The town is listed in the Burghal Hidage as one of Alfred the Great's defended burhs assessed at 1200 hides, its Iron Age defences helping to provide protection against Viking attack.

[8] After his death around 700, St Aldhelm became the first abbot and built the first church organ in England, which was described as a "mighty instrument with innumerable tones, blown with bellows, and enclosed in a gilded case.

[10] Across the River Avon's Sherston branch via the footpath by 18 Gloucester Street (leading south-west) is a depression called Daniels Well, and a farm beyond it is named after this.

Renowned as a great builder, he rebuilt the wooden town walls wholly in stone rather than wood, constructing the short-lived Malmesbury Castle at the same time.

Under his English Reformation, King Henry VIII, sold the substantial land, but retaining a minor choice portion, to a local clothier William Stumpe.

[13] The community was the ancient frontier of two kingdoms—Tetbury 5 miles (8.0 km) to the north was in Mercia, while Malmesbury was in the West Saxon Kingdom—resulting in centuries of animosity between the two towns.

[14] The location and defensive position of Malmesbury on the latterly important Oxford to Bristol route made it a strategic military point.

During the Civil War the town changed hands seven times; the south face of Malmesbury Abbey still today bears pock-marks from cannon and gunshot.

At the Battle of Brunanburh in 937, King Æthelstan of Wessex defeated an army of northern English and Scots and made a claim to become the first 'King of All England'.

For elections to Wiltshire Council, Malmesbury forms one electoral division, returning a single unitary councillor.

[21] At UK Government level in the House of Commons, Malmesbury is part of the South Cotswolds constituency, represented since 2024 by Roz Savage for the Liberal Democrats.

[19] This creates a rocky outcrop as a south-facing, gently sloping hilltop, until the two rivers meet on the southern edge of the town.

With steep sides, in places cliff-like, the town was described by Sir William Waller as the best naturally defended inland location he had seen.

[citation needed] Traditionally a market town serving the rural area of north west Wiltshire, farming has been the main industry.

But, what had made it successful and important as a religious and strategic defensive centre—water on three sides and steep cliffs—precluded easy access for the modern bulk transport methods of canals and railways.

Hence the Kennet and Avon Canal and the later Great Western Railway passed well to the south of the town; while local quarrying of cotswold stone provided often transient booms in employment, Malmesbury saw little expansion compared to, for example, Gloucester, by not being a commuter suburb or major production centre of the Industrial Revolution.

[27] The town's economy profits from tourism, divided among Cotswold Hills retreats (ranging from B&Bs to golf/spa resorts), visits and tours of the abbey, nearby landmarks and festivals or by interest in the counter-modernism 1960s work of poet laureate, John Betjeman.

The story made international headlines with tabloid newspapers and TV news stations fighting each other to sight and then capture the pigs.

At the beginning of the Second World War, the electronics company EKCO moved part of its operations from Southend-on-Sea to Cowbridge House, 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) southeast of the town, to avoid the danger of bombing.

The site was in use as offices until 2004 when the owners, Lucent Technologies, moved their operations to Swindon and the building was converted to housing.

This usually takes place over the last weekend of July, spanning approximately three and a half days from the Thursday evening to Monday morning.

[42] As part of the neighbourhood planning process in February 2012 a series of seminars and workshops involving residents and stakeholders were run in Malmesbury by The Prince's Foundation for Building Community.

[46] Features of the building include the south porch, richly carved with Biblical scenes, which Pevsner describes as "among the best pieces of Norman sculpture and decoration in England".

[48] In the centre of the town stands the market cross, built c. 1490, possibly using stone salvaged from the recently ruined part of the abbey.

It was described by John Leland, writing in the 1540s, as a "right fair and costely peace of worke", which was built to shelter the "poore market folkes" when "rayne cummith".

The nave of St Paul's had collapsed by the early 16th century, and the remainder was used for a time as a private house and town hall; the chancel was pulled down in 1852.

[59] A large building of medieval origins, now a private home, Tower House stands at the end of Oxford Street.

[62] The A429 bypasses the town on its eastern edge; the road links Malmesbury with junction 17 of the M4 motorway to the south, and Kemble railway station and Cirencester to the north.

[64] The branch split from the main London-Bristol line at Dauntsey, although a later connection with the northern GWR 'mainline' to the Severn Tunnel and South Wales was made at Little Somerford.

[65] The tracks were used for a while to test new diesel locomotives built by Swindon railway works, but lifted in the 1970s, and the site of the station is now home to an industrial estate.