Westbury Timeline

Artefacts found suggest transient movement rather than permanent occupation in the area

Earliest evidence of occupation around Westbury at this time

A pottery kiln site at Wellhead, villas at Chalcot and Storridge and pots at the Ham provide evidence of Roman occupation

Land held by Edith, wife of King Edward the Confessor

A royal manor held by William I. Domesday Book records an estate of approx. 5,000 acres including local villages. Population approx. 600 including 9 beekeepers, 29 pigmen and an unspecified number of potters. There were 6 mills and a church

Church given by Henry I to Salisbury Cathedral

Fulling mill in existence at Brook

A weekly market granted to be held on Fridays and also an annual fair to be held on 1 November. These form the basis for a trading centre created by the establishment of a borough supported by burgages, properties whose occupants enjoy trading privileges in the market and have the sole right to vote for members of parliament

A Tuesday market and 6-day fair granted

It is believed that All Saints Church dates from this time on the site of both a Saxon and a Norman church

All Saints church extensively rebuilt

A corn mill in existence on Bitham Brook

From this time 2 MPs are returned to Parliament

By this time a Borough Court is meeting

A Thursday market and 3 annual fairs are granted

Westbury becomes the centre of the cloth industry in the region

Angel Hotel in Church Street built

The town has a mayor by this time

A fulling mill in existence at Bitham

Silver seal presented to the borough

A guildhall and court house in existence

The clock in the tower of All Saints Church dates from this time. It is wound daily

There is an outbreak of plague in the town

Fire in the town causes over £1,000 damage; a peal of six bells installed in All Saints Church

Fulling mill in existence at Chalford

Civil War - Parliamentarian forces quartered for free in the town for a month

Congregational Church founded by Philip Hunton; Baptist Church at Westbury Leigh founded

Anabaptists meeting at the house of Roger Cutter

Philip Hunton licensed to preach as a Congregationalist in his own house

Congregational Meeting House built

White Horse cut as an outline only

Congregational Meeting House destroyed by fire and rebuilt

Baptist Chapel at Westbury Leigh built

Earliest reference to a post office at the King's Arms in Market Place

John Wesley first preaches in Westbury

A division in the Congregational Church results in the formation of the Upper Meeting

Lord Abingdon Arms in existence, possibly on the site of the C16th inn St.George and the Dragon

Workhouse built at Gooseland, Eden Vale Road

By this time there are 61 burgages in the town

Earliest reference to a fire-fighting service in the town

White Horse re-carved

There are 15 clothiers in the town

Indigo Mill and dyehouse at Eden Vale producing the blue dye used in the woollen industry up until the mid 19th century

Baptist Chapel rebuilt on site of existing chapel at Westbury Leigh

Boyer's Mill built

Leighton House built by Thomas Henry Hele Phipps

Factory using water power built at Bitham Mill

Methodist Church built in Warminster Road

Lord Abingdon Arms renamed the Lopes Arms; Angel Mill, a woollen mill for steam driven machines, built by John Matravers

Westbury and Whorwellsdown Union Workhouse built on site of existing workhouse

British Boy's School opened in the Old Athaneum, Bratton Road with a bequest from John Matravers

Market Hall presented to the town by Sir Manesseh Massey Lopes

Schoolroom built at Westbury Leigh Baptist Church

Congregational Chapel rebuilt at a cost of £2,000; William Boulton establishes a gloving works in Westbury Leigh

Baptist Church built at Cook's Stile Meeting House

William Cobbett visits the town and in his Rural Rides describes Westbury as a \"nasty, odious, rotten borough, a really rotten place\" where the cloth mills seem \"ready to tumble down as well as many of the houses\"

Bitham Mill converted to steam power and a new extension added

There are 6 malt houses in the area

From this time only 1 MP returned to Parliament

Committee formed to consider a scheme for lighting the town by gas

Working Men's Association founded

British Girl's School in Lower Road opened

Angel Mill converted to a flour mill

Church of England Day School (Newtown School) built at corner of Newtown and Bratton Road; extensive restoration work to All Saints church undertaken

The post office is in Maristow Street by this time; railway station opened and line brought to Westbury from Thingley Junction near Chippenham

Railway line from Westbury to Frome opened as first stage of route to Weymouth

Angel Mill restored to a woollen mill and a new wing added

A schoolroom added to the Baptist Church

Great Western Iron Ore Smelting Company founded to exploit the iron ore beds to the north of the town; cemetery opened with 2 chapels - an Anglican chapel and one for dissenters

First bank in Westbury, the North Wilts Banking Co., opened

A new building opened at Newtown School for girls and infants

New buildings added to Bitham Mill

Town Mill destroyed by fire causing £20,000 worth of damage; town fire brigade, with 4 engines, formed

West End Baptist Church built on site of existing church and schoolroom

Prospect Square, 39 houses including 7 almshouses, constructed by Abraham Laverton

