86-464: The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, northwest of London, covering 660 square miles (1,700 km) across Oxfordshire , Buckinghamshire , Hertfordshire , and Bedfordshire , stretching 45 miles (72 km) from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast. The hills are 12 miles (19 km) at their widest. In 1965, almost half of
172-470: A safari park , and the National Trust 's Stourhead . The county, in the 9th century written as Wiltunscir , is named after the former county town of Wilton . Wiltshire is notable for its pre- Roman archaeology . The Mesolithic , Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps
258-652: A centre at Corsham Court in Corsham , and Oxford Brookes University maintains a minor campus in Swindon (almost 50 km from Oxford). Swindon is the UK's second largest centre of population (after Milton Keynes ) without its own university. Service Children's Education has its headquarters in Trenchard Lines in Upavon , Wiltshire. The county registered a population of 680,137 in
344-459: A few are more recent. A mixture of chalk and mercury can be used as fingerprint powder . However, because of the toxicity of the mercury, the use of such mixtures for fingerprinting was abandoned in 1967. Wiltshire Wiltshire ( / ˈ w ɪ l t . ʃ ər , - ʃ ɪr / ; abbreviated to Wilts ) is a ceremonial county in South West England . It borders Gloucestershire to
430-461: A golden great bustard , which had been extinct in England since 1832 but is now the subject of a breeding programme on Salisbury Plain . It is surrounded by a green and white circle, representing the stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury and also the six surrounding counties. The field consists of alternating green and white stripes, which reference the banner of arms of the council but also represent
516-727: A league record points tally of 103. After Salisbury City went into liquidation in 2014, a new club, Salisbury , was formed in 2015 and will play in the National League South for the 24/25 season. Wiltshire County Cricket Club play in the Minor Counties league. Swindon Robins Speedway team, who competed in the top national division, the SGB Premiership , had been at their track at the Blunsdon Abbey Stadium near Swindon since 1949. In 2020 they stopped racing due to
602-433: A proportion is caused orographically (uplift over hills). Autumn and winter are rainiest, caused by Atlantic depressions, which are then most active. Even so, any month can be the wettest or driest in a given year but the wettest is much more likely to be Oct-Mar, and the driest Apr-Sept. In summer, a greater proportion of the rainfall is caused by sun heating the ground leading to convection and to showers and thunderstorms. It
688-521: A result of elections held in 2021, Wiltshire Council comprises 61 Conservatives , 27 Liberal Democrats , seven Independents and three Labour members. Swindon Borough Council has 34 Conservative councillors and 23 Labour members. Until the 2009 structural changes to local government , Wiltshire (apart from Swindon) was a two-level county, divided into four local government districts – Kennet , North Wiltshire , Salisbury and West Wiltshire – which existed alongside Wiltshire County Council , covering
774-437: A village pond. When confronted by the excise men they raked the surface to conceal the submerged contraband with ripples, and claimed that they were trying to rake in a large round cheese visible in the pond, really a reflection of the full moon. The officials took them for simple yokels or mad and left them alone, allowing them to continue with their illegal activities. Many villages claim the tale for their own village pond, but
860-469: Is Coombe Hill , 260 m (852 ft.) above sea level. The more gently sloping country – the dip slope – to the southeast of the Chiltern scarp is also generally referred to as part of the Chilterns; it contains much beech woodland and many villages. Enclosed fields account for almost 66% of the " Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty " (AONB) area. The next most important, and archetypal, landscape form
946-633: Is mined from chalk deposits both above ground and underground . Chalk mining boomed during the Industrial Revolution , due to the need for chalk products such as quicklime and bricks . Most people first encounter chalk in school where it refers to blackboard chalk , which was originally made of mineral chalk, since it readily crumbles and leaves particles that stick loosely to rough surfaces, allowing it to make writing that can be readily erased. Blackboard chalk manufacturers now may use mineral chalk, other mineral sources of calcium carbonate, or
