The Kennet and Avon Canal and the Reading to Taunton line both follow the Dun and pass through the village.

[2] Castle Copse, south of Great Bedwyn village, is the site of a Roman villa.

[3] The battle of 'Bedanheafeford' between Aescwine of Wessex and King Wulfhere of Mercia in 675 is alleged to have been fought near Great Bedwyn.

[6] However placename interpretation is tenuous evidence for the battlefield location; the site of the battle has also been claimed for Beedon in Berkshire, and elsewhere.

On one visit I observed children building miniature castles with human femur and tibiae."

Cunningham described the graves, five to seven in number, "radiating from a common centre like the spokes of a wheel".

Given the lack of evidence, Maurice Adam's confidence in a Bedwyn battlefield site cannot be shared.

Until more substantial evidence about the Crofton graves can be gathered, there is no reason to suggest that the Bedwyn location, for an obscure 7th century battle, is anything more than a myth.

[11] Although most of the estate had passed into private hands by the end of the mediaeval period, the execution of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, in 1552 resulted in the temporary return of much of Bedwyn to the crown.

There are regular services to Reading and London Paddington, and the station is a railhead for Marlborough which is served by buses that connect with the trains.

It is in the area of Wiltshire Council unitary authority, which performs all significant local government functions.

Members include Sir Anthony Hungerford (1567–1627), a religious controversialist, who sat in Parliament for Marlborough and later Great Bedwyn.

[2] Thomas Willis (1621–1675), influential physician and anatomist, Oxford professor and one of the founders of the Royal Society, was born at Great Bedwyn.