Highworth is on a hill in a strategic position above the Upper Thames Valley, and seems to have been occupied almost continuously for 7,000 years.

Highworth was a Royalist stronghold in the English Civil War,[8] but on 17 June 1645 Sir Thomas Fairfax captured it and Parliamentarian troops garrisoned it until October the next year.

Highworth benefited from the economic boom in the Napoleonic Wars and Industrial Revolution, and many of the houses in the town centre date from this time.

[13] The ward falls within the Swindon North parliamentary constituency, which has been held since 2024 by Will Stone for the Labour Party.

[15] The Old Manor House in the High Street, parts of which date back to the late 15th century, is a Grade II* listed building.

The Great Western Main Line passes through open countryside around 3 miles south of the town, en route to Reading and London.

[6] The oldest parts of the present church of St Michael and All Angels imply a cruciform church of the 13th century: the chancel has an original lancet window on its north side; the four-bay nave arcades are also from the 13th century, although thought to have been raised in the 15th; and the south porch has a 13th-century arch.

[20] The Warnford chapel on the south side of the chancel has memorials from the 17th to 19th centuries, described by Historic England as "an imposing array ... chiefly significant for their contrasting styles of inscriptions".

[21][22] The tall west tower with full-height diagonal buttresses carries a clock and a ring of eight bells, two of them cast in 1689 by Henry II Bagley.

[23] The buttresses are capped with bear and staff emblems, for John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland;[18] they are modern copies of the originals, which in 1955 were said to be stored in the tower.

[20] The diocesan architect C. E. Ponting, writing in 1898, called the tower "fine" and noted that only the west aspect is faced with ashlar, while the other sides are in rubble stone.

Julian Orbach, in his updating of Nikolaus Pevsner's architectural guide, notes similarities to St Mary's Church, Purton, also in north Wiltshire, which has two towers and a hall-like interior.

Underfloor heating was installed to replace the 1890s system made by Skinner and Broad, iron-founders of Bristol, which used cast iron pipes.

[25] The 1932 rood screen by Brakspear was moved beneath the tower, the heating, lighting and organ were replaced, a kitchen installed, and a toilet block added on the north side.

[27][19] Prebendaries included William de la Corner, who went on to be consecrated bishop of Salisbury in 1289; and, from 1509, James Denton.

From 1835 to 1839 there was a Penny Post between Highworth and Cold Harbour, a village on the Swindon – Cirencester road near Broad Blunsdon.

[46] Mrs Mabel Stranks, who was postmistress here in the Second World War, was a key contact for members of the Auxiliary Units, a resistance organisation.