A market town west of Swindon — the pillared Old Town Hall, a Wednesday market since 1219, and the community behind the wartime repatriations.
Royal Wootton Bassett is a market town about six miles west of Swindon, with a population of around 13,500. It is best known nationally for the role its community played between 2007 and 2011, when the townspeople spontaneously turned out to line the High Street in silent respect as the cortèges of British service personnel repatriated through nearby RAF Lyneham passed through the town. In recognition, the town was granted royal patronage by Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 — the first town to receive the honour since 1909 — and formally became "Royal Wootton Bassett".
The town's history runs far deeper. It gained the right to hold a weekly market in 1219, and a market is still held on Wednesdays. Its most distinctive building is the 17th-century Old Town Hall, raised on stone pillars in the middle of the High Street, which today houses the town's museum. The long, wide High Street remains the focus of the town, lined with independent shops, pubs, and cafes.
Since the opening of the M4 in the 1970s, Royal Wootton Bassett has become a popular commuter town for Swindon, Chippenham, Bath, and Bristol, while retaining its own strong community identity. It also has a place in canal history as a key point on the Wilts & Berks Canal, first opened in 1810 and now the subject of a long-running restoration.