Warminster () is a historic market town and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in south-west

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, on the western edge of

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but st ...

. The parish had a population of 18,173 in 2021. The name ''Warminster'' occurs first in the early 10th century and the Minster Church of St Denys was begun in the 11th century. The High Street and Market Place have many fine buildings including the Athenaeum Centre, the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, St Lawrence Chapel, The Old Bell and a variety of independent shops. Several Army establishments, known collectively as the

Warminster Garrison Warminster Garrison is a military garrison of the British Army, on the edge of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. History The history of Warminster's military garrison can be traced back to Roman Britain, where a small camp was located on t ...

, are on the edges of the town.

Etymology

The origin of the root ''Wor'' is ''wara'', the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

of the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

''waru'' meaning "those that care for, watch, guard, protect, or defend." It was used as an

endonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

by both

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

and

Jutes The Jutes ( ) were one of the Germanic people, Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the end of Roman rule in Britain, departure of the Roman Britain, Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic na ...

. Their specific

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

is unknown, though it likely was related to the native name of the

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (: ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age Europe, Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celts, Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread acros ...

Battlesbury Camp Battlesbury Camp is the site of an Iron Age bivallate hill fort on Battlesbury Hill near the town of Warminster in Wiltshire, South West England. Excavations and surveys at the site have uncovered various finds and archaeological evidence. Bac ...

during

Sub-Roman The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

times. The town's name has evolved over time; it was known as ''Worgemynstre'' in the early tenth century and was recorded as ''Guerminstre'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. The

''minster'' derives from

''mynster'' meaning monastery, nunnery, mother church or cathedral, and was given to the town by

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

settlers in the seventh century.

History

Early history

The main settlement at Warminster dates back to the

Anglo-Saxon period Anglo-Saxon England or early medieval England covers the period from the end of Roman imperial rule in Britain in the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Compared to modern England, the territory of the Anglo-Saxons stretched north ...

, although there is evidence of pre-historic settlements in the area, especially at the nearby

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hill forts A hillfort is a type of fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late European Bronze Age and Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roman period. The fortific ...

Scratchbury Camp Scratchbury Camp is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort on Scratchbury Hill, overlooking the River Wylye, Wylye valley about 1 km northeast of the village of Norton Bavant in Wiltshire, England. The fort covers an area of and occup ...

and

Cley Hill Cley Hill () is a prominent hill to the west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. Its summit has a commanding view of the Wiltshire / Somerset county boundary, at elevation. The land is in Corsley parish and is owned by the National Trust. A ...

. Two

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

s have been discovered in the area, as have caches of Roman coins. By the 10th century, Warminster included a royal manor and an Anglo-Saxon minster, with the residents largely associated with the estate. The royal manor was passed to new lords in the 12th century, during which time the township started to grow. In the 13th century a market was set up at Warminster, and by 1377 the town had 304 poll-tax payers, the tenth largest in Wiltshire.

Civil war

During the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, between 1642 and 1645, the town was the site of a few incidents. A

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

for the "

Roundheads Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

", Henry Wansey, was besieged in Warminster, while a force under

Edmund Ludlow Edmund Ludlow (c. 1617–1692) was an English parliamentarian, best known for his involvement in the execution of Charles I, and for his ''Memoirs'', which were published posthumously in a rewritten form and which have become a major source ...

entered a skirmish on Warminster Common when trying to relieve him. By 1646, the town had suffered £500 () worth of damages by supporting the Roundheads.

