MALMESBURY

town (parish), North Wiltshire district, administrative and historic county of Wiltshire, England. It is situated on a ridge between the River Avon and a tributary. The town, one of the oldest in England, developed around the abbey, which originated as St. Maeldiub's hermitage (c. 635) and was rebuilt and endowed by the Saxon king Athelstan (895939), who is buried there. At the dissolution of the monasteries (153639) during the Reformation, the abbey was purchased by a rich clothier, who set up his looms in the abbey church but later presented it to the townspeople to replace their decaying parish church. Cloth manufacture was important in Malmesbury from medieval times until about 1750, and silk was made there during the 19th century. The philosopher Thomas Hobbes was born in the parish. The town's present industries are principally related to agriculture, but there is some electrical engineering. Pop. (1991) 4,439.