Devizes

About

**Please read our guidelines on visiting the Great West Way responsibly before you travel.**

 

Devizes is a historic market town with a colourful Medieval past, wealth of history and architectural heritage with more than 500 listed buildings and a large Market Place in the heart of the town.   This can all be enjoyed as you discover the wide range of traditional independent shops or peruse the Thursday market, therefore whatever your reason for visiting Devizes, there is lots of to explore.

It is regularly in the top 10 of the country's favourite market towns and is home to three nationally-known visitor attractions. Take a tour of Wadworth Brewery, sample their famous 6X and meet the Shire horses that still deliver to pubs in the town. See the 29 locks of the Caen Hill flight on the Kennet and Avon canal, a triumph of Georgian engineering or visit the Wiltshire Museum which has award-winning galleries that feature gold from the time of Stonehenge and tell the story of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site.

Devizes has a great sense of community and throughout the year the town hosts an Art Festival, an International Street Festival, a Food Festival as well as many community events, many held in the newly refurbished Hillworth Park.

The town is named after the Latin ‘ad devizas’ meaning ‘at the boundaries’. The Norman castle was built by Osmund Bishop of Salisbury in 1080 at the boundary of three Saxon parishes.

Devizes is not only a fascinating place to visit, but also makes a great base from which to explore the whole area as it is only a few miles away from the iconic sites of Stonehenge and Avebury and tranquil walking and cycling in the Vale of Pewsey.

Whether you intend to stay for a while or you are just passing through, we hope you enjoy your time in our town.