Post-medieval prosperity

The market at Warminster was the focus of the town's prosperity, with significant

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

, clothing and

malting Malting is the process of steeping, germinating, and drying grain to convert it into malt. Germination and sprouting involve a number of enzymes to produce the changes from seed to seedling and the malt producer stops this stage of the process w ...

trades established by the 16th century and continuing to be the economic backbone of the town until the 19th century. The market also included a significant

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

trade throughout the period and was regarded as the second largest corn market in the west of England in 1830. Unlike many markets of the time where farmers would take only samples to market, Warminster's corn market required a sack from each load of corn to be available to customers; each purchase was to be agreed between 11am and 1pm and paid for by the end of the day. The town had a large amount of accommodation for visitors to the market, and in 1686 it was ranked fourth for number of places to stay in Wiltshire, with 116 beds. By 1710 there were approximately fifty inns and alehouses in the town. The town was an early adopter of the Turnpikes Act to improve the roads around the town. Unlike many roads improved at the time which would link to towns, Warminster chose to improve seven roads around the town, all under long. By the late 18th century some 200 dwellings had been built under

squatter's rights ''Squatter's Rights'' is a 1946 animated short film produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions. The cartoon is about a confrontation between Pluto and Chip and Dale who have taken up residence in Mickey Mouse's hunting shack. It was ...

near Warminster Common, many of them substandard and overcrowded. William Daniell, a 19th-century Methodist minister, reported the reminiscences of a woman born there in the 1770s: unplastered hovels with earth floors, and piles of filth which poisoned the Cannimore Brook, bringing

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

and

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

. The people were considered rude and drunk criminals. Daniell and members of the clergy were keen to help the residents, and by 1833 the area was considered clean and respectable.

19th and 20th centuries

The town centre was redesigned after 1807 when George Wansey, from a family of clothiers in Warminster, left £1,000 () to improve the town, provided his money could be matched by local fundraising. The amount raised was spent on demolishing houses to widen roads. In 1851, a railway line from Westbury was opened, and then in 1856 the line was continued to

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

. The railway had a devastating effect on the town's market, which fell away almost to nothing; the shops and inns lost most of their business, and the local industries declined. In 1907, a committee was put together to advertise the town, creating a town guide and advertising in national publications. The committee could not come to an agreement with Lord Bath over the location of a new hotel. The headquarters and factory of luxury glovemakers

Dents Dents is a British company that crafts luxury leather gloves, handbags, and small leather goods. Dents is known for its hand cutting, sewing, and stitching techniques, which are still practised today on some limited top-end products, most merc ...

moved to the town in 1937, where it has remained since. Between 1937 and 1965, a significant military presence formed at Warminster, with the addition of camps, a permanent barracks at Battlesbury, married quarters, a School of Infantry, and workshops for vehicle repairs.

Religious sites

Church of England

St Denys's Church is the town's oldest, and is claimed to have had minster status, as there was a church here in the 10th century. Rebuilding was carried out in the 14th century, and in 1889 the church was mostly rebuilt, with a longer nave. As the town's population grew in the 19th century, two more churches were built: Christ Church in 1831 to serve the south of the town, and St John's in 1865 in the southeast. All three churches are listed, St Denys' and St John's churches are Grade II* and Christ Church is Grade II.

Town chapel

The chapel of St Lawrence, on the High Street near the market place, has been a

chapel-of-ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

to St Denys since at least 1290. Its tower is from the late 13th or early 14th century, but the rest was rebuilt in 1855–7. The people of the town bought the chapel in 1574, giving it the status of a non-royal peculiar outside the jurisdiction of the Church of England. Since then has been administered by

feoffee Under the feudal system in England, a feoffee () is a trustee who holds a fief (or "fee"), that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use ...

s (trustees) on behalf of the town, and they invite the vicar of St Denys' to hold services.

Others

Methodists built a chapel on George Street, west of the town centre, in 1804; it was rebuilt in 1861. The congregation amalgamated with the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

in 1983 to form the United Church. A predecessor of the URC opened a chapel at Common Close in 1720, which by 1829 had a congregation of 900, leading to the chapel being rebuilt for a second time in 1839; notable ministers included Daniel Fisher (1752 to 1771) and

Geoffrey Nuttall Geoffrey Fillingham Nuttall (8 November 1911 – 24 July 2007) was a British Congregational minister and ecclesiastical historian. Nuttall was born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, the son of the general practitioner. He was educated at Bootham S ...

