WILTON, a borough (formerly a market town)
and parish, having separate jurisdiction, locally in
the hundred of Branch and Dole, county of WILTS, 3
(W. by N.) from Salisbury, and 85 (W. S. W.)
London, containing, with the tythings of Bulbridge and Ditchampton,
2058 inhabitants. This town, which derives its
name from the river Wily, on which it is situated;
is of great antiquity, and is supposed by Baxter to
have been the Caer-Guilon, or capital of the British
Prince Caroilius, and subsequently a seat of the West
Saxon kings. It was a place of great importance
for several centuries preceding the Norman Conquest,
possessing an eminent religious establishment, and
giving name to the county in which it is situated;
it had also a mint. Wilton is stated by Camden and
other writers to have been originally called Eliandune,
and the scene of a sanguinary battle, fought
between Egbert, King of the West Saxons, and Beorwulf;
the Mercian king, in which the latter was defeated;
but later writers have controverted this opinion, and
the battle is now supposed to have been fought at a
place called Ellendune, situated in another part of the
county. An engagement took place here in 871, between
King Alfred and the Danes, in which the former was
successful, obliging the latter to sue for peace. The
celebrated monastery was commenced, so early as the
year 800, by Wulstan, Earl of Wiltshire, who, having
defeated Ethelmund, the Mercian king, founded a
chantry, or oratory, and repaired the old church of
St. Mary at Wilton, which had been destroyed by the
Danes, and placed in it a college of Secular priests,
to pray for his own soul and that of the martyr Alquimund,
who, returning from banishment, was slain
by command of the usurper Eardulf. About thirty
years after Earl Wulstan's death, his widow Alburga,
sister to King Egbert, induced that monarch to convert
the oratory into a priory of thirteen sisters, of which
she was the first prioress, and hence Egbert has been
commonly reputed its founder. Immediately on granting
peace to the Danes, King Alfred, at the solicitation
of his queen, Ealswitha, built a nunnery on the
site of the palace, and transferred to it the thirteen
sisters of the priory, adding to them an abbess and
twelve nuns; his successors were great benefactors to
this establishment, particularly Edgar, who enlarged
Henry I., was also educated in it, under her aunt, the
abbess Christina. Early in the tenth century Wilton
became the seat of the diocese of Wiltshire, and continued
so during the lives of eleven successive, bishops,
the last of whom, Hermannus, having been also appointed
to the see of Sherborne, united the two bishopricks,
and removed to Old Sarum/ where he founded
a cathedral, which continued the seat of. the see until
its transfer, in 1217, to Salisbury. - After the Conquest
the town continued to nourish, until the year 1143,
when King Stephen took possession of it, intending to
convert the nunnery into a place of defence; but being
surprised by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, with the troops
of the Empress Matilda, who set fire to the town on
all sides, the king was obliged to flee, leavingbehind
him his troops and baggage. Wilton recovered from
this disaster but in the succeeding, reign it began
to decline, in consequence of the foundation of New
Sarum, or Salisbury, and the change in the direction
of the great western road, which quickly followed. Its
monastic institution, however, continued of importance
until the dissolution, when it was granted to Sir William
Herbert, afterwards Earl of Pembroke, its revenue
being at that time estimated at upwards of £600: a
house of Black friars, and two hospitals, dedicated to
St. Mary Magdalene and St. John, also existed here at
the period of the dissolution. The only historical circumstances
connected with this place, in later times,
are, its having been visited by Queen Elizabeth, in
September 1579, and the residence of the court for a
short time, in October 1603.
The town, consisting principally of one street, is
situated in a broad and fertile valley, near the confluence
of the rivers Nadder and Wily, and is partially paved,
and well supplied with water. The manufacture of carpets,
for which Wilton has been so much celebrated, was
introduced by a former Earl of Pembroke, who brought
over workmen from France for that purpose, being the
first place in England where this manufacture commenced;
though not carried on to the same extent as
formerly, it has latterly been incrrasing, and there are
at present two manufactories, containing about eighty
looms, and employing about three, hundred and fifty
persons: fancy cloth waistcoatings also formed, at one
time, a considerable branch of manufacture, but this
is nearly extinct. The market days were on Wednesday
and Saturday, but, since the decline of the
manufactures, no regular market has been held. The
fairs are on the 4th of May and 12th of September,
the former for cattle and sheep, and the latter one
of the largest sheep fairs in the West of England,
the number sold often exceeding one hundred thousand.
