Amesbury Timeline

Construction of Stonehenge begins

Major settlement at Vespasian's Camp near Amesbury

There is a Saxon settlement by this time

Benedictine nunnery founded

A royal manor. According to the Domesday book it comprises 70 acres of meadow, areas of pasture and woodland and has 8 mills. The population is between 700 and 900

Nunnery closed by King Henry II and replaced with a priory serving nuns and monks of the Fontevraldine order. The abbey church, the church of St. Mary and St. Melor, is granted to the priory

A new Priory church and house completed

A Thursday market and 3-day fair are granted

Queen Eleanor of Provence is buried at the Priory

The Priory is granted a Saturday market and a 3-day fair

High Street is so named by this time

Following disputes between the Prior and the Prioress the Priory reverts to a Benedictine nunnery. The church of St. Mary and St. Melor, previously used by the monks, continues as the parish church. A chapel dedicated to All Saints in existence at Ratfyn

The George Inn in High Street in existence

Market house built in the Market Place

Priory dissolved and most of its buildings demolished

Viney's Farm House built

Salisbury Street is so named by this time

The church of St. Mary and St. Melor has four bells at this time

New stocks are made for the town

Abbey Mansion built on the site of the Priory

South Mill, containing 2 water driven corn mills, in operation

Diana House built on the Abbey mansion estate

Kent House built as a gatehouse on the Abbey mansion estate

A Wednesday market and 2 new fairs ( on 11 June and 23 December) granted

There are 6 innkeepers and 3 alehouse keepers in the town

A new Abbey Mansion built by the Seymour family and designed by John Webb in the Palladian style; from this time there is a pillory and cucking stool in the town

Thomas Long's house licensed for Baptist meetings

Abbey mansion owned by the Bruce family

John Rose establishes a charity school for 20 children aged 9-15 in the parish church

The Gauntlett family are producing clay pipes which are renowned nationally

Thomas Holland, vicar of Amesbury and inventor of hydraulic engines and pumps, designs an apparatus for extinguishing fires

Henry Spratt establishes a charity school for 30 children aged 4-9

Quaker meeting house licensed

Abbey mansion owned by Lord Carleton

Abbey mansion bequeathed by Lord Carleton to the 3rd Duke of Queensberry; Richard Harrison establishes a charity offering apprenticeships for up to 5 former pupils of the charity schools

Charles, Duke of Queensberry, purchases West Amesbury House and begins enlarging and refitting the property

The George has a cock pit and a skittle alley

Fire destroys or damages about 25 building in the High Street

Market house repaired. There is still a shambles at this time

Amesbury Turnpike Trust established controlling 62 miles of road; tollhouses built in Stonehenge Road and Countess Road; milestones set up along the main roads

Independent meeting house licensed

The town has a fire engine by this time

Queensberry bridge built by John Smeaton

John Wesley pays the first of two visits to the town

An English convent of refugee Augustinian canonesses from Louvain in France are living in Abbey mansion

A winnowing machine called the Amesbury heaver invented by John Trowbridge of Amesbury

The first stagecoach uses the turnpike

Methodist meeting house licensed

John Rose's school moves to the former Jockey Inn in High Street (now known as the Old Grammar School)

Market house demolished

Methodist chapel built in High Street

There are 4 inns in the town: the George, the King's Arms, the New Inn and the Bell Tap

The Antrobus family purchase Abbey Mansion

National School opens in Salisbury Street

Amesbury is a prosperous coaching town with 9 stagecoaches passing through daily

Lock-up built in High Street

Work begins on rebuilding Abbey Mansion to designs by Thomas Hopper

Tollhouse built in Salisbury Road

The Amesbury Union Workhouse built on South Mill Hill

Wyndersham House (now the Antrobus Arms Hotel) built

Amesbury Union Workhouse School in existence

Church of St. Mary and St. Melor restored to designs by William Butterfield

Adult evening school held in the Wesleyan chapel

Cemetery and mortuary chapel consecrated

Bear Inn in Church Street destroyed by fire

Gas works built

Town brass band formed

Police station built in Salisbury Street

Spratt's School closed and pupils transferred to National School

Fire destroys the Methodist chapel and temperance hotel; Rose's grammar school closed and pupils transferred to National School

