Wootton Bassett

Wootton Bassett is a small market town located west of Swindon in the English county of Wiltshire.

Related Topics:
Market town - Swindon - English - Wiltshire

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The year 681 is usually taken as the starting point for recorded history of Wootton Bassett, then known as Wodeton, it being referred to in that year in a Malmesbury Abbey charter granting land to the Abbot. It is a very ancient town which lies 5 miles west of Swindon and some 8 miles to the north west of the villages of Ogbourne St George and Ogbourne St Andrew.

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The right was first gained to send two representatives to Parliament as early as 1446 and prior to the Reform Act of 1832 Wootton Bassett was known as a 'Rotten' or 'Pocket' Borough, due to the way in which elections were conducted there, which were the antithesis of modern democratic elections. Voters were required to state their preferences in public before representatives of each side, and were openly bribed. In 1754 the accounts of a successful candidate show that his supporters were paid £30 each for their vote, and in the run up to the election the candidates secured the allegiance of public houses in the town, where voters were plied with free refreshments. Free beer was also provided by men who carried containers carried about the town. The same accounts show that £1,077 was paid out to 12 'pubs' for the refreshments. (these were truly 'the good old days' !) Records in the County Record Office at Trowbridge record the votes of residents, including a number of Ogbournes.

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Wootton Bassett Town Council

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This is Wootton Bassett

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