Aldbourne ( ) is a village and civil parish about north-east of Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, in a valley on the south slope of the Lambourn Downs – part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. From here an unnamed winterbourne flows south to join the River Kennet away near Ramsbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 1,833. The parish includes the hamlets of Upper Upham and Woodsend and part of the hamlet of Preston, which straddles the boundary with Ramsbury. The village of Snap became deserted in the early 20th century. History Early periods Evidence of prehistoric activity on the chalk downs includes a barrow cemetery north-west of the village, a Bronze Age cross dyke to the north, and a field system in the valley around Snap. There are extensive prehistoric or Romano-British field systems around Upper Upham. The west and north-east boundaries of the modern parish follow Roman roads, respectively the road from Cirencester to Cunetio (Mildenhall) and Ermin Street. Domesday Book in 1086 recorded a large settlement at Aldeborne, with 156 households, four mills and a church. Lewisham Castle is a small medieval ringwork about a mile and a half south-west of the village. It is not certain whether it was in fact a castle. The Wiltshire Victoria County History traces the ownership of estates including Aldbourne manor, which was unusually large until it was broken up in the 17th century. Landowners include Rotrou IV, Count of Perche and descendants in the 12th century; William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and descendants in the 13th and 14th; and trustees for the City of London for a short time in the 17th. An estate at Upham was given by Longespée to Lacock Abbey in 1249, and after the dissolution was bought in 1540 by John Goddard, whose descendants went on to be lords of the manor of Swindon. Aldbourne was the wealthiest parish in Selkley hundred in the Middle Ages, and in 1377 the parish had 332 taxpayers. The population peaked around 1,600 in the mid-19th century, fell to 980 by the 1921 census, and has gradually risen since then. In the English Civil War a Royalist force led by Prince Rupert fought a Parliamentarian force in a skirmish at Aldbourne Chase on 18 September 1643, two days before the First Battle of Newbury. Fustian, a heavy cotton cloth, was woven in the village