Bruce Watkin, in his Bishopstrow Village Trail leaflet, produced in 1984, later incorporated into the book Trails In And Around Warminster published in 1985, noted:
Bishopstrow
An L-shaped parish, some four miles in length and less than half a mile in breadth, stretching along the Wylye Valley from the marsh south of Warminster to the hub of the village on the Boreham to Sutton Veny road, then bending north across the river and up to the high downland of Salisbury Plain.
Most of the parish has fertile alluvial soils over well drained Upper Greensand but the soil to the north on the chalk downs is thin and only modern methods (and subsidies) have made farming profitable there.
Many Roman and some earlier remains have been found in the area, notably by Colt Hoare at the Bury and more recently in exploration of barrows and a mediaeval motte near Bishopstrow House: enough evidence to show that the place has been settled for many centuries.
The name derives from the tradition that the trow (staff) of Bishop Aldhelm (d. 709 AD) took root when he preached here.
In 1086 the Manor was held by Edward of Salisbury. His descendants gave it to the Abbey of Lacock in the mid-13th century and it was held by the Abbey down to its dissolution.
John Middlecot purchased the Manor in 1577 and then sold it to Lord Audley, brother-in-law of Sir Thomas Thynne, in 1585. Audley’s son sold it to the Temples, a Dorset family who cemented their local connection by marrying a Benett widow of Norton Bavant and held the Manor and most of the parish for the next 300 years.
A lesser estate, now represented by Eastleigh, was similarly given to a monastery, forfeited at its dissolution, and also came into the hands of the Temples. They sold it to the Thynnes who exchanged it with the Gifford family. It descended to the Astley family in the early 19th century, who lived at Barrow Cottage until the completion of their grander Eastleigh Lodge.
The population of the parish has always been small. That of the Manor was about 90 in 1086, although it had as many as 87 poll-tax payers in 1377. At the first census in 1801 there were 227 inhabitants in the parish. The number rose to a peak of 296 in 1841 and then declined slowly to 151 in 1951 and to 142 in 1981.
The chief employment has always been farming and although there was a small clothing industry associated with Bishopstrow Mill from the 16th to the late 18th century, manufacturing did not give rise to any considerable immigration as happened at some other Wylye Valley villages.
The principal buildings are the Church and Bishopstrow House. The Church is surprisingly lacking in interest considering its ancient foundation, perhaps because of the dissenting leanings of the village’s chief family, the Temples. But the village has attractive groups of “vernacular” buildings, around the Mill and along the village street (the disfiguring group at the north end is strictly outside the parish). The pretty setting, in the river valley below the sharp line of the downs, makes its exploration a great pleasure.