A Primitive Methodist chapel built in Flower Lane during this time

New National school for children of all ages built in Back Lane; new Methodist chapel built in High Street

The Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway built as a branch of the London & South Western Railway from Grately in Hampshire to Amesbury via Newton Tony; Amesbury Fire Brigade established

Church of St. Mary and St. Melor structurally restored by C.E. Ponting and Detmar Blow; public sewers and disposal works in operation from this time

The Amesbury and Military Camp Light Railway extended to Bulford

Bell Inn built in Salisbury Street replacing an earlier inn of the same name destroyed by fire

Bioscope opened at Junction of Earls Court Road and Salisbury Road; fire destroys 6 buildings in Smithfield Street including the post office and Ivydene Hotel

New police station built in School Road

Cemetery enlarged

Boscombe Down aerodrome built and used for training purposes

Recreation ground opened

A motorised fire engine purchased and a new building to house it built at junction of Earls Court Road and Salisbury Road; houses in Holders Road built by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research as an experimental examination of rural building methods and a test of new materials, techniques and apparatus

Electricity first provided by Amesbury Electric Light Company housed at South Mill; Gas works demolished; Primitive Methodist chapel closed by this time

Avondale School in Amesbury opened at Countess Farm by Captain Frank Perks

Antrobus House opened to the public

Boscombe Down rebuilt as a bomber station; water mains laid in the town

Mains electricity cables laid in the town

The National Trust purchase most of the west half of Amesbury parish

Amesbury Infants' School built behind police station; National School now known as Amesbury Church of England School

Bus station built; Pickfords Ltd open a furniture depository in Salisbury Road

Workhouse becomes a Public Assistance Institution under the control of Wiltshire County Council

A wooden church, Holy Angels, built beside Main Road to serve Boscombe Down

A new schoolroom built behind the Methodist chapel

Christ the King Roman Catholic church opened in London Road

A new cinema, the Plaza, opened

The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment moves to Boscombe Down

Bells in the church of St. Mary and St. Melor increased to eight

Traffic lights installed in High Street; 314 council houses built

Public library opened

New fire station built at junction of Salisbury Road and Flower Lane

Avondale School moved to Bulford

Amesbury Secondary Modern School built; pupils aged 11+ transferred there from Amesbury Church of England School, which is renamed Amesbury Church of England Aided Junior School

Abbey mansion converted to flats

A hall for the Methodist chapel built

Amesbury Infants' School enlarged

Railway line through Amesbury closed

Christ the King Catholic Primary School opened

Workhouse demolished

Brass band reformed as Amesbury Town Silver Band

Amesbury House demolished

By-pass built; Abbey Square shopping precinct built

Bus depot closed

Mortuary chapel at cemetery demolished

New public library opened in Smithfield Street

Sports hall and youth centre built; Amesbury Secondary Modern School becomes a comprehensive school and is renamed Stonehenge School

New police station opened at junction of South Mill Road and Salisbury Road

Abbey mansion sold and becomes a nursing home; a clock and plaque installed on the wall of Lloyds Bank in Salisbury Street to commemorate millenium celebrations of the former Amesbury Abbey

Church Street, High Street and Salisbury Street designated a conservation area

Organ from Church of St. Edmund in Salisbury rebuily at Church of St. Mary and St. Melor

Stonehenge designated a World Heritage site

Christ the King Roman Catholic church replaced with a new building

Pickfords furniture depository closes

NAAFI headquarters moved to Amesbury

Plaza cinema demolished

Excavations for a new housing development to the south of the town unearth burial remains and artefacts of the Amesbury Archer dating from about 2300 B.C.

Amesbury Archer Primary School opened in Shears Road

Solstice Park, a mixed-use business park, opens