The village lies on the north bank of the Wylye, about 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) southeast of the town of Warminster.

The civil parish includes most of the small neighbouring settlement of Tytherington, and the deserted village of Imber.

[6] Chapperton Down, west of Imber, has evidence of settlement and field systems from the same period and earlier.

The town stands on the river Wylye, and on the Somerset and Weymouth railway, near Salisbury Plain, 4 miles SE by E of Warminster; was known, to the Saxons, as Hegtredesbiryg; took afterwards the names of Haresbury, Haseberie, and Heightsbury; is now commonly called Hatchbury; was, in the time of Stephen, the residence of the Empress Maud; was, in 1766, nearly all destroyed by fire, and afterwards rebuilt; consists now chiefly of a single street; possesses interest to tourists as the central point of a region abounding in British, Roman, Saxon, and Danish remains; and gives the title of Baron to the family of A'Court.

It sent two members to parliament from the time of Henry VI till disfranchised by the act of 1832; was a borough by prescription; and is now a seat of courts leet.

It has a post office under Bath, a railway station, two chief inns, a church, an Independent chapel, a national school, and an endowed hospital.

The church dates from the 12th century; was partly rebuilt in 1470; underwent a thorough restoration in 1866, at an expense of about £5,500; is cruciform; has a massive tower; and contains the burial place of the A'Courts, and a tablet to Cunningham, the antiquary.

Cotley Hill rises from the woods of the park; commands a very fine panoramic view; is crowned by a tumulus; and was anciently fortified.

[13] The Reform Act 1832 swept away all these rotten and pocket boroughs and greatly increased the enfranchised population.

The school moved to a new site, off the High Street west of the church, in 1900, and came under Wiltshire County Council control in the early years of that century.

[17] St Giles' Church, Imber, dates from the late 13th century and is a Grade I listed building.

His son George Sassoon grew up there and inherited the house on his father's death in 1967; he lived there until 1996, when it was sold.

The gate piers and curved flanking walls at the former southern entrance, from the early 19th century, are still standing.

The almshouse provided housing for twelve poor unmarried men and one woman (who was responsible for domestic duties), under the oversight of a chaplain or warden appointed by the Chancellor of Salisbury Cathedral.

[35] The Wessex Main Line railway (opened here in 1856) runs to the south, and until 1955 there was a station on the Heytesbury-Tytherington road.