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Wiltshire (pronounced /'w?lt??r/ or /'w?lt???r/; also abbreviated Wilts) is a ceremonial county in the south west of England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon. The county covers 858,931 acres (3,476 km²). Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys. Salisbury Plain is famous as the location of Stonehenge stone circle and other ancient landmarks. The city of Salisbury is notable for its cathedral. The county town is Trowbridge (originally Wilton). The town of Mere in Wiltshire County is famous as the location of Stourhead, one of the most renowned English gardens in all of England's National Trust. The county, formerly "Wiltonshire" or "Wiltunscir" (9th century), is named after the former county town of Wilton (itself named after the river Wylye, one of eight rivers that drain the county). 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 Wessex nobleman who had seized the throne of Queen Saxburga, and King Wulfhere of Mercia.[1] In 878 the Danes invaded the county, and, following the Norman Conquest, large areas of the country came into the possession of the crown and the church.
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