Malmesbury

Malmesbury, town (parish), administrative and historic county of Wiltshire, southwest-central England. It is situated in the northwestern part of the county on a ridge between the River Avon (Lower, or Bristol, Avon) and a tributary.

The town, one of the oldest in England, developed around the abbey, which originated as St. Maeldiub’s hermitage (c. 635) and was rebuilt and endowed by the Saxon king Athelstan (895–939), who is buried there. At the dissolution of the monasteries (1536–39) during the Reformation, the abbey was purchased by a wealthy clothier, who set up his looms in the abbey church but later presented it to the townspeople to replace their decaying parish church. Cloth manufacture was important in Malmesbury from medieval times until about 1750, and silk was made there during the 19th century. The philosopher Thomas Hobbes was born in the parish. The town’s present industries are principally related to agriculture, but there is some electrical engineering. Pop. (2001) 4,631; (2011) 5,380.