Westbury

Westbury is situated below the vast chalk escarpment on the edge of Salisbury Plain. The parishes of Bratton, Edington, Tinhead and Coulston, Dilton Marsh, Hawkeridge and Heywood surround the town.

The community area spans 73km2 most of which is rural with Westbury town in the centre.

Westbury Community Area has an abundance of wildlife and areas of historical interest. Bratton Camp, close to the White Horse, contains Neolithic remains dating from 3500 B.C. Roman artefacts found around the community area suggest a large amount of Romano-British settlement in the area dating from the 1st to 5th centuries A.D. The area’s richness of wildlife is demonstrated by the number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest, which include Westbury Ironstone Quarry, Upton Cow Down, Bratton Downs, Salisbury Plain, and Picket and Clanger Woods.

The community area is home to the famous Westbury White Horse, which is carved into the chalk escarpment overlooking the town. Westbury boasts a Georgian market square and some fine Victorian buildings. For a smaller town, Westbury has good rail links to other parts of the country, being on the Bristol line and having express trains from London to the West Country stop here.

Westbury is a significant commercial and industrial centre due to the major West Wiltshire Trading Estate and adjacent Northacre Industrial Estate, which help provide employment to a growing population, drawn into the community area by a number of new housing developments on the edge of the town. In addition to this, there are several smaller estates on the northern side of the town.