Burbage, Wiltshire

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For other uses, see Burbage.

Burbage
Burbage shown within Wiltshire
Population	1,660 ^[1]
OS grid reference	SU230612
Parish	Burbage
District	Kennet
Shire county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	MARLBOROUGH
Postcode district	SN8
Dialling code	01672
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Wiltshire
Ambulance	Great Western
European Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Devizes
List of places: UK • England • Wiltshire

Coordinates: 51°20′58″N 1°40′16″W / 51.34942, -1.67113

Burbage is a large village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey, in the Kennet district of the county of Wiltshire, England. It is approximately 6 miles south of Marlborough and 20 miles west of Newbury.

1 Local government
2 Geography
3 History
4 See also
5 Sources
6 References

[edit] Local government

Burbage is a civil parish with an elected parish council. It falls within the areas of Kennet District Council and Wiltshire County Council. All three councils are responsible for different aspects of local government.

[edit] Geography

Burbage stands on a watershed at the eastern end of the Vale of Pewsey, with streams to the east draining to the Thames via the Dun and Kennet, to the south via the River Bourne, and to the north and west into the Salisbury Avon. The town is by-passed by the trunk road from Swindon and Marlborough to Salisbury (designated A346 to the north and A338 to the south), and a more minor route from Pewsey to Hungerford and the M4 (designated A338 to the east and B3087 to the west). The town no longer has a station on the nearby Reading to Plymouth Line, the nearest stations being at Great Bedwyn (with commuter services to London) and Pewsey.

Nearby towns include Marlborough, Hungerford, Devizes and Swindon. Nearby villages include Easton Royal, East Grafton, Pewsey, Collingbourne Kingston and Collingbourne Ducis.

[edit] History

The Kennet and Avon Canal was built just north of the village and opened in 1810. The Great Western Railway's Berks and Hants Extension Railway from Hungerford to Devizes was built close to the canal in the 1860s, eventually becoming part of the Reading to Plymouth Line of the main line from London Paddington in 1906. Savernake Low Level station was built near the north end of the village, but closed in 1966. There was also a goods-only station, called Burbage Wharf, about three-quarters of a mile west of Savernake station.

The Midland and South Western Junction Railway opened from Andover to nearby West Grafton in 1882 and Grafton & Burbage opened that year. The northern section of the M&SWJR line from Swindon to Marlborough had opened in 1881, and this was joined to the southern section from 1883 by using the Great Western Railway's branch from Savernake to Marlborough. In 1898, the M&SWJR got its own route between Marlborough and Grafton and a new station opened at Savernake High Level. The M&SWJR had therefore become a route from Southampton to Cheltenham and the Midlands. It closed in 1961.

The population of Burbage peaked at around 1600 with the building of the railway in 1860, declining to a low point of 1000 a century later. It has since increased steadily, regaining its 1860s level in the 21st century.^[2] At the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 1,660.^[1]