Place:Hindon, Wiltshire, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Hindon is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about 16 miles (26 km) west of Salisbury and 9.6 miles (15.4 km) south of Warminster. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs area. Hindon was a market town but is now a village with a population of 485 in the UK census of 2011.

Although ecclesiastically Hindon was only a chapelry of the parish of East Knoyle, it became a parliamentary borough (see Hindon constituency) in the later Middle Ages, and continued to return two members until it was disenfranchised in 1832.

Hindon's prosperity was due to its markets and fairs, and its position on and near main roads. Almost immediately after the foundation of the village in 1218 a weekly market was held and this continued for centuries: Hindon was noted for its market in the mid and late 16th century. As a corn market it was rated by John Aubrey as second only to Warminster in c.1650, and in c.1707 it was coupled with Chippenham as a great Wiltshire market. In the 19th century the sale of pigs and sheep comprised a sizeable share of the market business, but by the later 19th century the market declined rapidly, and finally ceased in the early 1880s.

Coaching was probably the major industry in the village in the 18th century and early 19th century. The main London-Exeter road ran across the downs, and in 1754 there were fourteen inns and public houses in the village, with associated stabling for the horses. Such was the vitality of Hindon that it quickly recovered after the disastrous fire of 1754. In 1830 London coaches from Exeter left daily from the Swan and from Barnstaple nightly from the Lamb Inn, and there were corresponding services westwards.

Other trades undertaken in the village over the centuries include weaving, linen and tick-weaving, silk twist manufacture, inn-keeping, baking, brewing, clock-making, gunpowder manufacture, and wood, metal and leather working.

Several reasons for Hindon's decline have been put forward: its disenfranchisement in 1832; the railway connection of London to Taunton and Exeter in the 1840s which reduced coach traffic significantly (coupled with the opening of the station at Tisbury, 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of Hindon, in 1859); and a subsequent general decrease in road traffic.

• Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 11, pp82-103 - Parish: East Knoyle". British History Online. University of London. Has a large section on Hindon and a map of the whole parish.
• From this Ancestry page you can browse the Wiltshire parishes which have parish register transcripts online, quite often from very early dates. However, reading the early ones requires skill and patience. Transcriptions should also be in FamilySearch.
• A further collection of online source references will be found on the county page for Wiltshire.