New fire station built in Cheap Street

Laverton Institute founded by Abraham Laverton; girls and infants from Newtown School move to a new building next to All Saints Church in Church Lane

British Boy's School moves to the Laverton Institute

By this time the market is no longer held

Church of the Holy Saviour at Westbury Leigh opened

From this time the post office is in Edward Street

First recorded mention of the Horse and Groom inn

Laverton County Infants School built by Abraham Laverton in Bratton Road

The borough disenfranchised and abolished; Westbury Leigh Church of England Primary School opened

Public baths in Church Street built by William Henry Laverton

Leighton House acquired by William Henry Laverton and extensive alterations and extensions undertaken

Stafford Brown Almshouses comprising ten cottages established for the poor of the parish

Leighton Sports Ground built by William Henry Laverton

Westbury Leigh Church of England School opened

Parish split into the 3 separate civil parishes of Westbury, Bratton and Dilton Marsh

Westbury and District Hospital opened in Westbourne Road; Technical School of Science and Art in Church Street built by William Henry Laverton

Laverton Institute occupied by Westbury Urban District Council

Water pumping station opened in Bratton Road supplied by the reservoir at Beggars Knoll; direct railway line from London to Westbury opened; Boyer's Cloth Mill converted to a tannery owned by Charles Case and Sons Ltd

William Boulton moves his glove manufacturing business to Bull's Mill where he builds a new factory

London to Westbury railway line extended to Exeter

British Boy's School is renamed Laverton Institute School

GWR locomotive depot opened

120 council houses built

Westbury and District Choral Society founded; war memorial built in Market Place

Vista cinema opens in Warminster Road; Westbury United Football Club founded

The bells in All Saints Church recast and two more added; Leighton House becomes Victoria College, a private school for boys

Sewage works built at Frogmore

Westbury Senior Council School formed from the amalgamation of the senior classes of Laverton Institute School, Westbury Church of England School and the British Girl's School; Westbury Church of England Junior School formed from the amalgamation of the junior classes of the British Girl's School, Laverton Insitute School and Newtown School

Methodist Church in Station Road opened and dedicated

Prideaux Hospital opened in Haynes Road

Westbury Leigh Church of England School becomes a mixed junior and infants school when senior pupils move to Leigh Road Senior School

Westbury and District Hospital moved to Butts Road

By this time all iron ore mining has ceased; Westbury by-pass railway line built for non-stopping trains

Westbury and Whorwellsdown Union Workhouse now redundant and sold for commercial purposes

Borough seal destroyed by fire in the Urban District Council offices

Victoria College closed

Present police station built in Station Road; recreation ground provided; Roman Catholic church of St. Bernadette of Lourdes built

Leighton House and Park requisitioned by the War Department as a convalescent depot; Bitham Mill converted from steam power to electricity

Two Congregational Churches reunited

Westbury Senior Council School is renamed Westbury County Secondary Modern School

Electric street lighting installed in the town replacing gas lighting

Leighton House becomes the permanent home of the Regular Commissions Board which selects officers for training at the Royal Academy, Sandurst

Westbury War Memorial partially moved to Edward Street

Prideaux Hospital closed

Stafford Brown Almshouses now in disuse and sold off

Sewage works modernised; Newtown Boy's School closed; Laverton County Infants' School moved to premises at All Saints Church vacated by Newtown Boy's School; Westbury Church of England Junior School moves to a new building in Oldfield Park

Westbury County Secondary Modern School becomes a comprehensive school and is renamed Matravers School

Building of High Street begun, a development of shops and maisonettes; Blue Circle cement works open; Development of the West Wilts Trading Estate begins. It will become one of the largest trading estates in southern England employing c. 3000 people in over 120 businesses

Locomotive depot closed

Laverton County Infant's School moved to Eden Vale and renamed Westbury Infant's School

Glove manufacture at Bull's Mill ceases; Angel Mill and Bitham Mill, the last 2 woollen mills in Westbury, closed; extensive underpinning carried out to the tower of All Saints Church to save it from collapsing; Anglican chapel at the Cemetery closed and remaining chapel renovated

Westbury House in Edward Street converted for use as Westbury Library

Congregationalists joined with Presbyterians to become United Reformed Church

Present fire station opened in Meadow Lane

Westbury twinned with Soisy-sur-Seine in France

Tanning at Boyers Mill ceases

Laverton Court, 6 almshouses built by the Housing Trust at the rear of the library, opened

Vista cinema destroyed by fire

Post Office moves to Coopers Country Store

Victoria Gardens opened on the site of C16th mill pond

Bitham Brook School opened

Extension added to the Methodist Church. Church re-opened and re-dedicated

Twinning with Soisy-sur-Seine ceases

Westbury Leigh Church of England Primary School moves to a new building