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Man’s first recorded flight was in Malmesbury
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Some time during the first decade of the 1000's, Eilmer the Monk fixed wings to his hands and feet and launched himself from the top of a tower of Malmesbury Abbey.
To perform the maneuver of gliding downward against the breeze, utilizing both gravity and the wind, Eilmer employed an apparatus somewhat resembling a gliding bird.
However being unable to balance himself forward and backwards, as does a bird by slight movements of its wings, head and legs, he would have needed a large tail to maintain equilibrium.
Malmesbury is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest borough in England
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Malmsbury was given royal borough status by Alfred the Great around 880AD.
The first person to be killed by a tiger in Britain was in Malmesbury...
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Hannah Twynnoy (died 1703) is reputedly the first person on record to have been killed by a tiger in Britain.
Hannah Twynnoy was an early 18th century barmaid working in a pub in the centre of the town. All that remains of the story of her death is her gravestone, in a corner of the Abbey grounds. Her tombstone records her name and death at the age of 33 as occurring on October 23, 1703, with a gravestone poem which reads:
"In bloom of life / She's snatched from hence / She had no room / To make defence / For tyger fierce / Took life away / And here she lies in a bed of clay / Until the Resurrection Day."
Malmesbury is the oldest continually inhabited town in England.
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The hilltop contains several freshwater springs, which created early settlements. Recent archaeological excavations have revealed stone town wall defences, which have shown history of a Neolithic fort and foundations of a wooden Iron Age fort between 800 and 500BC.
Malmesbury was once the capital of England
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In 925AD, King Athelstan of Wessex the son of Alfred made Malmesbury his capital.
