Wiltshire

Situated on a hill top some two miles north of the centre of Salisbury, Old Sarum (more correctly, Old Salisbury) consisted, even in the period under review, of no more than a few houses surrounding a royal castle which was already in decay. Although the borough still retained a parish church, its population had so declined that no more than ten residents were available for assessment for the poll tax of 1377. Save only as regards its privilege of returning burgesses to Parliament, Old Sarum was by then little more than a hamlet. Yet it had formerly been of considerable importance.

Situated on the river Kennet, and at the junction of roads from London to Bristol and from Winchester and the south coast to Gloucester, Marlborough was a route centre and the most important town in east Wiltshire. During the period under consideration it ranked about third in size among the numerous Wiltshire boroughs, its taxable population of nearly 550 (including those who lived in the ‘barton’) being exceeded in 1377 only by Salisbury and Wilton.

During the period under review Malmesbury, with its important bridge over the Avon, was easily the largest town in north-west Wiltshire. Its taxable population of 402 in 1377 (only slightly less than that of Marlborough) suggests that it was considerably larger than Devizes or Chippenham and more than twice the size of the neighbouring towns of Calne and Cricklade. In the 13th century Malmesbury had been a local centre of both the leather and the woollen industries.

This is the only Parliament during our period for which returns for Ludgershall exist. An election was held for Henry V’s first Parliament in May 1413, but the names of the Members have been torn off the return.

Situated in east Wiltshire near the border with Berkshire, Great Bedwyn during the period under consideration was the smallest and least important of the Wiltshire boroughs, save only Old Sarum. With a taxable population of only 87 in 1377,VCH Wilts. iv. 309. Only 39 persons contributed to the poll tax of 1379: E179/196/42a. it was, in effect, no more than a medium-sized village, much smaller than the neighbouring towns of Marlborough and Pewsey, and exceeded in size by the decayed borough of Ludgershall.

This is the only Parliament of our period for which the names of Downton’s representatives are recorded. The borough is known to have been required to elect to the Parliaments of 1388, 1402, 1415, 1419, 1420 and 1421 (Dec.), but in every instance no return was made.OR; W. Prynne, Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, iv. 965.

Devizes, or The Vies as it was sometimes known, is in the middle of Wiltshire, about equidistant from Chippenham, Marlborough, Bradford-on-Avon and Warminster. During the period under consideration it was among neither the largest nor the smallest of the Wiltshire boroughs: those of its people who paid poll tax in 1377 numbered just over 300—fewer than at Marlborough or nearby Melksham, more than at Chippenham or Calne.

Cricklade is situated near the Wiltshire border with Gloucestershire, at the point where Ermine Street crossed the Thames on its way from Gloucester and Cirencester to Marlborough, Newbury and further south. During the period under consideration, it ranked among the smaller Wiltshire boroughs, the size of its taxable population in 1377 suggesting that it was then a little larger than Calne, but less than half the size of neighbouring Malmesbury.

Chippenham, situated in west Wiltshire near the borders with Gloucestershire and Somerset, possessed one of the few bridges over the Avon and so became an important local route centre. Though it had apparently been a town of some note in the early part of the 14th century—its contribution to the subsidies of 1334 being larger than that made by any other Wiltshire borough except Salisbury—it seems to have suffered a decline in population in the second half of the century, possibly because of a severe outbreak of the plague.

Calne is situated in the northern half of Wiltshire, on the edge of downland and at the confluence of several small streams which form the river Marden or Calne, a tributary of the Avon. These streams were employed from an early date to work the fulling mills which supplied the town’s staple industry, the manufacture of cloth. Calne was among the smallest of the Wiltshire boroughs, its taxable population of just over 150 in 1377 making it considerably smaller than either Cricklade or nearby Chippenham, and less than half the size of Malmesbury or Devizes.