Westbury, Wiltshire

Westbury is a town and civil parish in the west of the English county of Wiltshire, most famous for the Westbury White Horse.

Name

The most likely origin of the West- in Westbury is simply that the town is near the western edge of the county of Wiltshire, the bounds of which have been much the same since the Anglo-Saxon period.

The -bury part of the name is a form of borough, which has cognates in many languages, such as the German -burg and the Greek -pyrgos. It carries the idea of a hill or fortified town. For a fuller explanation, see borough. In Wiltshire, -bury often indicates an Iron Age or Bronze Age fortified hill fort, and such a site is to be found immediately above the Westbury White Horse.

Location

Westbury is located 18 miles (29 km) south east of the city of Bath and about 5 miles (7.5 km) south of Trowbridge. Other nearby towns and cities include Bristol, Frome, Salisbury, Swindon and Warminster. Nearby villages include Bratton, Chapmanslade, Dilton Marsh, Edington, North Bradley, Rudge, Standerwick, Semington, West Ashton and Upton Scudamore.

Features and history

In the past, Westbury was sometimes known as Westbury-under-the-Plain...
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