(1938 to 1943). Numbers fell in the 20th century, and after the 1983 amalgamation the chapel was demolished in 1987. The

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

chapel in North Row, off the High Street, was built in 1810 using red brick with stone dressings; by 1829 there were 250 in the congregation. Its interior was remodelled c.1850. St Giles' Garrison Church, Imber Road, was built in 1968. St George's Roman Catholic Church, Boreham Road, in the

Diocese of Clifton The Diocese of Clifton is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church centred at the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Clifton, England. The diocese covers the City and County of Bristol and the ceremonial counties of Gloucester ...

, was built in 1922 to designs of Bristol architect

Sir Frank William Wills Sir Frank William Wills (17 August 1852 – 26 March 1932) of Berkeley Square, Bristol, England, was a member of the Wills tobacco family, who became a noted British architect and went on to serve as Lord Mayor of Bristol. Early life and ...

College and convent

James Erasmus Philipps, vicar of St Denys from 1859 to 1897, raised funds in 1860 to found a college for young men in a house on Church Street. It evolved into a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

college called St Boniface Missionary College, and its building was greatly enlarged in 1901 and 1927. From 1948 until closure in 1969, as Warminster Theological College, it was a post-graduate facility of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. Today its buildings are part of

Warminster School Warminster School is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, day school in Warminster, Wiltshire, England, for pupils aged three to eighteen. Initially established in 1707, the s ...

. Philipps also led the foundation of an order of

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

s, the Community of St Denys, in 1879. The nuns ran St Monica's School for Girls, which merged with Lord Weymouth's Grammar School in 1973 to form Warminster School. Since the retirement of the last nun in the early 21st century, the order operates as a grant-making charity.

Notable buildings and structures

Warminster has one

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

building: Portway House, to the north of the town centre, built for a wealthy clothier in 1722. The

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

house has a seven-bay front flanked by later extensions, and is set back from the road behind ornamental ironwork dated 1760. Other Bath stone houses include 38–40 Market Place, late 18th century or early 19th, now shops at street level; and The Chantry, 34 High Street. Both are Grade II* listed. Further Grade II* listed buildings include the churches of St Denys and St John; Byne House, Church Street, 1755; and

, 1708, endowed by Lord Weymouth, two storeys with attic, seven-bay front. Wren House, Vicarage Street, of 1720 or 1730, is described by Historic England as "a fine example of an early Georgian 5-bay house". The Pound Street maltings, at what was the western edge of the town, are a rebuilding of 1879 in rubble stone with some ashlar. The Athenaeum Centre, designed by William Jervis Stent and built in 1857, is Wiltshire's oldest working theatre and has been showing films since 1897. At the triangular junction of Vicarage Street and Silver Street stands a tall stone obelisk, crowned with a reeded urn and pineapple, which was erected in 1873 on the site of an earlier

high cross A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...

to commemorate the

inclosure Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...

of the parish. Warminster_-_Former_Town_Hall_-_geograph

Warminster Town Hall Warminster Town Hall is a former municipal building in the Market Place of Warminster, Wiltshire, England. The structure, which served as the headquarters of Warminster Urban District Council, is a Grade II listed building. History The first to ...

, at the junction of the High Street and Weymouth Street, was designed c. 1837 by

Edward Blore Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. Early career Blore was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore. Blore's backg ...

at the expense of the 5th Marquess of Bath; the two-storey front elevation is a replica of

Longleat Longleat is a stately home about west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, it is a Grade I listed building and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath. Longleat is set in of parkl ...

, with the addition of a central bellcote, clock and coat of arms. The building was sold by the district council in 1979.

Governance

Warminster falls within the

parliamentary constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

South West Wiltshire South West Wiltshire is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency in Wiltshire, England. The constituency has been represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the Unite ...

, which has been represented since 2001 by

Andrew Murrison Surgeon Commander Andrew William Murrison (born 24 April 1961) is a British doctor, Royal Navy, naval officer and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament ...

for the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

. There are two levels of local government:

Wiltshire Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire (district), Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters a ...

