serves its Norman mouldings.
The woollen industries of Devizes have lost their prosperity; but there
is a large grain trade, with engineering works, breweries, and
manufactures of silk, snuff, tobacco and agricultural implements. The
town is governed by a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors.
Area, 906 acres.

Devizes (_Divisis_, _la Devise_, _De Vies_) does not appear in any
historical document prior to the reign of Henry I., when the
construction of a castle of exceptional magnificence by Roger, bishop of
Salisbury, at once constituted the town an important political centre,
and led to its speedy development. After the disgrace of Roger in 1139
the castle was seized by the Crown; in the 14th century it formed part
of the dowry of the queens of England, and figured prominently in
history until its capture and demolition by Cromwell in the Civil War of
the 17th century. Devizes became a borough by prescription, and the
first charter from Matilda, confirmed by successive later sovereigns,
merely grants exemption from certain tolls and the enjoyment of
undisturbed peace. Edward III. added a clause conferring on the town the
liberties of Marlborough, and Richard II. instituted a coroner. A gild
merchant was granted by Edward I., Edward II. and Edward III., and in
1614 was divided into the three companies of drapers, mercers and
leathersellers. The present governing charters were issued by James I.
and Charles I., the latter being little more than a confirmation of the
former, which instituted a common council consisting of a mayor, a town
clerk and thirty-six capital burgesses. These charters were surrendered
to Charles II., and a new one was conferred by James II., but abandoned
three years later in favour of the original grant. Devizes returned two
members to parliament from 1295, until deprived of one member by the
Representation of the People Act of 1867, and of the other by the
Redistribution Act of 1885. The woollen manufacture was the staple
industry of the town from the reign of Edward III. until the middle of
the 18th century, when complaints as to the decay of trade began to be
prevalent. In the reign of Elizabeth the market was held on Monday, and
there were two annual fairs at the feasts of the Purification of the
Virgin and the Decollation of John the Baptist. The market was
transferred to Thursday in the next reign, and the fairs in the 18th
century had become seven in number.

See _Victoria Count