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Chippenham

La Fl che and Friedberg are twinned with Chippenham. At a River Avon crossing that is prominent, Chippenham is in western Wiltshire, between the east's Marlborough Downs, to the north and west the southern Cotswolds and Salisbury Plain to the southeast. Linking Chippenham and south towns, such as Trowbridge, Warminster, and Melksham, with the motorway M4, the town is bypassed to the west by the A350.

With the exception of Swindon (which is no longer within the administrative Wiltshire), and thus larger than Salisbury, projections for 2012 estimated a population of 44,820, and would have made Chippenham the highest town population in Wiltshire. As Cippanhamm, Cepen, Cheppeham, Chippenham, Shippenham, and Chippyngham, the name is recorded variously. At Chippenham, thelswith (sister to Alfred the Great) married King Burgred of Mercia.

Though Alfred escaped, Vikings that were Danish besieged Chippenham successfully. With a population of 600 to 700 in 1086, Domesday Book listed Chippenham as "Cepen". Chippenham was governed by a Bailiff supported by Burgesses, the office of Town Mayor was established in 1835.

Wincanton PLC, Europe's second largest logistics organisation, consolidated its head office operations in 2005, and moved to west Chippenham's developed office development of Methuen Park, where around 350 people it employs. On the A420 Bristol Road, Chippenham Sports Club is a sports club. At Rowden Hill, American singers Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, and songwriter Sharon Sheeley, were involved in a car crash in Chippenham.

Alfred decisively defeated the Danes at the Battle of Ethandun, whose forces at Chippenham to Alfred then surrendered (ushering in the Danelaw establishment). Towards the edge of town are retail parks, such as the (Bumpers Way) Chippenham Retail Park, the Retail Park of Bath Road (with a Sainsbury's nearby), and Hathaway Retail Park, and contain fast-food outlets and superstores. Sheldon Manor is all that remains, the inhabited manor house that is oldest in Wiltshire, dating from 1282, the Chippenham Without parish encompasses the deserted Sheldon medieval village, devastated by plague.

Over the Whitsuntide weekend, the Chippenham Folk Festival takes place every year. From 1295 onwards, Chippenham was represented in the Parliament of England and, in 1554, Queen Mary granted a Charter of Incorporation. Funded by local people and organisations, the Buttercross was re-erected in 1995 by the Chippenham Civic Society.