Key facts

OS Grid Reference: SU154414
What3words: tins.rail.forgotten
Postcode: SP4
Unitary Authority: Wiltshire
Post town:  Salisbury
Parliamentary Constituency: Salisbury

Amesbury

Amesbury is a small, historical town on the River Avon, just eight miles – a 25-minute drive – from the cathedral city of Salisbury with all its shops, pubs, restaurants, heritage, culture and train connections. The train from Salisbury to London takes less than 90 minutes. Salisbury Reds operates a bus service through the town.

Amesbury is bustling with everything you could need including supermarkets, shops, a post office and banks, schools for all ages, GP surgery, dentist, pharmacy and library. There’s a leisure centre with gym, sports hall and squash courts and a host of exercise classes.

It has a welcoming community with an active town hall and parish website, and of course a pub – The George at Amesbury – with its relaxed pub dining, a restaurant and terrace serving good food every day including breakfast and afternoon tea.

Homes in Amesbury range from traditional thatched cottages and Georgian houses to modern family homes and affordable housing.

The parish also includes the hamlets of Ratfyn and West Amesbury, and part of Boscombe Down military airfield, the home of the MoD military aircraft testing site.

History

Amesbury, with Stonehenge on its doorstep, is the oldest continuous living settlement in the country, dating back to 8500 years BC.

As well as its prehistoric heritage, Amesbury also has Roman roots including the discovery at Archer’s Gate of the grave of a man dating back to around 2,300 BC – the early Bronze Age. The grave housed a rich array of copper pots, gold hair tresses and other objects from the period including a complete skeleton of the man, named locally as ‘The Amesbury Archer’ or the ‘King of Stonehenge’. You can see a sculpture depicting the Archer in the arcade at Archer’s Gate housing development.

In his Will, King Alfred the Great left Amesbury to his youngest son, Aethelweard, and in 1086 the Domesday Book recorded a settlement named Amblesberie or Ambresberie with 111 households and eight mills.

The Abbey Church of St Mary and St Melor dates from 979 AD. If you visit the church you’ll find a clock believed to have been built in the 15th Century for the Benedictine Abbey. Originally, it had no dial or hands and its sole purpose was to announce times of worship each hour.

 

Walking and cycling

There’s an interesting two-mile walk across historic landscapes from Amesbury to Stonehenge. Also worth a visit locally is Woodhenge – a Neolithic site which was first recognised through aerial photos taken in 1925.

On the town council website you can find Lords Walk, with its views of the River Avon, and the old Lime Tree Way, which historically led to Amesbury Abbey.

Amesbury Abbey is now a stunning home for the elderly offering independent living as well as a nursing home and care home.

The council has details of other local ‘doorstep walks’ on its website.

Explore our
Patch

It’s safe to say that we live in one of most beautiful places in the British Isles, with everything from the culture and heritage of a city and the buzz of a market town, right down to the quietest rural villages. Each area has its own unique charm, so explore our patch to uncover where is perfect for you.