ed by charter of Edward I., confirmed by Henry IV., the municipal corporation consisting of a mayor, recorder, 12 aldermen and burgesses, but the mayor exercises no magisterial authority. It had also a court of requests alternately with Warminster and Trowbridge, now merged in the county court. The parliamentary borough, which is co-extensive with the parish, returned two members to parliament from the reign of Henry VI. till the passing of the Reform Act of 1832, since which time it has returned one only. The Poor-law Union of Westbury and Whorwelsdown contains 10 parishes or places.
The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Salisbury, value £390, with the chapelry of Dilton annexed, in the patronage of the bishop. The mother church of All Saints was built in the later Perpendicular style, and is now undergoing restoration. The interior contains several monuments and tombs of William de Westbury, one of the puisne judges of the Common Pleas, Governor Phipps, and James Ley, Earl of Marlborough. There are, besides several district churches, chapels for Independents, Baptists, and Wesleyans.
An extramural cemetery has recently been formed on the Bratton road, with chapels for Churchmen and Dissenters. There are National, infant, and free schools. The parochial charities produce about £190 per annum. Many Roman coins have been found. The market, now merely nominal, is on Tuesday for pigs only. Fairs are held on the first Friday in Lent, and Whit-Monday for pedlery, and on Easter-Monday and 24th September for horses, cattle, and cheese, but the principal fair is held on Westbury-Hill Down on the first Monday in September, chiefly for sheep."
"DILTON MARSH, a district parish in the parish and hundred of Westbury, in the county of Wilts. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Salisbury, value £150, in the patronage of the bishop. The church has recently been erected."
"FAIR WOOD, a hamlet in the parish and hundred of Westbury, county Wilts, 2 miles E. of Westbury, and 7 N.E. of Frome. John W. Bush, Esq., is lord of the manor."
"HEYWOOD, a village and ecclesiastical district in the parish and hundred of Westbury, county Wilts, 1 mile N. of Westbury, within the limits of which borough it is situated, and 22 miles N.W. of Salisbury. The inhabitants are partly engaged in agriculture and the malt trade, and partly in the woollen manufactures of Westbury. Here is a mineral spring. The living is a perpetual curacy* in the diocese of Salisbury, value £100. The church is comparatively modern. The principal residence is Heywood House, built in the reign of James I., and formerly the seat of the Leys and Phippses."
"LEIGH, a township in the parish and hundred of Westbury, county Wilts, 1 mile S. of Westbury. It is supposed to be Egg-lea of the Saxon Chronicle, where Alfred the Great encamped prior to the battle of Ethandune. At Courtfield in this township was once a Saxon palace. It formerly belonged to the Cobhams and Molins."
[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]