusively agricultural; 390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard Royal and Lacock. In the succeeding centuries sheep farming was vigorously pursued, and two Cistercian monasteries exported wool to the Florentine and Flemish markets in the 13th and 14th centuries. Wiltshire at this time was already reckoned among the chief of the clothing counties, the principal centres of the industry being Bradford-upon-Avon, Malmesbury, Trowbridge, Devizes and Chippenham.

In the 16th century Devizes was noted for its blankets, Warminster had a famous corn market, and cheese was extensively made in north Wiltshire. Amesbury was famous for its tobacco pipe manufacture in the 16th century. The clothing trade went through a period of great depression in the 17th century, partly owing to the constant outbreaks of plague. Linen, cotton, gloves and cutlery were also manufactured in the county, silk at Malmesbury and carpets at Wilton.

In 1794 it was decided at a meeting in Devizes to raise a body of ten independent troops for the county, which formed the basis for what would become the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, who served with distinction during the Boer War and both world wars.

Around 1800 the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until the development of the Great Western Railway. The Swindon Works of the Great Western Railway was one of the largest covered areas in the world, and its remains are among the most significant of Victorian engineering works in the world. Swindon also played a key role in the history of car manufacture.

Census data provided exclusively to this magazine by leading family history website TheGenealogist.co.uk confirms the county’s stable population and agricultural heritage. Between 1841 and 1911 the population only rose from 247,000 to 277,000, and in both years occupations are dominated by agricultural labourers, farmers, cowmen and carters. Carpenters, dressmakers and gardeners also feature highly, as do domestic servants.

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (wshc.org.uk) is in Chippenham and the county museum is in Devizes (wiltshiremuseum.org.uk ). {