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#17328373820461032-441: Is woodland , covering 21% of the Chilterns, which is thus one of the most heavily wooded areas in England. Built-up areas (settlements and industry) make up over 5% of the land area; parks and gardens nearly 4%, open land (commons, heaths and downland) is 2%, and the remaining 2% includes a variety of uses, including communications, military, open land, recreation, utilities and water. The Chilterns are almost entirely located within
1118-564: Is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor . Chalk is common throughout Western Europe , where deposits underlie parts of France, and steep cliffs are often seen where they meet the sea in places such as the Dover cliffs on the Kent coast of the English Channel . Chalk
1204-578: Is a more prominent hill, although its altitude is only 249 m (817 ft.). It is the starting point of the Icknield Way Path and the Ridgeway long-distance path , which follows the line of the Chilterns for many miles to the west, where they merge with the Wiltshire downs and southern Cotswolds . To the east of Ivinghoe Beacon is Dunstable Downs, a steep section of the Chiltern scarp. Near Wendover
1290-554: Is also home to a University Technical College , UTC Swindon , specialising in engineering. A second UTC, South Wiltshire UTC , was based in Salisbury but closed in August 2020. Wiltshire is one of the few remaining English counties without a university or university college; the closest university to the county town of Trowbridge is the University of Bath . However, Bath Spa University has
1376-508: Is also the only form of limestone that commonly shows signs of compaction. Flint (a type of chert ) is very common as bands parallel to the bedding or as nodules in seams , or linings to fractures , embedded in chalk. It is probably derived from sponge spicules or other siliceous organisms as water is expelled upwards during compaction. Flint is often deposited around larger fossils such as Echinoidea which may be silicified (i.e. replaced molecule by molecule by flint). Chalk
1462-428: Is applied to the hands and feet to remove perspiration and reduce slipping. Chalk may also be used as a house construction material instead of brick or wattle and daub : quarried chalk was cut into blocks and used as ashlar , or loose chalk was rammed into blocks and laid in mortar. There are still houses standing which have been constructed using chalk as the main building material. Most are pre- Victorian though
1548-439: Is believed to be Brittonic in origin. According to Eilert Ekwall , Chiltern is possibly related to the broader ethnic name Celt ( Celtæ in early Celtic languages ); the root celto- "high" (and suffix -erno- ) could provide the origin of Chiltern . Before the 18th century, the population lived dispersed across the largely rural landscape of the Chilterns in remote villages, hamlets, farmsteads, and market towns along
1634-518: Is commonly used as a drying agent to obtain better grip by gymnasts and rock climbers. Glazing putty mainly contains chalk as a filler in linseed oil . Chalk and other forms of limestone may be used for their properties as a base . Chalk is a source of quicklime by thermal decomposition , or slaked lime following quenching of quicklime with water. In agriculture , chalk is used for raising pH in soils with high acidity . Small doses of chalk can also be used as an antacid . Additionally,
1720-494: Is composed mostly of tiny fragments of the calcite shells or skeletons of plankton , such as foraminifera or coccolithophores . These fragments mostly take the form of calcite plates ranging from 0.5 to 4 microns in size, though about 10% to 25% of a typical chalk is composed of fragments that are 10 to 100 microns in size. The larger fragments include intact plankton skeletons and skeletal fragments of larger organisms, such as molluscs , echinoderms , or bryozoans . Chalk
1806-403: Is distinctive in having a significantly higher number of people in various forms of manufacturing (especially electrical equipment and apparatus, food products, and beverages, furniture, rubber, pharmaceuticals , and plastic goods) than the national average. In addition, there is higher-than-average employment in public administration and defence , due to the military establishments around
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#17328373820461892-493: Is frequent. In the summer the Azores high pressure affects south-west England; however, convective cloud sometimes forms inland, reducing the number of hours of sunshine. Annual sunshine rates are slightly less than the regional average of 1,600 hours. In December 1998, there were 20 days without sun recorded at Yeovilton (Somerset). Most of the rainfall in the south-west is caused by Atlantic depressions or by convection , though
1978-464: Is mined for use in industry, such as for quicklime , bricks and builder's putty , and in agriculture , for raising pH in soils with high acidity . It is also used for " blackboard chalk " for writing and drawing on various types of surfaces, although these can also be manufactured from other carbonate-based minerals, or gypsum . Chalk is a fine-textured, earthy type of limestone distinguished by its light colour, softness, and high porosity. It
