Malmesbury's Timeline
4004BC onwards
Putting Malmesbury's history into context. Events shown in blue are of national significance, those in red relate specifically to Malmesbury and the rest have international relevance.
| Before Christ | ||
| 23rd Oct 4004 |
The day the world began – according to Archbishop Ussher |
 |
| c3500 | Invention of the wheel | |
| c3000 | Stonehenge begun | |
| c2590 | Great pyramid built in Egypt | |
| c2500 | Iron Age fort at Malmesbury | |
| 1184 | Fall of Troy |  |
| 753 | Foundation of Rome | |
| 486 | Birth of Buddha | |
| c 5 | Birth of Christ | |
| 43 | England invaded by Romans | |
| 476 | Fall of Rome | |
| 596 | St Augustine brings Christianity to England | |
| c570 | Birth of Muhammad | |
| c650 | Maildulph establishes his hermitage | |
| 675 | Foundation of the Abbey | |
| 709 | Death of Aldhelm 639 - 709, Abbot of Malmesbury, Bishop of Sherborne |
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| 937 | Athelstan first king of all England | |
| 1066 | Norman conquest | |
| 1095 | William of Malmesbury born | |
| 1139 | Malmesbury taken in war between Stephen and Matilda |
|
| 1187 | Muslims capture Jerusalem | |
| 1206 | Genghis Khan and his hordes move out of Mongolia | |
| 1215 | Magna Carta signed at Runnymede |  |
| 1258 | Salisbury Cathedral finished | |
| 1284 | Running water in Malmesbury Abbey lavatorium | |
| 1295 | Model parliament; Malmesbury has 2 members | |
| 1348 | Black death reaches England | |
| 1415 | Battle of Agincourt | |
| 1492 | Columbus discovers America | |
| 1539 | Dissolution of Malmesbury Abbey | |
| 1588 | Thomas Hobbes born |  |
| 1588 | Spanish Armada | |
| 1603 | Death of Elizabeth I | |
| 1605 | Gunpowder plot | |
| 1643 | Malmesbury changes hands 6 times in Civil War | |
| 1651 | Thomas Hobbes publishes Leviathan | |
| 1666 | Great Fire of London | |
| 1679 | Thomas Hobbes died | |
| 1687 | Foundation of physics today; Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica |
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| 1746 | Battle of Culloden. Last battle on British soil | |
| 1681 | Dodo becomes extinct | |
| 1690 | William III gives charter to Malmesbury | |
| 1706 | Cooke discovers Australia | |
| 1783 | American revolution | |
| 1800 | James Harris made first Earl of Malmesbury | |
| 1801 | Act of Union. United Kingdom formed | |
| 1805 | Battle of Trafalgar |  |
| 1807 | Slave trade abolished | |
| 1815 | Battle of Waterloo | |
| 1837 | Queen Victoria ascends throne | |
| 1851 | Great Exhibition | |
| 1877 | Malmesbury Railway line opened | |
| 1884 | Malmesbury loses their M.P. | |
| 1905 | Einstein’s theory of relativity E = mc² |  |
| 1914 | Start of World War I | |
| 1919 | Women get the vote | |
| 1939 | Start of World War II | |
| 1953 | Queen Elizabeth II crowned | |
| 1962 | Last train to Malmesbury (freight only) | |
| 1969 | Moon landing |  |
| 1972 | Malmesbury loses independent Borough Status | |
| 1993 | Dyson comes to Malmesbury | |
| 2001 | Queen Elizabeth and Duke of Edinburgh visit Malmesbury | |