WILTSHIRE, or WILTS (called by the Anglo-Saxons Wiltonshire, from their capital town, Wilton (q.v.), one of the south-western counties of England, bounded on the w. and n. by Somerset and Gloucester, and on the e. and s. by Berks, Hants, and Dorset 3hire. Area, 859,303 acres; pop. '71, '57,177 The county is divided into two unequ.d parts—the plains in the n., and the bill district, which comprehends the greater part of south Wiltshire; and the separation between these two parts is very nearly that of the main line of the Great Western railway, the course of which across the county is from n.e. to s.w., past Swindon and Chippenham. The plains incline n. to the basin of the Thames, which forms in part the northern boundary, and are noted for their agricultu ral capabilities. The surface of this district is checkered with corn-fields and rich pastures, and here the cheeses for which Wiltshire is favorably known are produced. The hill district (on the chalk) presents ranges of bleak downs, with deep valleys, and is • thinly peopled, much of it consisting of solitary sheep-walks, on which it is estimated 700,000 sheep arc pastured. Inkpeu Beacon, 1011 ft. high, at the junction of Wiltshire, Hampshire, and Berkshire, is the nucleus whence proceed the North and South downs of Surrey and Sussex, and the hills which, running s. through this county, become the North and South downs of Dorsetshire. Agriculture is carried on with the assistance of modern improvements; many swine are reared, and Wiltshire bacon is famous. Port land stone is quarried at Swindon, Tisbury, and in other localities; and a fine 'polite, known as Bath stone, is extensively worked at Box and the neighborhood; and a stone called forest marble yields coarse tiles and flagstones, and often retains in perfect pre servation "the ripple-marks of waves and the footprints of crustaceans." The manu
facture of woven goods, carpets, and other woolen goods, silks and linens, is carried on at Trowbridge, Wilton, Bradford, Devizes, Westbury, etc. There are iron mines and blast-furnaces at Westbury and Scend, and Swindon is one of the greatest railway workshops in the kingdom. The principal rivers are the Thames, with its tributary, the Kennet; the Bristol Avon (which communicates with the Thames and Severn by the Wilts and Berks canal, and again with the former by the Rennet and Avon canal), and the Salisbury Avon, with four tributaries spreading over the whole of south Wilt shire. The county sends four members to the house of commons, and the boroughs 14 more. Before 1832, Wiltshire had 34 members. Capital, Salisbury; but the assizes are held alternately there and at Devizes.
Wiltshire abounds in early and interesting antiquities. Among these may be mentioned its Druidical temples (see AVEBDRY and STONEFLENGE), British intrench ments, roads, and villages, barrows (in which beads, rude axes of stone, arrow-heads of flint, and sometimes articles in gold, brass, or iron, have been found along with the relics of mortality), Saxon encampments, Roman roads and Norman castles, of which there are many remains. Longleat, Wilton, Bowood, Stourhead, and Corsham are the most remarkable modern houses of the nobility.—See History of Ancient Wiltshire, by sir R. C. Hoare.