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WOOTTON BASSETT
Wootton Bassett is a small market town located in northern Wiltshire, UK.
The year 681AD is usually taken as the starting point for recorded history of Wootton Bassett, then known as Wodeton, it being referred to in that year in a Malmesbury Abbey charter granting land to the Abbot. It is a very ancient town which lies 10 km (6 miles) southwest of Swindon and some 13 km (8 miles) to the northwest of the villages of Ogbourne St George and Ogbourne St Andrew. It is commonly regarded as a commuter town serving the towns/cities such as Swindon, Chippenham, Cirencester, Bath and Bristol.
The right was first gained to send two representatives to Parliament as early as 1446 and prior to the Reform Act of 1832 Wootton Bassett was known as a 'Rotten' or 'Pocket' Borough, due to the way in which elections were conducted there, which were the antithesis of modern democratic elections. Voters were required to state their preferences in public before representatives of each side, and were openly bribed. In 1754 the accounts of a successful candidate show that his supporters were paid £30 each for their vote, and in the run up to the election the candidates secured the allegiance of public houses in the town, where voters were plied with free refreshments. Free beer was also provided by men who carried containers about the town. The same accounts show that £1,077 was paid out to 12 'pubs' for the refreshments (these were truly 'the good old days' !) Records in the County Record Office at Trowbridge record the votes of residents, including a number of Ogbournes.
The town has decent transport links, being situated only 3 km (2 miles) from the M4 motorway at junction 16 and enjoys regular bus services to Swindon, Chippenham and all of its surrounding towns and villages.
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