2064-571: Is now usually made of talc (magnesium silicate). Chalk beds form important petroleum reservoirs in the North Sea and along the Gulf Coast of North America. In southeast England, deneholes are a notable example of ancient chalk pits. Such bell pits may also mark the sites of ancient flint mines, where the prime object was to remove flint nodules for stone tool manufacture. The surface remains at Cissbury are one such example, but perhaps
2150-532: Is often the northern half of the county that sees most of the showers with south-westerly winds in summer, whereas in the south of the county, the proximity of a relatively cold English Channel often inhibits showers. In autumn and winter, however, the sea is often relatively warm, compared with the air passing over it and can often lead to a higher rainfall in the south of the county (e.g. Salisbury recorded over 200mm of rain in Nov 2009 and January 2014). Average rainfall for
2236-721: Is represented in the Football League by Swindon Town , who play at the County Ground stadium near Swindon town centre. They joined the Football League on the creation of the Third Division in 1920, and have remained in the league ever since. Their most notable achievements include winning the Football League Cup in 1969 and the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1970, two successive promotions in 1986 and 1987 (taking them from
2322-540: Is so common in Cretaceous marine beds that the Cretaceous Period was named for these deposits. The name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta , meaning chalk . Some deposits of chalk were formed after the Cretaceous. The Chalk Group is a European stratigraphic unit deposited during the late Cretaceous Period. It forms the famous White Cliffs of Dover in Kent , England, as well as their counterparts of
2408-401: Is typically almost pure calcite, CaCO 3 , with just 2% to 4% of other minerals. These are usually quartz and clay minerals , though collophane (cryptocrystalline apatite , a phosphate mineral) is also sometimes present, as nodules or as small pellets interpreted as fecal pellets. In some chalk beds, the calcite has been converted to dolomite , CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 , and in a few cases
2494-408: The 2011 Census . Wiltshire (outside Swindon) has a low population density of 1.4 persons per hectare, when compared against 4.1 for England as a whole. Historical population of Wiltshire county: At the 2016 European Union membership referendum , Wiltshire voted in favour of Brexit . Wiltshire is represented by eight Parliamentary constituencies . Seven are entirely within the county, while
2580-723: The Cap Blanc Nez on the other side of the Dover Strait . The Champagne region of France is mostly underlain by chalk deposits, which contain artificial caves used for wine storage . Some of the highest chalk cliffs in the world occur at Jasmund National Park in Germany and at Møns Klint in Denmark . Chalk deposits are also found in Cretaceous beds on other continents, such as the Austin Chalk , Selma Group , and Niobrara Formations of
2666-704: The Dorset Downs in the west to Dover in the east. The largest area of chalk in Wiltshire is Salisbury Plain , which is used mainly for arable agriculture and by the British Army as training ranges. The highest point in the county is the Tan Hill – Milk Hill ridge in the Pewsey Vale , just to the north of Salisbury Plain, at 295 m (968 ft) above sea level. The chalk uplands run north-east into West Berkshire in
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2752-581: The Florentine and Flemish markets in the 13th and 14th centuries. In the 17th century, English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian . The Battle of Roundway Down , a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes . In 1794, it was decided at a meeting at the Bear Inn in Devizes to raise a body of ten independent troops of Yeomanry for the county of Wiltshire, which formed the basis for what would become
2838-838: The Fourth Division to the Second ), promotion to the Premier League as Division One play-off winners in 1993 (as inaugural members), the Division Two title in 1996, and their promotion to League One in 2007 after finishing third in League Two . Chippenham Town is the area's highest-ranked non-league football club; they currently play in the National League South after winning the Southern Premier League in 2016/17, with
