Winterbourne is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in south east

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, about northeast of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. The parish encompasses the contiguous villages of

Winterbourne Dauntsey Winterbourne Dauntsey is a village in Wiltshire, England, in the Bourne valley on the A338 road about northeast of Salisbury. The village adjoins Winterbourne Earls and Winterbourne Gunner. It is part of the civil parish of Winterbourne, fo ...

Winterbourne Earls Winterbourne Earls is a village in Wiltshire, England. The village is in the Bourne valley on the A338 road, about northeast of Salisbury. The village adjoins Winterbourne Dauntsey. It is part of the civil parish of Winterbourne, formed in ...

and

Winterbourne Gunner Winterbourne Gunner is a village in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Salisbury. The village is near the River Bourne, Wiltshire, River Bourne and the A338 road and is close to Winterbourne Dauntsey. It is part of the Civil parishes in Eng ...

, together with the hamlet of Hurdcott south of Winterbourne Earls (not to be confused with Hurdcott Manor near Baverstock). The

Port Way Port Way (also known as the Portway) is an ancient road in southern England, which ran from Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester, in modern-day Hampshire) in a south-westerly direction to Sorbiodunum (Old Sarum, Wiltshire). Often associated with the ...

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

passes the villages on higher ground, on its route towards

Old Sarum Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, South West England, is the now ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury. Situated on a hill about north of modern Salisbury near the A345 road, the settlement appears in some of the earliest re ...

. The settlements are in the

Bourne Bourne may refer to: Places UK * Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town ** Bourne Abbey ** Bourne railway station * Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex * Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset * Bourne ...

valley which also carries the A338 road and the

West of England Main Line The West of England line (also known as the West of England Main Line) is a British railway line from , Hampshire, to in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter; the line intersects with the Wessex M ...

railway. Winterbourne was an earlier name for the river, which becomes dry in summer. The parish has one

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

building: the 12th-century St Mary's church at Winterbourne Gunner.

Local government

The civil parish elects a parish council. It is in the area of

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council is a council for the unitary authority of Wiltshire (excluding the separate unitary authority of Swindon) in South West England, created in 2009. It is the successor authority to Wiltshire County Council (1889–2009) and the ...

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

, which is responsible for all significant local government functions. The parish was created in 1934 by amalgamating the three ancient parishes of Winterbournes Earl, Dauntsey and Gunner. In 1986, a new parish of

Firsdown Firsdown is a civil parish in Wiltshire, England, northeast of Salisbury. Before the 1950s the area was sparsely populated downland within the parish of Winterbourne. By 1976 housing estates had been built on both sides of Firs Road, which li ...

was created on land in the east of Winterbourne parish.

References

{{Commons category Civil parishes in Wiltshire

Local government

See also

References