WOOTTON-BASSETT, a parish and borough and market-town, in the hundred of KINGSBRIDGE, county of WILTS, 36 miles (N. by W.) from Salisbury, and 87 (W.) from London, containing 1701 inhabitants. This place, which appears to have been originally of greater importance than it is at present, was, at the time of the Norman Conquest, called Wodeton, from wode, a wood, and tun, a town; about a century after that period it became the property of the noble family of Bassett, from whom it derived the adjunct to its name. It is pleasantly skuated on elevated ground, commanding extensive and pleasingly diversified prospects of the surrounding country, which is extremely fertile and in a high state of cultivation, and consists principally of one street, nearly half a mile in length, neither paved nor lighted, but the inhabitants are amply supplied with water; the houses are in general indifferently built, and of mean appearance. The manufacture of broad cloth, which was formerly carried on here, has entirely ceased, and there is now neither any branch of manufacture, nor trade, beyond what is requisite for the supply of the inhabitants. The Wilts and Berks canal passes within half a mile to the south of the town. The market is on Tuesday; and the fairs, formerly six in number, have been reduced to two, which are held on the Mondays next after the feasts of Pentecost and St. Bartholomew. The town i-eceived its first charter, of incorporation in the reign of Henry VI., under which, renewed by Charles II., in the thirty-first year of his reign, the government is vested in a mayor, two aldermen, and twelve capital burgesses, assisted by a town clerk and subordinate officers. The mayor is annually chosen by the. corporation, who also elect the town clerk; and the inferior officers are appointed by the mayor, who, with the free tenants in the borough, anciently enjoyed the privilege of free common in Fasterne great park, which contained nearly two thousand acres. The borough first exercised the elective franchise in the 25th of Henry VI., since which time it has regularly returned two members to parliament: the right of election is vested in the inhabitant householders paying scot and lot, the number of whom exceeds two hundred: the mayor is the returning officer. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Wilts, and diocese of Salisbury, rated in the king's books at £12, and in the patronage of the Earl of Clarendon. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient structure. In cleaning the southern wall, some years since, a curious painting was discovered, the subject of which was the murder of Thomas a Becket, executed in a rude style. There is a place of worship for Independents. The free school was founded, in 1688, by Richard Jones, and endowed with lands vested in trustees, now producing about £25 per annum; eighteen poor children are taught to read and write; there are also a charity school for girls, and a Sunday school. At a short distance below the town is a mineral spring, possessing the same properties as that of Cheltenham waters, and much used by those residing in the neighbourhood, though not generally known. An ancient hospital, dedicated to St. John, which formerly existed here, was, during the reign of Henry IV., granted and united to the priory of Bradenstoke, in this county; the old manor-house has been converted into a farm-house.