2924-778: The House of Commons of the United Kingdom , who are prohibited from resigning their seats directly, may apply for the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds as a device to enable their departure from the House. Hills in The Chilterns more than 200 metres in elevation and with more than 30 metres of topographic prominence are listed from southwest to northeast. Chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous , sedimentary carbonate rock . It
3010-747: The London to Aylesbury Line via Amersham , the West Coast Main Line via Berkhamsted , and the Midland Main Line all run through the Chiltern Hills. The Great Western Main Line and its branches such as the Henley and Marlow branch lines link the southern side of the Chilterns with London Paddington . The Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway is a preserved line. High Speed 2 (HS2) will pass underneath
3096-598: The Marlborough Downs ridge, and south-west into Dorset as Cranborne Chase . Cranborne Chase, which straddles the border, has, like Salisbury Plain, yielded much Stone Age and Bronze Age archaeology . The Marlborough Downs are part of the North Wessex Downs AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), a 1,730 km (670-square-mile) conservation area. In the north-west of the county, on the border with South Gloucestershire and Bath and North East Somerset ,
3182-942: The River Thames drainage basin , and also drain towards several major Thames tributaries, most notably the Lea , which rises in the eastern Chilterns, the Colne to the south, and the Thame to the north and west. Other rivers arising near the Chilterns include the Mimram , the Ver , the Gade , the Bulbourne , the Chess , the Misbourne and the Wye . These are classified as chalk streams , although
3268-514: The River Thames , there are no navigable rivers. The Grand Union Canal passes through the Chilterns between Berkhamsted and Marsworth following the course of the Gade and Bulbourne . Also, after crossing a watershed, the Ouzel is partly in the Chilterns. During the Iron Age , the Chiltern ridge provided a relatively safe and easily navigable route across southern Britain. The toponym , Chiltern ,
3354-712: The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry , who served with distinction both at home and abroad, during the Boer War , World War I and World War II. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry lives on as Y (RWY) Squadron, based in Swindon, and B (RWY) Squadron, based in Salisbury, of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry . Around 1800, the Kennet and Avon Canal was built through Wiltshire, providing a route for transporting cargoes from Bristol to London until
3440-709: The South Cotswolds constituency extends into southern parts of Gloucestershire. At the 2024 general election , the Conservatives won three seats ( East Wiltshire , Salisbury , and South West Wiltshire ); Labour two ( Swindon North and Swindon South ); and the Liberal Democrats three ( Chippenham , Melksham and Devizes , and South Cotswolds). The ceremonial county of Wiltshire consists of two unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council . As
3526-661: The Vale of Aylesbury and roughly coincides with the southernmost extent of the ice sheet during the Anglian glacial maximum . The Chilterns are part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England, formed between 65 and 95 million years ago, comprising rocks of the Chalk Group ; this also includes Salisbury Plain , Cranborne Chase , the Isle of Wight and the South Downs in
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3612-511: The Weald Basin of southern England, underwent structural inversion . This phase of deformation tilted the chalk strata to the southeast in the area of the Chiltern Hills. The gently dipping beds of rock were eroded , forming an escarpment. The chalk strata are frequently interspersed with layers of flint nodules which apparently replaced chalk and infilled pore spaces early in the diagenetic history. Flint has been mined for millennia from
3698-500: The " M4 corridor effect", which attracts business, and the attractiveness of its countryside, towns and villages. The northern part of the county is richer than the southern part, particularly since Swindon is home to national and international corporations such as Intel , Motorola , Patheon , Catalent (formerly known as Cardinal Health ), Becton-Dickinson , WHSmith , Early Learning Centre and Nationwide , with Dyson located in nearby Malmesbury . Wiltshire's employment structure
3784-557: The AONB. Third, to publish and promote the implementation of a management plan for the AONB. In contrast to National Parks , The Chilterns – as other AONBs – do not possess their own planning authority . The Board has an advisory role on planning and development matters and seeks to influence the actions of local government by commenting upon planning applications . The local authorities (two County Councils, three Unitary Authorities and four District and Borough Councils) are expected to respect
