Visiting Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, UK. Town is ready for Christmas.
Royal Wootton Bassett, formerly Wootton Bassett, is a small market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies 6 miles to the west of the major town of Swindon and 10 miles northeast of Calne.
AD 681 is usually taken as the starting point for recorded history of Wootton Bassett, then known as Wodeton, it being referred to in that year in a Malmesbury Abbey charter granting land to the Abbot.
Archaeological discoveries in the area tend to confirm the tradition that the original "Wodeton" (Settlement in the wood – i.e. in Bradon Forest) was near the present Dunnington Road[citation needed]. Allegedly under continuous occupation throughout Celtic and Romano-British periods, the land was granted in 681 AD to Malmesbury Abbey. Further grants of land nearby appear in the records from time to time, but of Wodeton itself we hear no more until it was sacked by the marauding Danes in 1015, whereupon the survivors decided to move uphill to the site of the present High Street.
Wootton Bassett is mentioned in the Domesday Book where it was noted that Miles Crispin held the rights and these included "land for 12 ploughs...a mill...and 24 acres (9.7 ha) of meadow...33 acres of pasture and woodland which is two leagues by a league". It was said to be worth nine pounds.
Suburbs of Royal Wootton Bassett include Noremarsh, Coped Hall, Woodshaw and Vastern (a small hamlet to the south). Bishop Fowley is shown on Andrews' and Dury's Map of Wiltshire, 1810[8] as being an outlying hamlet southwest of the town; the location is now known as Vowley Farm.[9]
Wootton Bassett Mud Spring is a 8,000 m2 (86,000 sq ft) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, which was notified in 1997.
The town has always been a market town, and hence with many trades associated with farming and agriculture.
In 1908 Wiltshire United Dairies built a dairy and creamery in the town. Merged in 1916 to form United Dairies, in 1931 a private siding was opened from Wootton Bassett Junction railway station to allow milk trains to service the plant. Merged into Unigate in 1958, the plant became a key production site for the St Ivel Shape brand yoghurts, before being sold to Danone for £32m. The factory consequently closed in February 2003.[14] The site was sold for £19m in August 2004, and the factory demolished in June 2005. It was redeveloped as the Beaufort Park housing estate.
Driving on A3102, Swindon Road, High Street, Bath Road.
Video quality: 4K, 3840x2160, 30fps
Camera: iPhone 12 Pro Max
