HINDON, a borough and market-town and chapelry (parochial),
in the hundred of DOWNTON, though locally
in the hundred of Mere, county of WILTS, 16 miles (W.
by N.) from Salisbury, and 96 (W. S. W.) from London.
This small town consists principally of one street, extending
along a gentle declivity on the great western road from
London to Exeter: a considerable part of it was consumed
by fire in 1754, and at present it contains not more
than about two hundred houses. The manufacture of silk
twist, for which Hindon was formerly noted, has declined,
and is superseded by that of linen, dowlas, and bedticking,
which is principally carried on in the vicinity.
A few women are employed in spinning silk, and at the
head of the Fonthill river, about a mile and a half
distant, is a large establishment for the manufacture of
broad cloth and kerseymere. The market, on Thursday,
was formerly considerable for corn, but it has declined
since the great fire, and the establishment of a corn
market at Warminster; there are fairs on the Monday
before Whitsuntide, for cattle and sheep, and on
October 29th, for horses, cattle, poultry, &c.; a fair is
also held at Berwick Hill, about a mile from the town,
on the 6th of November, for horses and sheep. In the
7th of Richard II., a precept was directed to this borough
to send burgesses to parliament, but no return was
made: it first sent representatives in the 27th of
Henry VI., since which period the returns have been regular.
The right of election is vested in the inhabitant
housekeepers and parishioners not receiving alms, the
number of whom is about one hundred and seventythree.
The bailiff, who is appointed by the Bishop of
Winchester, and is non-resident, is the returning officer.
The petty sessions for the Hindon division are held here
on the first Wednesday in every month. The living is
a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Wilts, and
diocese of Salisbury, endowed by charter of the 6th of
Philip and Mary, renewed in the 19th of George III.,
with land and houses within the borough, producing
about £60 per annum, and £400 parliamentary grant,
and in the patronage of the Crown. The chapel, dedicated
to St. John the Baptist, is a plain turreted modern
edifice, and was repaired in 1814. There is a place of
worship for Independents near the town, without the
precincts of the borough, buildings not being permitted
therein. A school for boys and girls is supported by
Lord Calthorpe. In the vicinity of the town, towards
the north-west, and near the Roman road which leads
to Old Sarum, are Stockton works, occupying an area
of sixty-two acres, and supposed to be the remains of
an ancient British settlement.