A parish on the road from Calne to Wootton Bassett, 3 miles north-north-east
from Calne. The church of St Lawrence is an edifice of stone, consisting of chancel, nave of 4 bays, north aisle, south porch, organ chamber and an embattled western tower, with 4 pinnacles, and containing 6 bells, rehung and retuned in 1885, when a chiming apparatus was added. 

The nave is separated from the aisle by columns of the Early English order.
The church contains an ancient chained bible. The register dates from 1645.

There is a Baptist chapel here, and a Methodist chapel at Goatacre tithing, 1.5 miles north. The reading room was built in 1892 by the lord of the manor. There are 5 almshouses. The population in 1931 was 719 (civil) and 648 (ecclesiastical).

Beversbrook, 1 mile south, and Catcombe, 1 mile north, are tithings;
Clevancy, 2.5 miles east, and Goatacre, 1.5 miles north are hamlets; a district called New Zealand forms part of Goatacre (situated at the western extreme of Lyneham RAF station runway).

The village contains one public house, The Duke. The school contains a curious tower.

The manse of Hilmarton were granted by King Edgar of Wulfmaer a Thegn in 962. Mentioned in the Doomsday Survey there were 3 estates of Hilmarton amounting to 11 Hides, roughly the same land granted in 962. One of the Hides estates was held by Alfric the Little and is possibly descended to Walter Spileman who had this land in 1198. The largest of the 3 Doomsday holdings was part of the estate of William of Eu. In 1348 Goatacre had become part of the parish of Hilmarton. Under William of Eu it was held in 1086 by one Ralph. By 1242-3 a Roger Bluet was holding it for Ralph de Wancy who in turn held it for the Earl Marshall. In 1306 John Bluet held the manor of Roger Bigood. He was succeeded by Sir John Bluet whose grandson held Hilmarton in 1369 but died about 1380 and was succeeded by his cousin Philip Baynard who died in 1437 leaving the manor to his son, also Philip.

For about 170 years it was passed down through the family. In 1607 Robert Baynard sold Hilmarton to a John Norborne who died in 1635 and was succeeded by his son Walter of Calne who was fined for his loyalty to the King. He was followed by his son Walter who was killed in a dual in 1684, leaving two daughters, between whom Hilmarton was equally divided. The two parts of the manor were united in 1728 when Susan died leaving the Estate to her sister Elizabeth. Finally, through the marriage of Elizabeth and subsequent heirs & marriages Hilmarton passed to Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort, who sold the Hilmarton Estate Piecemeal in 1802.

The manor was purchased by Samuel hale who sold it in 1809 to Benjamin Ansley who sold it in 1813 to Thomas Poynder. He died in 1856 and was followed by his two sons successively Thomas Henry Allen Poynder (d. 1873) and William Henry Poynder (d. 1880)
During the life of these three Poynders, the estate was built up again. In 1880 if passed to John Poynder Dickson the son of Thomas Poynder's daughter Sarah Matilda, wife of Rear Admiral J.B. Dickson. In 1988 John Poynder Dickson assumed the surname of Poynder, he was created Baron Islington in 1910-12. He sold the Hilmarton Estate in lots in 1914 and died in 1936.

For a great deal of it's history Hilmarton Estate has been part of a large estate but the Manor House has probably beern seldom occupied by the Lords of the Manor. The house which stands on the main Calne to Lyneham road was for a time in the early 20th Century called Hilmarton Lodge. It appears to have been remodelled in the 19th Century by T.H.A Poynder.