– the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

for the county – and Warminster Town Council, which has 13 elected councillors. Until 2009, when it was abolished,

West Wiltshire West Wiltshire was a local government district in Wiltshire, England, between 1974 and 2009, when it was superseded by the new Wiltshire unitary area. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, further to the Local Government Act 1972, as a me ...

District Council acted as the second tier of local government.

Geography

Warminster is in south-west Wiltshire, near to the Somerset border. The town is surrounded by six hills, providing shelter and security for early settlers. Warminster is also close to the former

Selwood Forest The ancient Selwood Forest ran approximately between Gillingham in Dorset and Chippenham in Wiltshire. It is described by the historian Barbara Yorke as a "formidable natural obstacle" in the Anglo-Saxon period, which was a significant bounda ...

. A minor river known as The Were flows through the town to join the

River Wylye The River Wylye ( ), also known in its upper reaches as the River Deverill, is a chalk stream in Wiltshire, England, with clear water flowing over gravel. It is popular with fly fishermen. A half-mile stretch of the river and three lakes in W ...

on the south-east outskirts. The former hamlets of Bugley (west of the town on the Frome road) and Boreham (east towards Bishopstrow) are now part of Warminster's suburbs.

Population

The

Domesday Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

survey of 1086 recorded 104 households, largely craftsmen for the royal

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

, but the population had grown by 1377 to 304 poll-tax payers, making Warminster the tenth largest village in Wiltshire. In 1665, the population had increased to 354 households, approximately 1,800 people. The area contained by the turnpike gates included 2,605 people in 1781.

Economy

As Warminster is in an area of fertile land, much of its early economy was through farming, especially cereals. William Daniell commented in 1879 that Warminster lay 'in the midst of a fine corn-country', and Warminster's market provided the backbone of the economy through the 16th to 19th centuries. Alongside cereals, wool and clothing were traded and there were a number of

s in the town. Warminster's clothing trade suffered greatly in the early 19th century, as there was no suitable river to power machinery during a period of industrialisation. At the same time its malting trade declined but remained important. In 1855, William Morgan commissioned the Pound Street Maltings, which Pevsner found to be derelict in 1974; today, malt is again produced there under new management. The coming of the railway line from Westbury in 1851, continued to

in 1856, had a devastating effect on the town's market, which fell away almost to nothing, and the shops and inns lost most of their business. In 1860, Warminster was described as "a clean-swept, semi-aristocratic, decidedly poor place... in a lukewarm, stagnant, bankrupt state." However, by that year the town had begun to adopt new trades in

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

and iron-founding, which eventually grew enough to mitigate the loss of other business. One example was the Woodcock Ironworks, set up by

John Wallis Titt John Wallis Titt (1841–1910) was a late nineteenth-century English mechanical engineer and builder of a particular design of large wind engine. Early life Titt was born in 1841 at Chitterne, Wiltshire to John Titt and Eliza Titt (''née'' Wa ...

in the town in the mid-1870s to make agricultural machines. During the 20th century, Warminster's economy became more dependent on the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and its associated service industries, but other new businesses also came into the area, such as intensive

poultry farming Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion c ...

, banana ripening, and shoe manufacture. During the late 20th century and early 21st century, the leisure industry has grown in the area, with

and

Center Parcs Longleat Forest Center Parcs UK and Ireland (formerly Center Parcs UK) is a short-break holiday company that operates six holiday villages in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, with each covering about of woodland. The company's first village opene ...

becoming significant employers.

Amenities

Warminster has a library, museum, theatre, sports centre with pool, and a selection of independent shops and restaurants, as well as a thriving community, including a choral society called 'The Athenaeum Singers'. Annual events in the area include an illuminated carnival, a vintage bus run and heritage open days. The

Athenaeum Athenaeum may refer to: Books and periodicals * ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798 * ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921 * ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...

is an 1858 Grade II listed building and Wiltshire's oldest working theatre venue. Originally a literary institution, with lectures, plays and concerts, and later a cinema and arts centre, it is now a theatre and centre for the community. Facilities at the Lakeside Pleasure Grounds (run by Warminster Town Council) include children's play activities, tennis courts, a skate park, children's splash pool and a boating lake leading to the Henford's Marsh nature reserve; the park was opened by

Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath Thomas Henry Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath (15 July 1862 – 9 June 1946), styled Viscount Weymouth until 1896, was a British landowner and Conservative politician. He held ministerial office as Under-Secretary of State for India in 1905 and ...

