Vale of Pewsey

Alton is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The parish includes the adjacent villages of Alton Barnes and Alton Priors, and the nearby hamlet of Honeystreet on the Kennet and Avon Canal. It lies in the Vale of Pewsey about 6 miles (10 km) east of Devizes. The north of the parish is on the Marlborough Downs and includes part of Milk Hill, which is the highest point in Wiltshire at 295 metres (968 ft). The Woodborough Stream, a tributary of the Hampshire Avon, rises at Alton Priors and separates the two villages as it flows south.

All Saints Church in Alton Priors, Wiltshire, England, dates from the 12th century. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II* listed building, and is now in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust. It was declared redundant on 28 July 1972, and was vested in the Trust on 12 December 1973.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a battle fought in the year 592 at Woden's Barrow (Old English "Wōdnesbeorġ"), the neolithic long barrow now known as Adam's Grave, near Marlborough, Wiltshire. The year entry states: "Her micel wælfill wæs æt Woddes beorge, 7 Ceawlin wæs ut adrifen." (There was great slaughter at Woden's hill, and Ceawlin was driven out.) Ceawlin was king of Anglo-Saxon Wessex. In most versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the entry does not record the identity of the force opposing Ceawlin but one version, Manuscript E, says they were Britons. Yorke, however, says the opponent was Ceol, Ceawlin's nephew. Ceawlin is recorded as dying the following year and was succeeded by Ceol; his son Cuthwine went into exile. The Chronicle records a second battle on the same site in the year 715. The area was of strategic importance since it lay near the intersection of the ancient Ridgeway with Wansdyke.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records a battle fought in the year 715 at Woden's Burg, the neolithic long barrow now known as Adam's Grave, near Marlborough, Wiltshire. The entry states: "Her Ine 7 Ceolred fuhton æt Woddes beorge." (There Ine and Ceolred fought at Woden's hill.) Ine was king of Anglo-Saxon Wessex and Ceolred was king of Anglo-Saxon Mercia. The identity of the opposing force is not recorded.The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle also records an earlier battle on the same site. The area was of strategic importance since it lay near the intersection of the ancient Ridgeway with Wansdyke.

Woodborough is a small village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Pewsey.

Woodborough railway station is a former railway station in Woodborough, Wiltshire, UK on the Reading to Taunton line. The line opened in 1862, providing a link to Devizes. The station closed in 1966 as part of the Beeching cuts. Today the line is still in use and the station's sidings remain in place.

Stanton St Bernard is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire, England. Its nearest town is Devizes, about 6 miles (10 km) away to the west. The parish is tall and narrow, extending north onto the Marlborough Downs where it includes Milk Hill, the highest point in Wiltshire.

Adam's Grave was a Neolithic long barrow near Alton Barnes in Wiltshire, southwest England. Its remains have been scheduled as an ancient monument.The barrow is considered to be of the Severn-Cotswold tomb type. These generally consist of long, precisely built trapezoidal earth mounds covering burial chambers, thus they are a type of chambered long barrow. The chamber, made of sarsen stones, contained partial human skeletons. An arrowhead was also recovered. There is a breast-shaped hill on the spot, with the remains of the barrow being 70 metres (230 ft) long and around 7 metres (23 ft) high with ditches on either side. It was partially excavated by John Thurnam in 1860. The area around Adam's Grave has a high density of long barrows and is important because of its archaeological potential.The arrangement of stones around the site suggests there was once a kerb or forecourt. They are known as 'Old Adam' and 'Little Eve' and are near the original entrance to the barrow. According to folklore the barrow is the grave of a giant, and his ghost has been reported. Associations with the nearby monument at Avebury have also been suggested.In the Anglo-Saxon period, the site was known as "Woden's Barrow" (Old English "Wōdnesbeorg") and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records two battles, in 592 and 715, thought to have taken place at the site.

Alton Barnes White Horse is a chalk hill figure of a white horse located on Milk Hill some 1,000 metres north of the village of Alton, Wiltshire, England. The horse is approximately 180 feet high and 160 feet long, and was cut in 1812 under the commission of local farmer Robert Pile. Pile instructed inn sign painter John Thorne to design and cut the horse, although Thorne conned Pile by leaving with his advance sum while employing local resident John Harvey to cut the horse instead. It is based on another white horse hill figure in Wiltshire, the Cherhill White Horse, and is the second-biggest of nine white horses in Wiltshire. One of the county's best-loved and most iconic white horses, it remains a tourist attraction and has been regularly maintained, with numerous groups or individuals scouring the horse throughout its life. More recently, the horse was illuminated by candles every winter solstice for over ten years, as well as in a lantern parade to celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2012. The horse has also been transformed into a zebra on April Fools' Day on two occasions.

Pewsey Downs (grid reference SU113636) is a 305.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the southern edge of the Marlborough Downs north of Pewsey in Wiltshire, notified in 1951. It includes the Pewsey Downs National Nature Reserve.

Bottlesford is a small village in Wiltshire, England, in the parish of North Newnton. It is in the Vale of Pewsey and is about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Pewsey. There is a pub, the Seven Stars Inn.The Berks and Hants Extension Railway, opened from Hungerford to Devizes in 1862, passes north of Bottlesford. Sometime after 1958 the boundary of Woodborough parish was moved south to follow the railway, transferring the north end of Bottlesford into Woodborough. The properties immediately north of the railway are labelled as Free Trade on a 1958 map, but that name is not used today.Until sometime after 1971, Bottlesford was within Manningford parish, in the tithing of Manningford Bohune which had been part of Wilsford parish until 1871.

Milk Hill, located near Alton Priors east of Devizes, is the highest point in the county of Wiltshire, southwest England, at some 295 m (968 ft) above sea level (the adjacent Tan Hill rises to 294 m). It is the location of the Alton Barnes White Horse (a hill figure cut in 1812).