Map - Boyton, Wiltshire (Boyton)

Boyton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It lies in the Wylye Valley within Salisbury Plain, about 6 mi south-east of Warminster and 13 mi north-west of Salisbury. The parish includes the village of Corton.

The A36 Salisbury-Warminster road passes 0.6 mi north of the villages. The parish is on the right (south) bank of the Wylye, opposite Upton Lovell (near Corton) and Codford St Peter (near Boyton). Its area extends south-west to the higher ground of Corton Down, Boyton Down and Rowdean Hill. In the far south is the Great Ridge Wood, which lies mostly within Boyton and covers about a quarter of the parish.

Prehistoric sites in the parish include Corton Long Barrow. The 1086 Domesday Book recorded 17 households at Boyton and six at Corton.

In the thirteenth century, there was a castle in the village. An occupant of the castle was Hugh Giffard and his wife Sibyl, who was the daughter and co-heiress of Walter de Cormeilles. Hugh was father of the Walter Giffard who became Archbishop of York and Chancellor of England. Another son was Godfrey Giffard, Bishop of Worcester and himself also Chancellor of England.

Cortington Manor, near Corton on the Boyton road, dates from the late 17th century.

The 1841 census recorded a population of 305 at Corton and 55 at Boyton; after peaking at 410 in 1860, the population of the parish declined considerably.

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) described Boyton as follows:

"BOYTON, a parish in the hundred of Heytesbury, in the county of Wilts, 3 miles to the S.E. of Heytesbury, its post town, and 7 from Warminster. The Salisbury branch of the Great Western Railway passes near it. The parish is situated on the south side of the river Wylye, a branch of the Nadder, and contains the hamlet of Corton. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury, of the value of £549, in the patronage of the President and Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford. The church, which is dedicated to St Mary, is a good specimen of early English architecture, and has been recently restored. It was erected in 1301, and contains a fine circular window and an ancient font. There are some small charitable endowments. Boyton House, the old seat of the Lamberts, was built in 1618. CORTON, (or Cortington), a township in the parish of Boyton, hundred of Heytesbury, in the county of Wilts, 1 mile S. of Heytesbury, and 1 N.W. of Boyton. It belongs to the Lambert family."

The Salisbury branch line was built through the Wylye valley, opening in 1856. Codford station was a short distance north of Boyton village; it closed to passengers in 1955 when local services were withdrawn, although the line continues in use as part of the Wessex Main Line.