[2] The parish includes the hamlets of Ratfyn and West Amesbury, and part of Boscombe Down military airfield.

[3] It has also been suggested that the name is derived from Ambrosius Aurelianus, leader of Romano-British resistance to Saxon invasions in the 5th century.

Originally the town developed around the water meadows next to several bends in the river, but in time has spread onto the valley hillsides and absorbed part of the military airfield at Boscombe Down.

[8] During the Iron Age, a large hill fort now known as Vespasian's Camp was built alongside the Stonehenge Avenue and overlooking the River Avon.

[12] King Alfred the Great left Amesbury in his will, a copy of which is in the British Library, to his youngest son Aethelweard (c. 880–922).

[citation needed] In 1086, Domesday Book recorded a settlement named Amblesberie or Ambresberie with 111 households and eight mills.

[14] In 1177 the abbey was dissolved by Henry II[15] and replaced with Amesbury Priory, with nuns and monks of the Fontevraud order.

[18] In 1542, the antiquarian John Leland took things further, stating that Guinevere had actually been buried at Amesbury before being disinterred and translated to Glastonbury Abbey to lie beside her husband, King Arthur.

[19] The tradition of Guinevere's Amesbury burial came to a head in the early 1600s, when an ancient noblewoman's grave was discovered during renovation work at the old Abbey site, then in the hands of the Earls of Hertford.

A new mansion which took the name Amesbury Abbey was completed in 1661, designed for William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset (d. 1660) by John Webb in neo-classical style.

[23] The estate subsequently passed to the Bruce family, and then to Lord Carleton, who bequeathed it to his nephew Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry.

It is believed that at some point in the early 19th century, William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry planted the Nile Clumps to commemorate Admiral Nelson, and had the hillfort landscaped as part of the grounds around the mansion.

In 1824 Sir Edmund Antrobus acquired the estate and, finding the mansion in poor repair, had it rebuilt in 1834–1840 to designs of Thomas Hopper.

By a decree in Chancery of 1831, the freedom of the grammar school was extended to children of "mechanics, artisans, and small tradesmen".

As it lies within the A303 commuter belt, Amesbury has seen substantial developments on the land between the old town centre and Boscombe Down.

On 30 June 2018, two British nationals were poisoned using Novichok nerve agents before being found unconscious at a property in Amesbury; one of them, Dawn Sturgess, later died.

The parish is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which is responsible for all significant local government functions.

[47] This is the former home of Francis Stephen Long, Esquire, whose wife, Ann, remained at the Red House until her death in 1856.

The remains of two men of apparently aristocratic rank were accompanied by over 100 objects including arrowheads, copper knives and the earliest worked gold in the country.

[8] The town is linked to the Arthurian legend as it is popularly believed that Guinevere retired to the original convent at Amesbury after leaving Arthur.