as an enduring symbol of the nation’s admiration and gratitude". The addition to the town's name was enacted through Letters Patent and became effective on 16 October 2011, when The Princess Royal visited the town to present formally the Letters Patent to the town council. Royal Wootton Bassett has become the third Royal town in the country after Royal Leamington Spa and Royal Tunbridge Wells, and the first to receive the status in over 100 years. Geography Suburbs of Royal Wootton Bassett include Noremarsh, Coped Hall, Woodshaw and Vastern (a small hamlet to the south). Bishop Fowley is shown on Andrews' and Dury's Map of Wiltshire, 1810 as being an outlying hamlet southwest of the town; the location is now known as Vowley Farm. Wootton Bassett Mud Spring is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, which was notified in 1997. Governance The first tier of local government is Royal Wootton Bassett Town Council, with 16 members elected by voters in three wards. Councillors elect one of their number to serve as mayor for a period of one year. The town falls under the auspices of Wiltshire Council, a unitary authority established in 2009 as part of wider local government changes in England. In the national government, since the 1997 general election the town has been represented by the Conservative MP James Gray, as the elected member for the North Wiltshire parliament constituency. Royal Wootton Bassett is twinned with Blain in western France. The original Wootton Bassett UK Parliamentary constituency was abolished in 1832. The right of the town to send two representatives to Parliament was first gained as early as 1446 and before the Reform Act 1832, Wootton Bassett was known as a Rotten Borough due to the way in which elections were conducted, which were the antithesis of modern democratic elections. Voters were required to state their preferences in public before representatives of each side, and were openly bribed. In 1754 the accounts of a successful candidate show that his supporters were paid £30 each for their vote, and in the run up to the election the candidates secured the allegiance of public houses in the town, where voters were plied with free refreshments. Free beer was also provided by men who carried containers about the town. The same accounts show that £1,077 was paid out to 12 pubs for the refreshments. Population The United Kingdom Census 2001