Wilton is a borough by prescription, its ancient
rights and franchises having been confirmed by charters
of various monarchs, from the time of Henry I. to
that of Henry VI.: it is governed by a mayor, recorder,
high steward, five aldermen, and an unlimited number
of burgesses, appointed occasionally by the corporation,
with a town clerk, two Serjeants at mace, and
four constables. The mayor is chosen by the corporation
at large, on the first Thursday after Michaelmasday,
from three persons previously nominated by such
members of the corporation as have served the office
of mayor, and is sworn into office, with the other officers
who are then chosen, on the 13th of October, at
the court leet of the lord of the manor, held at the town
hall, an ancient plain brick building, which was repaired
and improved, about six years since, by the corporation.
The mayor and recorder are justices of the peace, with
exclusive jurisdiction. The borough first sent members
to parliament in the 23rd of Edward I., and has since
done so without interruption: the right of voting is
vested in the members of the corporation, resident or
non-resident, in number at present between forty and
fifty: the mayor is the returning officer. The parliamentary
influence is possessed by the Earl of Pembroke.
The election of members of parliament for the
county takes place here, but the nomination is at Devizes.:
the hustings are erected near the Hare Warren,
a short distance southward of the town.
The living is a rectory, with that of Ditchampton
and the vicarage of Bulbridge united, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Salisbury, rated in the king's
books at £12. 16. 3., and in the patronage of the Earl
of Pembroke. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is
an ancient edifice. The Independents and Methodists
have each a place of worship. The free school, situated
in North-street, was founded in 17Q6, by a Request
of £600 from Walter Dyer; and, in 1716, Richard Uphill
bequeathed £1000 Bank stock, producing £2090,
for its benefit, and for apprenticing poor children. Part
of the money left by Mr. Dyer was invested in the
purchase of the school-house and premises, in 1719,
to which additions have been made, at different times,
by the trustees; and the residue, withthe legacy of
Mr. Uphill, was laid out in an estate at East Knoyle,
the rental of which is appropriated to the school, which
is also entitled to the interest of £1000, part of a sum
of £4200 three per cent, consols., bequeathed, in 1775,
by Mr. Robert Sumpton, for various purposes. , The
master has a salary of £40 per annum, and a dwelling-
house, and twenty boys of the parish are clothed
and educated, and an apprentice fee of £8. 10. given
with each. Of the remainder of Mr. Sumpton's bequest,
the interest of £1000 isgiven annually, as a marriage
portion, to four young women, and £2000 is appropriated
to the benefit of five poor men, and as many women,
natives of Wilton, or residents for seven years
previously, who receive £6 per annum each, to which
an addition of £2 per annum has been recently made
from a bequest by James Swayne, Esq.: there are also
several minor charitable bequests for annual distribution.
In 1816, Thomas Mease gave to the lord high
steward and corporation of Wilton, on the death of
his wife, £4000 Navy five per cents., directing that the
dividends should be allowed to accumulate for twenty
years after her decease; the accumulations to be applied
in improving the parish church, and the annual
interest of the principal to various charitable purposes.
The hospital of St. John, supposed to have been founded
by Hubert, who was Bishop of Salisbury in 1189,
and Archbishop of Canterbury in 1193, supports a
master, or prior, who is a clergyman, nominated by the
Dean of Salisbury, and two poor men and two womeh,
chosen by the master, who receive an annual pension
of £4. 10. 6., and a suit of clothes: the tenements are
going to decay, and the pensioners are lodged in an
adjoining cottage; the chapel has been recently fitted
up for the performance of divine service. On the site
of the celebrated nunnery, Sir William Herbert, to
whom it was granted, commenced the erection of that
princely pile, now the residence of his descendants, the
Earls of Pembroke: it was designed by Holbein and
Inigo Jones, and contains a collection of paintings, statues,
and various antiquities, not excelled by any in the
kingdom; in this house Sir Philip Sidney composed his
Arcadia; his sister Mary, the celebrated Countess of
Pembroke, being the wife of the earl.