, in 1924 on the site of the town's former rubbish tip. A children's play area was added in 1938 with a grant from the national King George V memorial foundation. About to the west is

, the

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

of the

Marquess of Bath Marquess#United Kingdom, Marquess of Bath is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath, Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles Baron#Britain an ...

, and its estate which has included

Longleat Safari Park Longleat Safari and Adventure Park in Longleat, Wiltshire, England, was opened in 1966 as the world's first drive-through safari park outside Africa. History The park is in the grounds of Longleat, Longleat House, a stately home which is open ...

since 1966; the first drive-through safari park outside Africa, it is home to over 500 animals, including giraffes, monkeys, rhinos, lions, tigers and wolves. The nearby Longleat Forest is also home to a

Center Parcs Center Parcs may refer to: * Center Parcs UK and Ireland, a short-break holiday company based in the United Kingdom and Ireland * Center Parcs Europe Center Parcs Europe N.V. (formerly Center Parcs) is a European network of holiday villages t ...

holiday village A holiday village (abbreviated HV) is a holiday resort where the visitors stay in villas. There is a central area with shops, entertainment, and other amenities.Stanisław Pietkiewicz, Stefan Żmuda: ''Słownik pojęć geograficznych''. Warsaw ...

Media

The '' Warminster Journal'' is the local paid-for

weekly newspaper Weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly newspap ...

. Published since 1881, it covers the surrounding villages as well as the town. The town is also within the area of the ''

Wiltshire Times The ''Wiltshire Times'' is a weekly newspaper published in Trowbridge, Wiltshire in South West England. The paper serves the western Wiltshire towns of Bradford on Avon, Trowbridge, Corsham, Chippenham, Warminster, Westbury and Melksham, and the ...

'', another weekly newspaper. Local news and television programmes are provided by

BBC West BBC West is one of the BBC's English Regions serving Bristol, Somerset, the majority of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire and north of Dorset. Services Television BBC West's television service (broadcast on BBC One) consists of the flagship regio ...

and

ITV West Country ITV West Country is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the South West England franchise area on the ITV network. Previously, between 2009 and 2013, the area was a non-franchise region, branded with the same ...

. Television signals are received from the Mendip and local relay transmitters.

BBC Radio Wiltshire BBC Radio Wiltshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Place in Swindon. According to RAJAR, the station had a weekly au ...

is the

BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 39 stations. As of December 2024, the network broadcasts to a combined audience of 7.1 mil ...

public service station for the county. Warminster Community Radio (WCR) is the local community station broadcasting from the Civic Centre on 105.5 FM and online. Warminster is the centre of a small commercial radio licensing area, available on 107.5 FM. The licence was first held from 2001 by

3TR FM 3TR FM (Three Towns Radio) was an Independent Local Radio station based in the market town of Warminster, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. It broadcast on 107.5 FM to the West Wiltshire, East Somerset and surrounding area, and online via Internet str ...

(Three Towns Radio; referring to Warminster, Westbury and

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest tow ...

) but from 2008 went through several changes of ownership and station name. Since 2019 the station has been owned by

Bauer Radio Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of Bauer Media Group owning brands; Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio, Jazz FM, Hits Radio, KISS, Planet Rock, Magic, Kerrang! Radio and Heat Radio. History In early 2008, German ma ...

, and in September 2020 it was rebranded to

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. It currently includes 18 local and regional radio stations operating over 50 FM and DAB licences in England, Scotl ...

which broadcasts national and regional music programmes.

Military presence

The

Waterloo Lines Waterloo Lines is a British Army barracks on Imber Road in Warminster, Wiltshire, England. It is currently home to a number of Army specialist training schools and a sizeable portion of the Headquarters Field Army (not to be confused with Army ...

