Malmesbury

Ancient hill-top market town in Wiltshire, southwest England, on the River Avon, 30 km/19 mi northwest of Bath; population (2001) 4,630. Tourism is a key source of income; there is also a vacuum-cleaner factory. The 12th-century church was built on the site of a Saxon abbey church, founded in the 7th century; it was the burial place of Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great and king of the Mercians and West Saxons in the 10th century.

The church's elaborate 12th-century south porch includes some of the finest Romanesque sculpture in Britain, depicting scenes from the Bible. The interior has stained glass by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. The town's market cross dates from around 1490.

Malmesbury's charter of 924 granted by Edward the Elder is one of the oldest in England. St Aldhelm was abbot from 673, and the historian William of Malmesbury (1095–1143) was a monk of the abbey. The philosopher Thomas Hobbes was born at nearby Westport. Nancy Hanks, mother of Abraham Lincoln, was born in Malmesbury.

Malmesbury

Town in Western Cape province, South Africa, northeast of Cape Town; population (2007 est) 86,200. Malmesbury is the centre of a rich wheat-growing area, the Swartland, which produces about one-sixth of South Africa's wheat; it has one of the largest flour-mills in the country. Nearby are salt pans and sulphur springs.