Melksham Without

Coordinates: 51°22′16″N 2°08′20″W / 51.371°N 2.139°W / 51.371; -2.139

Melksham Without is a civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England. It surrounds, but does not include, the town of Melksham and is the largest rural parish in Wiltshire, with a population of 7,230 (as of 2011) and an area of 29 square kilometres (7,200 acres).

In 1894 the ancient parish of Melksham was divided into Melksham Urban District and the rural parish of Melksham Without. The northern boundary of the parish is the Roman road from Silchester to Bath; downstream from Melksham the Bristol Avon forms the southwestern boundary, and parts of the southern boundary are the Semington Brook and the Kennet and Avon Canal.

The parish includes the villages of Beanacre, Berryfield, Shaw and Whitley, and the hamlets of Outmarsh and Redstocks. It also includes the outer Melksham suburbs of Bowerhill and The Spa, and the dispersed settlement of Sandridge which includes Sandridge Common.

Governance

The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which performs most local government functions. Unusually, the parish shares some land in common with the parish of Broughton Gifford.

Melksham

Coordinates: 51°22′16″N 2°08′17″W / 51.371°N 2.138°W / 51.371; -2.138

Melksham (/ˈmɛlkʃəm/) is a medium-sized English town, on the River Avon in the county of Wiltshire.

It is 10 miles (16 km) east of the city of Bath, 6 mi (10 km) south of Chippenham, 6 mi (10 km) west of Devizes and 12 mi (19 km) north of Warminster on the A350 national route. The 2001 UK census recorded Melksham as having 20,000 inhabitants, including sizeable environs such as Bowerhill and Berryfield; as such it is Wiltshire's fifth-largest town by population after Swindon, Salisbury, Chippenham and Trowbridge.

History

The town of Melksham developed at a ford across the River Avon and the name is presumed to derive from "meolc", the Old English for milk, and "ham", a village. On John Speed's map of Wiltshire (1611), the name is spelt both Melkesam (for the hundred) and Milsham (for the town itself). Melksham was a royal estate at the time of the Norman Conquest

Melksham is also the name of the Royal forest that occupied the surrounding of the area in the middle ages.