, formerly the Land Warfare Centre, is home to a number of Army specialist training schools and a sizeable portion of the Headquarters Field Army (not to be confused with Army HQ in

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...

). The site is also home to Headquarters

Small Arms School Corps The Small Arms School Corps (SASC) is a small corps of the British Army, established in 1853 by Lord Hardinge. Its personnel provide advice and instruction to infantry weapon trainers throughout the army, in order to maintain proficiency in th ...

and Headquarters Infantry, which was formed in 1996 and is responsible for the recruiting, manning and training policies of the Infantry.

Harman Lines Harman Lines is a military installation of the British Army, which is part of Warminster Garrison on the Salisbury Plain. Harman Lines is on Sack Road in Warminster, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. History In 1965, Warminster saw a large expansi ...

is a smaller installation nearby; in 2013, elements of the

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the World War I, First World War. Today, it is an Armoured warfare, armoured regiment equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks ...

were here.

Battlesbury Barracks Battlesbury Barracks is a British Army installation in Warminster, Wiltshire, England. It is the permanent base of the Royal Dragoon Guards, serving as armoured cavalry. History The barracks is on the eastern outskirts of the town, near the ancie ...

(near the ancient

) is the home of the

Royal Dragoon Guards The Royal Dragoon Guards (RDG) is a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments: The 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dr ...

, an armoured cavalry regiment. Between 2005 and 2020, forces of the

Yorkshire Regiment The Royal Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) (abbreviated R YORKS) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, created by the amalgamation of three historic regiments in 2006. It lost one battalion as part of the Future of ...

(latterly the 1st Battalion) were based here; the regiment's 3rd Battalion was awarded the freedom of the town in 2012.

Transport

Warminster is at the junction of two primary routes, the A36 and the

A350 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

, which both now bypass the town to the south and east. There is a service area where the two roads meet. The

A303 The A303 is a trunk road in southern England, running between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon via Stonehenge. Connecting the M3 and the A30, it is part of one of the main routes from London to Devon and Cornwall. It is a prima ...

is about south of the town, and junctions 17 and 18 of the M4 are to the north.

Warminster railway station Warminster railway station serves the historic market town of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. The station is operated by Great Western Railway and is a main station on the Wessex Main Line, with regular services to Bristol, Cardiff, Southamp ...

, which opened in 1851, is a stop on the

Wessex Main Line The Wessex Main Line is the railway line from Bristol Temple Meads to Southampton Central. Diverging from this route is the Heart of Wessex Line from Westbury to Weymouth. The Wessex Main Line intersects the Reading to Taunton Line at and ...

. It is served by two

train operating companies In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways ...

: *

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

operates regular services to , ,

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and ;

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London railway station and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great Western Ra ...

can be reached by changing at Westbury. GWR also manages the station. *

South Western Railway South Western Railway Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is the British state-owned train operating company that took over the services of the South Western Railway (2017–2025), operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR ...

operates services between

London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a major central London railway terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Undergroun ...

and , via

. Warminster's bus services are operated by

First Bristol First West of EnglandCompanies House extract company no 25088
...

, Beeline Coaches and FromeBus. Routes connect the town with Bath, Frome and Salisbury. Berrys Coaches operates the ''Superfast 3'' route between

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Sport

Warminster has a long history of sporting activities, with many clubs established in the 19th century. Warminster Cricket Club was created in 1838. Its facilities at Sambourne Road have been shared with the local hockey team and the Warminster Table Tennis Club. The West Wilts Hockey Club has origins dating back to 1899 and as of 2016 has 13 adult teams. The architect

John Henry Taylor John Henry "J.H." Taylor (19 March 1871 – 10 February 1963) was an English professional golfer and one of the pioneers of the modern game of golf. Taylor is considered to be one of the best golfers of all time. He was a significant golf cours ...

