Wiltshire is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the northeast and Berkshire to the east. The county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the county town of Trowbridge. Within the county's boundary are two unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council.
The Battle of Roundway Down was fought on 13 July 1643 near Devizes, in Wiltshire during the First English Civil War. Despite being outnumbered and exhausted after riding overnight from Oxford, a Royalist cavalry force under Lord Wilmot won a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Army of the West under Sir William Waller.
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between Stephen of England and Empress Matilda, and again during the English Civil War when the Cavaliers lifted the siege at the Battle of Roundway Down. Devizes remained under Royalist control until 1645, when Oliver Cromwell attacked and forced the Royalists to surrender. The castle was destroyed in 1648 on the orders of Parliament, and today little remains of it.
Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, 3 miles (5 km) north-east of Devizes. The parish includes the village of Coate and the hamlets of Bourton, Horton and Little Horton.
Easterton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlets of Easterton Sands and Eastcott.
Rowde is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, on the A342 about 1.7 miles (2.7 km) northwest of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlet of Tanis.
Derry Hill is a village in the English county of Wiltshire, in the civil parish of Calne Without. It has an elevated position at the northern edge of the Bowood House estate, about 3 miles (5 km) south-east of the centre of the town of Chippenham.
Devizes Castle was a medieval fortification in the town of Devizes, Wiltshire, England, on a site now occupied by a Victorian-era castle. It is a Grade I listed building. The original castle was overbuilt by the current structure. Records indicate that the first castle on the site had its origins in about 1080 as an early Norman motte and bailey with wooden pallisade and tower.
Bulkington is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. The village is about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west of Devizes and a similar distance southeast of Melksham.
The Devizes branch line was a railway line from Holt Junction, Wiltshire to Patney and Chirton, Wiltshire, and named after Devizes, the largest town on the line. The branch was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1857, and from 1862 when the Reading-Hungerford line reached Devizes it became part of the shortest route from London to the West Country. Those services were re-routed in 1900, and the line closed in 1966.
Southbroom House is an 18th-century Grade II* listed house in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The house and its grounds were bought by Wiltshire County Council in 1925 for use as a school, and today the house forms part of Devizes School, the town's secondary school.
The Devizes Guardians are a local political party based in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The party was formed in 2001 and has been successful in winning seats on Kennet District Council and Wiltshire Council, but at present is represented only on Devizes Town Council, which from May 2013 it controls.
Devizes railway station was the railway station serving Devizes in Wiltshire, England between 1857 and 1966. The station was on the Devizes branch line, between Pans Lane Halt and Bromham & Rowde.
Pans Lane Halt railway station was a railway station serving the southeast of the town of Devizes in Wiltshire, England, between 1929 and 1966. The station was on the Devizes branch line, between Devizes station and the Reading-Taunton line.
Roundway is a hamlet and former civil parish adjacent to Devizes in the English county of Wiltshire. The hamlet lies about 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) northeast of Devizes town centre.
Green Lane Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in the Wick district of Devizes in Wiltshire, England. It is managed by the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.
Devizes White Horse, officially known as the Devizes Millennium White Horse, is a chalk hill figure of a horse located on Bank Field, an escarpment at Roundway Hill, on the outskirts of the town of Devizes above the hamlet of Roundway, Wiltshire, England; it is about ½ mile north of Roundway. It was cut in 1999 to celebrate the forthcoming third millennium, and is based on a design of another white horse hill figure, which was also known as Devizes White Horse, or sometimes The Snobs Horse, which was very close to the present horse as it was also on Roundway Hill beneath the Oliver's Castle hill fort. Traces of the Snobs Horse can still be seen under the right conditions.
Roundway Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in the parish of Roundway near Devizes, Wiltshire, England. It was originally called the Wiltshire County Lunatic Asylum and later the Wiltshire County Mental Hospital. It opened in 1851 and closed in 1995.
Roundway Park was a 750-hectare (1,584-acre) estate in the former parish of Roundway in the centre of the English county of Wiltshire. The estate was about 1+1⁄4 miles (2 km) northeast of the town of Devizes and included a house, stables, gardens, farmland and woodland. After passing through several owners, the house was demolished in 1955 and the estate has since been divided up into residences and farmland.
