Places features

Now the summer months are here, it's the perfect opportunity to get out into the Wiltshire countryside and explore parts of the county rich in beauty and history.

And in Wiltshire it's possible to follow countless guided walks and trails throughout the rural landscape.

The Downton Heritage Trail was launched in May 2008 in memory of the late Margaret Peach, a former Parish and District Councillor for the village.

Water Meadows in Downton

The land around Downton near Salisbury has been inhabited for more than 6000 years; evidence of Beaker, Neolithic and Mesolithic occupation has been found.

An Anglo-Saxon Charter named the village as Dunton, which through various changes of spelling has evolved into Downton, and the Domesday Book recorded the parish as being held by the Bishop of Winchester.

The original village was centred on the modern High Street area then, in 1208, the Bishop obtained permission to build a new borough and market to the west.

The combined extent of the old village and borough remained fundamentally unchanged until significant twentieth century expansion.

The population of 1350 recorded in 1931 had more than doubled by 1991 to 2800, with new houses having mostly been built in the Moot Lane and Wick areas.

Downton Primary School

With a suggested starting point of The Borough Cross, the Heritage Trail has 17 key points, marked by plaques sited on a circular route around the oldest parts of Downton.

Prime points of interest are the village's many current and former Churches, Chapels and Schools, Moot House and Gardens, the Memorial Hall, former Mills, the Old Tannery and the water meadows.

A newly published and extensively illustrated guide provides historical background to the buildings and areas around each plaque and includes an additional section covering places of interest off the main trail, including the old railway and Wick and Trafalgar Houses.

The guide will be of interest to old and new Downtonians, and visitors alike, and is available from various outlets in the village. Why not pay a vist to Downton one afternoon and explore its history.