Historically, Corsham was a centre for agriculture and later, the wool industry, and remains a focus for quarrying Bath Stone.

The letter 'R' appears to have entered the name later under Norman influence (possibly caused by the recording of local pronunciation), when the town is reported to have been in the possession of the Earl of Cornwall.

During the Saxon era, the Corsham area belonged to the King, and had a large forest, which was later cleared to make way for further agricultural expansion.

There is evidence that the town had been known as "Corsham Regis" due to its reputed association with Anglo-Saxon Ethelred of Wessex,[6][7] and the name remains as that of a primary school.

However, there is little cogent evidence to support that name and it appears more likely to derive from a handful of Dutch workers who arrived in the 17th century.

The house has an extensive collection of Old Masters, rooms furnished by Robert Adam and Thomas Chippendale, and parks landscaped by Capability Brown and Humphry Repton.

The house is open to the public all year round, excluding December, and is famed locally for its peacocks, which also wander about the streets.

In the east of the parish are Easton, Thingley and Westrop, and in the southeast Chapel Knapp, Gastard, Monk's Park, The Linleys and The Ridge.

[4] No census was taken in 1941 due to the Second World War, but the jump in population (from 3,754 in 1931 to 9,268 in 1951, an increase of 147%) is attributable to the influx of military personnel.

The Grade II Georgian building in Bath stone is from 1776;[39] later additions include a barn, used as a dining room and later a science block, and a multi-functional performance hall.

[41] A new schoolroom was built on the south side of Lacock Road by lord of the manor, Paul Cobb Methuen in 1816.

An unnamed prior was referred to in 1201, but the priory had become inactive by 1294 and its lands passed to The Crown and eventually to King's College, Cambridge.

[44] The main parish Church of St Bartholomew, which stands between the High Street and Corsham Court, is partly built on Saxon foundations.

[45][46] In the north chancel chapel, the large altar tomb of 15th-century landowner Thomas Tropenell is shared with his first wife, Agnes.

[50] St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church was opened in 1945, replacing temporary centres which had been arranged for the wartime population influx.

The building is the former Pickwick school, opened in 1858 on land gifted in 1846 by Lord Methuen and his tenants, Sir Gabriel Goldney and Arthur Knapp; the architect was Henry Goodridge of Bath.

Bus company Faresaver operate local services, as well as buses to nearby towns (including the twice-per-hour X31 between Bath and Chippenham).

[69] The Great Western Main Line railway from London to Bristol, Exeter and Penzance passes through the town, though Corsham station closed in 1965.

There is also a boules competition for the Peter Henderson trophy which is named in memory of a local doctor and former chairman of the twinning association.

[75] The Ministry of Defence has operated a number of locations in the vicinity of Corsham since the First World War and employs approximately 2,000 people.

[76] Several defence sites in the Corsham area are located underground and were formed from historic Bath Stone quarries.

Rudloe Manor was established during the Second World War as a non-flying station for administrative and command & control purposes.

The main site also served as the primary entrance for the Central Government War Headquarters, variously known as "Turnstile", "Stockwell", "Subterfuge" and "Burlington".

The site supports the Skynet military communications satellite constellations, which is now managed by Astrium Services under a PFI arrangement.

In 2006 a Private Finance Initiative contract was let to Inteq for the renewal and expansion of the Basil Hill and Rudloe Site facilities, valued at around £800m.

A number of defence-related contractors are co-located or in the vicinity of the MoD sites, such as Chemring Energetics UK Limited[84] and Serco Defence, Science and Technology.

[citation needed] Underground extraction of Bath Stone continues in Corsham on a smaller scale than previously.

[89][90] Corsham Court has also been used as a period location in productions such as Barry Lyndon (1975),[91] The Remains of the Day (1993), A Respectable Trade (1997) and Wives and Daughters (1999).

In 2014, scenes for the new adaptation of Poldark were filmed in the town's High Street, meaning Corsham then featured in every series until the drama ended in 2019.

[98] Neighbouring civil parishes (anticlockwise from the north): Nearby sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs):