{"id":90,"date":"2026-02-27T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/?p=90"},"modified":"2026-02-26T15:21:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:21:49","slug":"highworth-histories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/vhl-shop\/highworth-histories\/","title":{"rendered":"Highworth Histories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Highworth, the highest town in Wiltshire at 133 meters, is an ancient hilltop market town with a 4,000-year history of occupation. Granted a market charter in 1206 (later 1262), it became a major cattle market by the 17th century. A key Royalist stronghold, it was captured by Parliamentarian Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1645, a cannonball mark is still visible on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/vhl-st-michaels-church.html\">St. Michael&#8217;s Church<\/a><\/strong>. In the 19th century, the expansion of the Great Western Railway in nearby Swindon caused Highworth&#8217;s population to drop from a peak of 4,000 in 1841 to around 2,000 in the 1920s, this stagnation preserved many of its Georgian buildings. During World War II, the town was crucial to the British Resistance Movement. It remains a distinct, preserved market town just north of Swindon. It is certainly a Town with a fascinating past, and in keeping with this, there is a thriving <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/highworthhistoricalsociety.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Historical Society<\/a><\/strong> dedicated to preserving our archives and educating residents and visitors alike about our history &#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the <strong>Visit Highworth Centre<\/strong> on the High Street you can discover more in the <strong>Museum<\/strong> housed in the old bank vault, perhaps pick up one of the Highworth Historical Society books on sale on our shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/highworth_stories.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-93 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong>Highworth Through Time<\/strong><br>A light-hearted journey through our town\u2019s rich past.&nbsp; 128 pages.<br>\u00a39.00<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More Stories From Highworth&#8217;s Rich Past<\/strong><br>Another light-hearted journey through our town\u2019s interesting social history.&nbsp; <br>\u00a36.00<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong>Fun, Frolics and Festivities<\/strong><br>Highworth having fun from 1838 to the present day.&nbsp; Written by Christine Suter.&nbsp; 48 pages.<br>\u00a34.00&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Highworth Remembers or How Highworth defeated the Kaiser<\/strong><br>Life in Highworth during World War One.&nbsp; Written by Christine Suter.&nbsp; 32 pages.<br>\u00a34.00&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/highworth_festivals_ww1.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-94 size-full\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/highworth_trails.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100 size-full\"\/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong>Highworth Town Trail<\/strong><br>A walk through the town describing its interesting past. Written by Jo Clark.&nbsp; 24 pages.<br>\u00a32.50<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Local Highworth Walks<\/strong><br>Explore the environs of Highworth. 9 walks in and around the Town. Published by Visit Highworth Ltd.<br>\u00a32.50<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Highworth, the highest town in Wiltshire at 133 meters, is an ancient hilltop market town with a 4,000-year&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18,13,17],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vhl-shop","tag-books","tag-highworth","tag-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visithighworth.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}