3870-518: The Chiltern AONB area. The Board's purposes are set out in Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 : In summary these are:- First, to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the AONB, and increase the understanding and enjoyment by the public of the special qualities of the AONB. Second, while taking account of the first purpose, to foster the economic and social wellbeing of local communities within
3956-536: The Chiltern Hills. They were first extracted for fabrication into flint axes in the Neolithic period, then for knapping into flintlocks . Nodules are to be seen everywhere in the older houses as a construction material for walls. The highest point is at 267 m (876 ft.) above sea level at Haddington Hill near Wendover in Buckinghamshire; a stone monument marks the summit . The nearby Ivinghoe Beacon
4042-400: The Chilterns in the Chiltern tunnel . This tunnel, the longest under construction on the HS2 route, will be 16 km (9.9 miles) in length. The Conservation Board has made clear it was opposed to the routing of HS2 through the Chilterns AONB. Bus services are provided by Arriva Shires & Essex and Carousel Buses . Air corridors from Luton Airport pass over the Chilterns. Apart from
4128-406: The Chilterns was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The northwest boundary is clearly defined by the escarpment . The dip slope is by definition more gradual, and merges with the landscape to the southeast. The southwest endpoint is the River Thames . The hills decline slowly in prominence in northeast Bedfordshire. The chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills overlooks
4214-436: The Chilterns, including long-distance trackways such as the Icknield Way and The Ridgeway . The M40 motorway passes through the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire sections with a deep cutting through the Stokenchurch Gap . The M1 motorway crosses the Bedfordshire section near Luton . Other major roads include the A41 and the A413 . The Chiltern Main Line Railway via High Wycombe and Princes Risborough ,
4300-405: The Covid-19 Pandemic and subsequently announced in 2022 that they would not be returning. Swindon Wildcats compete in the English Premier Ice Hockey League , the second tier of British ice hockey, and play their home games at Swindon's Link Centre . A flag to represent Wiltshire, the "Bustard Flag", was approved by a full meeting of Wiltshire Council on 1 December 2009. It depicts in the centre
4386-507: The Lea is degraded by water from road drains and sewage treatment works. The Thames flows through a gap between the Berkshire Downs and the Chilterns. Portions around Leighton Buzzard and Hitchin are drained by the Ouzel , the Flit and the Hiz , all of which ultimately flow into the River Great Ouse (the last two via the Ivel ). Several transport routes pass through the Chilterns in natural or human-made corridors. There are also over 2,000 km (1,200 mi) of public footpaths in
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#17328373820464472-403: The New Forest is a national park . Salisbury Plain is noted for the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles , which together are a UNESCO World Heritage Site , and other ancient landmarks. Much of the plain is a training area for the British Army . The city of Salisbury is notable for its medieval cathedral . Large country houses open to the public include Longleat , where there is also
4558-418: The North American interior. Chalk is also found in western Egypt (Khoman Formation) and western Australia ( Miria Formation ). Chalk of Oligocene to Neogene age has been found in drill cores of rock under the Pacific Ocean at Stewart Arch in the Solomon Islands . There are layers of chalk, containing Globorotalia , in the Nicosia Formation of Cyprus , which formed during the Pliocene . Chalk
4644-823: The UK average in 1998, and was only marginally above the rate for South West England. Wiltshire has 30 county secondary schools, publicly funded, of which the largest is Warminster Kingdown , and eleven private secondaries, including Marlborough College , St Mary's Calne , Dauntsey's near Devizes , and Warminster School . The county schools are nearly all comprehensives , with the older pattern of education surviving only in Salisbury , which has two grammar schools ( South Wilts Grammar School and Bishop Wordsworth's School ) and three non-selective schools. There are four further education colleges, which also provide some higher education: New College (Swindon); Wiltshire College (Chippenham, Trowbridge and Salisbury); Salisbury Sixth Form College ; and Swindon College . Wiltshire
4730-479: The area's status as a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Examples of historical architecture in the Chiltern region are preserved at the Chiltern Open Air Museum near Chalfont St Giles . This open-air folk museum contains reconstructed buildings which might otherwise have been destroyed or demolished as a result of redevelopment or road construction. The Chilterns include the Chiltern Hundreds . By established custom, Members of Parliament (MPs) in
