Westbury, Wiltshire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Westbury is a town and civil parish (population 11,135 in the 2001 census) in the west of the English county of Wiltshire. The bury part of the town's name is a form of borough, which has cognates in many languages e.g. German burg, Greek pyrgos; the root carries the idea of hill or fortified town. For a fuller explanation, see borough.

1 Location
2 Features and history
3 Local government
4 Representation in Parliament
- 4.1 Members of Parliament for Westbury
5 Schools
6 Some Natives of Westbury
7 See also
8 External links
9 References

[edit] Location

Westbury is located 12 miles (19 km) south east of the city of Bath and about four miles (6.5 km) south of Trowbridge. Other nearby towns and cities include Bristol, Frome, Salisbury, Swindon, and Warminster. Nearby villages include Bratton, Chapmanslade, Dilton Marsh, North Bradley, Rudge, Standerwick, Semington and Upton Scudamore.

The town is an important junction point on the railway network, as it lies at the point where the main line railway from London to the Exeter and the West Country intersects the cross country line from South Wales, Bristol, Bath and Chippenham to Salisbury, Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton.

[edit] Features and history

The Westbury White Horse.

In the past, Westbury was sometimes known as Westbury-under-the-Plain to distinguish it from other towns of the same name. Westbury is nestled under the north-western bluffs of Salisbury Plain, and it is there that the town's most famous feature can be seen: the Westbury White Horse. It is sometimes claimed locally that the White Horse was first cut into the chalk face as long ago as the year 878, to commemorate the victory of King Alfred the Great over the Danes in the Battle of Eðandun (probably, but not certainly, at the nearby village of Edington). However, scholars believe this to be an invention of the late 18th century, and no evidence has yet been found for the existence of the Westbury White Horse before the 1720s. The form of the current White Horse dates from 1778, when it was restored. In the 1950s it was decided that the horse would be more easily maintained if it were set in concrete and painted white. In recent years, there has been a multitude of calls to clean or paint the "old grey mare" and such a renovation began in May 2006.

The horse's original form may have been quite different from the horse seen today. One 18th century engraving shows the horse facing to the right, but in its current form it faces to the left.

Westbury centres on its historic Market Place, with the churchyard of All Saints' Church (fourteenth century) behind it. All Saints' boasts the third heaviest ring of bells in the world, an Erasmus Bible and a sixteenth century clock with no face constructed by a local blacksmith.

[edit] Local government

The most significant local government functions (including schools, roads, social services, waste disposal and emergency planning) are carried out by Wiltshire County Council. Together with the neighbouring village of Dilton Marsh, Westbury is divided into two county council divisions, each electing one member. At the elections in May 2005, one Independent, Christopher Newbury, and one Conservative, Miss Fleur de Rhé-Philipe, were returned. Prior to 2005, Westbury had elected only one county councillor and had returned Newbury as an Independent since 1997.

The town also falls within the area of West Wiltshire District Council, which deals with housing and leisure services, development control, refuse collection and street cleaning. At the last district elections in 2003, it elected four members, of whom two are Conservatives, one Labour, and one Independent.

Westbury is a civil parish with an elected town council of sixteen members. This has an almost wholly consultative and ceremonial role, and the chairman of the town council has the title of Mayor of Westbury.

[edit] Representation in Parliament

Westbury was formerly a rotten borough, which led to gifts from the owners of the parliamentary borough, including the magnificent Town Hall in the Market Place donated by Sir Manasseh Massey Lopes.

At present the town falls within the Westbury parliamentary constituency and is represented by Andrew Murrison M.P., but as a result of boundary changes it will form part of the new constituency of South West Wiltshire, with effect from the next General Election.

[edit] Members of Parliament for Westbury

Sir Robert Grimston (1931–1964)
Sir Dennis Walters (1964–1992)
David Faber (1992–2001)
Dr Andrew Murrison (2001– )

[edit] Schools

Westbury currently has one secondary school, two primary schools, a junior school and an infants school.

Matravers School

The secondary school, Matravers School, is designated a specialist Arts and Technology college. It has a sixth form offering a range of subjects. It serves both the community of Westbury and several of the surrounding villages, including Chapmanslade, Bratton, Dilton Marsh and Edington.

Westbury Leigh School is a primary school serving mainly the Leigh Park estate.
Bitham Brook School is a primary school mainly serving the western part of the town.
Westbury C of E Junior School serves the central part of the town and takes children from Year 3 to Year 6.
Westbury Infants School is the feeder school for the above and takes children from Reception to Year 2.