Salisbury is the nearest major city, located at a distance of 13 km from Stonehenge and is also known as cathedral city in Wiltshire, England, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder, Ebble, Wylye and Bourne. Wiltshire is a county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the county town of Trowbridge. Within the county’s boundary are two unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council. Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys. Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its medieval cathedral. Important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trust’s Stourhead, near Mere. Two-thirds of Wiltshire, a mostly rural county, lies on chalk, a kind of soft, white, porous limestone that is resistant to erosion, giving it a high chalk downland landscape. The county has a green belt mainly along its western fringes as a part of the extensive Avon Green Belt. It reaches as far as the outskirts of Rudloe/Corsham and Trowbridge, preventing urban sprawl particularly from the latter in the direction of Bradford-on-Avon, and affording further protection to surrounding villages and towns from Bath in Somerset.
History: Wiltshire is notable for its pre-Roman archaeology. The Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age people that occupied southern Britain built settlements on the hills and downland that cover Wiltshire. Stonehenge and Avebury are perhaps the most famous Neolithic sites in the UK. In the 6th and 7th centuries, Wiltshire was at the western edge of Saxon Britain, as Cranborne Chase and the Somerset Levels prevented the advance to the west. The Battle of Bedwyn was fought in 675 between Escuin, a West Saxon nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, and King Wulfhere of Mercia. In 878 the Danes invaded the county. Following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown and the church.
In the 17th century, English Civil War Wiltshire was largely Parliamentarian. The Battle of Roundway Down, a Royalist victory, was fought near Devizes. In 1794 it was decided at a meeting at the Bear Inn in Devizes to raise a body of ten independent troops of Yeomanry for the county of Wiltshire, which formed the basis for what would become the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, who served with distinction both at home and abroad, during the Boer War, World War I and World War II. The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry currently lives on as Y (RWY) Squadron, based in Swindon, and B (RWY) Squadron, based in Salisbury, of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.
*(All the above information are from Wikipedia.)
Transport:
Airport: Airports with proper domestic and international connectivity near Wiltshire are Bournemouth Airport, Bristol Airport, Bristol Filton Airport, Cardiff Airport, Exeter Airport, Gloucestershire Airport, London Oxford Airport, London Heathrow Airport and Southampton Airport.
Rail: There are three main rail routes that pass through Wiltshire – Great Western Main Line, Wessex Main Line, West of England line. The major junction stations are Salisbury and Westbury.
Road: Roads running through Wiltshire include The Ridgeway, an ancient route, and Roman roads the Fosse Way, London to Bath road and Ermin Way. National Cycle Route 4 and the Thames Path, a modern long-distance footpath, run through the county.
Tourist Interest:
Salisbury: Known as the cathedral city, Salisbury is beautifully located in a valley. The Salisbury Cathedral, Cathedral Close, Old City Centre, Arundells and Old Sarum are the major attractions here.
The other places of attraction in Wiltshire are Stonehenge, Amesbury, Devizes, Bradford and many more.