4816-705: The chalk and grass of the county's downlands. The white can also represent peace, and the green joy, hope or safety. The flag has been registered in the flag registry of the vexillological charity the Flag Institute . Wiltshire has twenty-one towns and one city : A list of settlements is at List of places in Wiltshire . Local TV coverage is covered by BBC West and ITV West Country ; however, Swindon and Salisbury receive BBC South and ITV Meridian . The county's local radio stations are BBC Radio Wiltshire , Heart West , Greatest Hits Radio South West and Greatest Hits Radio South (covering Salisbury and surrounding areas). County-wide local newspapers are
4902-485: The chalk aquifer is exploited via a network of pumping stations to provide a public supply for domestic consumption, agriculture and business uses, both within and well-beyond the Chilterns area. Over-exploitation has possibly led to the disappearance of some streams over long periods. In a region without building stone, local clay provided the raw materials for brick manufacture. Timber and flint were also used for construction. Mediaeval strip parishes reflected
4988-548: The chalk came mostly form low-magnesium calcite skeletons, so the sediments were already in the form of highly stable low-magnesium calcite when deposited. This is in contrast with most other limestones, which formed from high-magnesium calcite or aragonite that rapidly converted to the more stable low-magnesium calcite after deposition, resulting in the early cementation of such limestones. In chalk, absence of this calcium carbonate conversion process prevented early cementation, which partially accounts for chalk's high porosity. Chalk
5074-416: The chalk into Greensand and Oxford Clay in the centre of the county. In the south west of the county is the Vale of Wardour . The south-east of the county lies on the sandy soils of the northernmost area of the New Forest . Chalk is a porous rock, so the chalk hills have little surface water. The main settlements in the county are therefore situated at wet points. Notably, Salisbury is situated between
5160-433: The chalk of Salisbury Plain and marshy flood plains. The county has a green belt mainly along its western fringes as a part of the extensive Avon Green Belt . It reaches as far as the outskirts of Rudloe/ Corsham and Trowbridge, preventing urban sprawl particularly from the latter in the direction of Bradford-on-Avon , and affording further protection to surrounding villages and towns from Bath in Somerset. Along with
5246-506: The county is around 800 mm (31 in), drier parts averaging 700mm (28ins)and the wettest 900mm (around 35ins). About 8–15 days of snowfall is typical. November to March have the highest mean wind speeds, and June to August have the lightest winds. The predominant wind direction is from the south-west. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added (GVA) of Wiltshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling. The Wiltshire economy benefits from
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#17328373820465332-579: The county, particularly around Amesbury and Corsham . There are sizeable British Army barracks at Tidworth , Bulford and Warminster , and the Royal School of Artillery is at Larkhill. Further north, RAF Lyneham was home to the RAF's Hercules C130 fleet until 2011; the MoD Lyneham site is now a centre for Army technical training. Wiltshire is also distinctive for the high proportion of its working-age population who are economically active (86.6% in 1999–2000) and its low unemployment rates . The gross domestic product (GDP) level in Wiltshire did not reach
5418-416: The county. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown and the church. At the time of the Domesday Survey , the industry of Wiltshire was largely agricultural; 390 mills are mentioned, and vineyards at Tollard and Lacock. In the succeeding centuries sheep-farming was vigorously pursued, and the Cistercian monastery of Stanley exported wool to
5504-479: The development of the Great Western Railway . Information on the 261 civil parishes of Wiltshire is available at Wiltshire Council's Wiltshire Community History website which has maps, demographic data, historic and modern pictures and short histories. The local nickname for Wiltshire natives is " Moonrakers ". This originated from a story of smugglers who managed to foil the local Excise men by hiding their alcohol, possibly French brandy in barrels or kegs, in
