Already a small settlement, much of Heytesbury burned to the ground in 1765, but this did not affect its right to return members to parliament.
Heytesbury was a burgage borough, meaning that the right to vote was reserved to the householders of specific properties or "burgage tenements" within the borough; there were twenty-six of these tenements by the time of the Reform Act, and all had been owned by the heads of the A'Court family since the 17th century, giving them control of the choice of the two Members.
[1] Shortly before the Reform Act, the head of the family, Sir William Ashe A'Court, was raised to the peerage as Lord Heytesbury.
Heytesbury was abolished as a constituency by the Reform Act, which swept away all such rotten and pocket boroughs.
Its residents who were qualified to vote were transferred into the new South Wiltshire county division.