DEVIZES, a market town and municipal borough in the Devizes parliamentary division of Wiltshire, England, 86 m. W. by S. of London by the G.W. railway. Pop. (1931) 6,058. Its castle was built on a tongue of land flanked by two deep ravines, behind which the town grew up on a stretch of bare and exposed table-land. Its main streets, in which a few ancient timbered houses are left, radiate from the market place, where stands a market cross with a remarkable inscription referring to a certain dishonest market transaction in 1753. The Kennet and Avon canal, now practically disused, is raised to two levels of ten towers through a chain of locks. St. John's church, one of the most in teresting in Wiltshire, is cruciform, with a massive central tower and fine Norman chancel, and contains several ancient monuments, besides some beautiful carved stone work and oak ceilings. St. Mary's, a smaller church, is partly Norman, but was rebuilt in the 15th and restored in the 19th century. Roundway Down, on the edge of which the town stands, stretches eastward, and is the site of an ancient British earthwork, besides having yielded other remains. The county general and mental hospitals are situ ated in Devizes, which also has a museum, and is the depot of the Wiltshire regiment. It is an important corn and cattle market, and has engineering works, breweries and manufactures of silk, snuff, tobacco and agricultural implements. Assize courts are held at Devizes, which has its own commission of the peace and court of quarter sessions. The town is governed by a mayor and council.
The construction at Devizes in the reign of Henry I. of a castle of exceptional magnificence by Roger, bishop of Salisbury, at once constituted the town an important political centre, and the name itself is possibly a corruption of the mediaeval Latin referring to the "castle at the boundaries" (ad divisas) . After the disgrace of Roger in 1139 the castle was seized by King Stephen. In the 14th century it formed part of the dowry of the queens of England. Devizes' first charter, from Matilda, confirmed by successive later sovereigns, merely grants exemption from certain tolls and the enjoyment of undisturbed peace. Edward III. added a clause con ferring on the town the liberties of Marlborough, and Richard II. instituted a coroner. A gild merchant was granted by Edward I., Edward II. and Edward III., and in 1614 was divided into the three companies of drapers, mercers and leather-sellers. The present governing charters were issued by James I. and Charles I., the latter being little more than a confirmation of the former, which instituted the common council. Devizes returned two mem bers to parliament from 1295 until deprived of one member in 1867; its representation was merged in that of the county in 1885. See Vict. County Hist., Wiltshire; History of Devizes (Devizes, 1859) .