5590-489: The diversity of land from clay farmland , through wooded slopes to downland. Their boundaries were often drawn to include a section of each type of land, resulting in an irregular county boundary. These have tended to be smoothed out by successive reorganisations. As people have come to appreciate the open country, the area has become a visitor destination and the National Trust has acquired land to preserve its character, for example at Ashridge , near Tring . In places, with
5676-421: The dolomitized chalk has been dedolomitized back to calcite. Chalk is highly porous, with typical values of porosity ranging from 35 to 47 per cent. While it is similar in appearance to both gypsum and diatomite , chalk is identifiable by its hardness, fossil content, and its reaction to acid (it produces effervescence on contact). In Western Europe, chalk was formed in the Late Cretaceous Epoch and
5762-406: The downs from Salisbury Plain in the centre of the county. The south-west is also downland, and contains the West Wiltshire Downs , the Vale of Wardour to their south, and part of Cranborne Chase in the far south of the county. The north-west of Wiltshire is part of the Cotswolds , a limestone area. The county's two major rivers are both called the Avon; the northern Avon enters the county in
5848-437: The early Palaeocene Epoch (between 100 and 61 million years ago). It was deposited on extensive continental shelves at depths between 100 and 600 metres (330 and 1,970 ft), during a time of nonseasonal (likely arid) climate that reduced the amount of erosion from nearby exposed rock. The lack of nearby erosion explains the high purity of chalk. The coccolithophores, foraminifera, and other microscopic organisms from which
5934-487: The exceptionally high sea level. The formation is thinner through the Chiltern Hills than the chalk strata to the north and south and deposition was tectonically controlled, with the Lilley Bottom structure playing a significant role at times. The Chalk Group, like the underlying Gault Clay and Upper Greensand , is diachronous . During the late stages of the Alpine Orogeny , as the African Plate collided with Eurasian Plate , Mesozoic extensional structures, such as
6020-444: The government confirmed that the landscape qualities of AONBs are equivalent to those of National Parks, and that the protection given to both types of area by the land use planning system should also be equivalent. The Chilterns Conservation Board was established by Parliamentary Order in July 2004. It is an independent body comprising 27 members drawn from the relevant local authorities and from those living in local communities within
6106-424: The largest settlements are the city of Salisbury (41,820) and the towns of Chippenham (37,548) and Trowbridge (37,169). For local government purposes the county comprises two unitary authority areas, Swindon and Wiltshire . Undulating chalk downlands characterize much of the county. In the east are Marlborough Downs , which contain Savernake Forest . To the south is the Vale of Pewsey , which separates
6192-409: The main turnpike routes which coursed through the navigable valleys. The development of canals in the 18th century and railways in the 19th century encouraged settlement and the growth of High Wycombe , Tring , and Luton . Significant housing and industrial development took place in the first half of the 20th century and continued throughout the 20th century. In 1965 almost half of the Chiltern Hills
6278-528: The mineral gypsum ( calcium sulfate ). While gypsum-based blackboard chalk is the lowest cost to produce, and thus widely used in the developing world , use of carbonate-based chalk produces larger particles and thus less dust, and it is marketed as "dustless chalk". Coloured chalks, pastel chalks, and sidewalk chalk (shaped into larger sticks and often coloured), used to draw on sidewalks , streets, and driveways , are primarily made of gypsum rather than calcium carbonate chalk. Magnesium carbonate chalk
6364-504: The most famous Neolithic sites in the UK. In the 6th and 7th centuries Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin , a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga , and King Wulfhere of Mercia . In 878 the Danes invaded
6450-557: The most famous is the extensive complex at Grimes Graves in Norfolk . Chalk was traditionally used in recreation. In field sports, such as tennis played on grass, powdered chalk was used to mark the boundary lines of the playing field or court. If a ball hits the line, a cloud of chalk or pigment dust will be visible. In recent years, powdered chalk has been replaced with titanium dioxide . In gymnastics, rock-climbing, weightlifting and tug of war , chalk — now usually magnesium carbonate —
6536-426: The north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to the west. The largest settlement is Swindon , and Trowbridge is the county town . The county has an area of 3,485 km (1,346 square miles) and a population of 720,060. The county is mostly rural, and the centre and south-west are sparsely populated. After Swindon (183,638),
6622-603: The north-west and flows in a south-westerly direction before leaving it near Bradford-on-Avon , and the southern Avon rises on Salisbury Plain and flows through Salisbury, then into Hampshire. The far south-east contains part of the New Forest . Much of the county is protected: the Marlborough Downs; West Wiltshire Downs, Vale of Wardour, and Cranbourne Chase; and the Cotswolds are all part of designated national landscapes , and
6708-787: The reduction of sheep grazing , action has been taken to maintain open downland by suppressing the natural growth of scrub and birch woodland. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Youth Hostels Association established several youth hostels for people visiting the hills. The hills have been used as a location for telecommunication relay stations such as Stokenchurch BT Tower and that at Zouches Farm . The Chilterns are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and so enjoys special protection from major developments, which should not take place in such areas except in exceptional circumstances. This protection applies to major development proposals that raise issues of national significance. In 2000
6794-590: The rest of South West England , Wiltshire has a temperate climate which is generally wetter and milder than counties further east. The annual mean temperature is approximately 10 °C (50.0 °F). Although there is a marked maritime influence, this is generally rather less pronounced than it is for other south-western counties, which are closer to the sea. July and August are the warmest months with mean daily maxima of approximately 22 °C (71.6 °F). In winter mean minimum temperatures of 1 °C (33.8 °F) or 2 °C (35.6 °F) are usual and air frost
6880-459: The same area and carrying out more strategic tasks, such as education and county roads. However, on 1 April 2009 these five local authorities were merged into a single unitary authority called Wiltshire Council. With the abolition of the District of Salisbury, a new Salisbury City Council was created at the same time to carry out several citywide functions and to hold the city's charter. The county
6966-436: The small particles of chalk make it a substance ideal for cleaning and polishing. For example, toothpaste commonly contains small amounts of chalk, which serves as a mild abrasive . Polishing chalk is chalk prepared with a carefully controlled grain size, for very fine polishing of metals. French chalk (also known as tailor's chalk) is traditionally a hard chalk used to make temporary markings on cloth, mainly by tailors . It
7052-742: The south. In the north, the chalk formations continue northeastwards across Hertfordshire , Norfolk and the Lincolnshire Wolds , finally ending as the Yorkshire Wolds in a prominent escarpment, south of the Vale of Pickering . The beds of the Chalk Group were deposited over the buried northwestern margin of the Anglo-Brabant Massif during the Late Cretaceous . During this time, sources for siliciclastic sediment had been eliminated due to
7138-450: The story is most commonly linked with The Crammer in Devizes . Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a mostly rural county, lies on chalk , a kind of soft, white, porous limestone that is resistant to erosion, giving it a high chalk downland landscape. This chalk is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and stretching from
7224-620: The underlying rock is the resistant oolite limestone of the Cotswolds . Part of the Cotswolds AONB is also in Wiltshire, in the county's north-western corner. Between the areas of chalk and limestone downland are clay valleys and vales . The largest of these vales is the Avon Vale . The Avon cuts diagonally through the north of the county, flowing through Bradford-on-Avon and into Bath and Bristol . The Vale of Pewsey has been cut through
7310-519: Was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The western edge of the Chilterns is notable for ancient strip parishes , elongated parishes with villages in the flatter land below the escarpment, and woodland and summer pastures in the higher land. The hills have been used for their natural resources for millennia . The chalk has been quarried for the manufacture of cement, and flint for local building material. Beechwoods supplied furniture makers with quality hardwood . The area
7396-506: Was once (and still is to a lesser degree) renowned for its chair-making industry, centred on the towns of Chesham and High Wycombe (the nickname of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is the Chairboys). Water was and remains a scarce resource in the Chilterns. Historically it was drawn from the aquifer via ponds , deep wells , occasional springs or bournes and chalk streams and rivers. The River Chess directly supplies watercress beds. Today
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