designed the town's Elm Hill golf course in 1891. Warminster Town Football Club began around 1878 and the site at Weymouth Street was renovated and expanded in the 1990s; they play in Division One of the Western League. The town has a competitive swimming club, which began as part of Wiltshire County Amateur Swimming Association in 1907 and was re-established as Warminster and District Amateur Swimming Club in 1973. The Marquess of Bath is the President of Warminster Rugby Club which began in 1977 and in 1997 established its base at the West Wilts District Council owned Folly Lane multi-sports site. More recent additions have been the Warminster Sports Centre run by Wiltshire Council, the Warminster Running Club, the Warminster Adventure Sports Club, and the Wessex Blades Fencing Club.

Education

Warminster has several primary schools and two secondary schools:

, an independent public school which was founded in 1707, and

Kingdown School Kingdown School is a Mixed-sex education, mixed secondary school and sixth form in Warminster, Wiltshire, England for students aged 11 to 18. Since 1 August 2011, the school has been an Academy (English school), academy. History Kingdown School ...

which became an academy in 2011. Nearby Bishopstrow College prepares international students for boarding school.

Public services

Utilities

Wessex Water Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of South West England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Bristol, most of Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire and parts of ...

supplies the town's

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

and

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...

services, with water

hardness In materials science, hardness (antonym: softness) is a measure of the resistance to plastic deformation, such as an indentation (over an area) or a scratch (linear), induced mechanically either by Pressing (metalworking), pressing or abrasion ...

in the town centre reported as 250 mg/L. The

distribution network operator A distribution network operator (DNO), also known as a distribution system operator (DSO), is the operator of the electric power distribution system which delivers electricity to most end users. Each country may have many local distribution netwo ...

for both

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

gas Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...

SSE plc SSE plc (formerly Scottish and Southern Energy plc) is a multinational energy company headquartered in Perth, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. SSE operates in the United Kingdom a ...

Healthcare

The town has one GP partnership, the Avenue Surgery. The small Warminster Community Hospital has been run since 2016 by Wiltshire Health and Care LLP, who provide community services here and at five other small Wiltshire hospitals. The hospital has an inpatient ward. The nearest minor injuries unit is at

, and the nearest general hospitals with

Accident and Emergency An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pat ...

departments are

Salisbury District Hospital Salisbury District Hospital is a large hospital on Odstock Road, Britford, Wiltshire, England, about south of the centre of the city of Salisbury. It is managed by the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust. History The first Odstock Hospital was co ...

and the

Royal United Hospital The Royal United Hospital (RUH) is a major acute-care district general hospital in the Weston suburb of Bath, England, which lies approximately west of the city centre. The hospital has 565 beds and occupies a site. It is the area's major acci ...

in Bath. Ambulances are provided by the

South Western Ambulance Service The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is the organisation responsible for providing ambulance services for the National Health Service (NHS) across South West England. It serves the council areas of Bath and North East ...

Policing

The town is within the area of

Wiltshire Police Wiltshire Police, formerly known as Wiltshire Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Wiltshire (including the Borough of Swindon) in South West England. The force serves 722,000 people over an area ...

, who have a station at The Avenue, in the centre of the town near the fire station. Until 2021 the police station was at Station Road, but the Police and Crime Commissioner described that building as "not fit for purpose". Warminster - Police Station - geograph

As of June 2020, the Community Policing Team consists of: *Neighbourhood Inspector (for Warminster, Westbury,

Mere Mere may refer to: Places * Mere, Belgium, a village in East Flanders * Mere, Cheshire, England * Mere, Wiltshire, England People * Mere Broughton (1938–2016), New Zealand Māori language activist and unionist * Mere Smith, American television ...

and Tisbury) *Neighbourhood Sergeant (for the same area) *One

Police Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an police officer, officer within a police ser ...

(PC) *One Special Constable (SC) *Three

Police Community Support Officer A police community support officer (PCSO; ), or as written in legislation Community Support Officer (CSO; ), is a uniformed member of police staff in England and Wales, a role created by Section 38(2) of the Police Reform Act 2002, which was giv ...

s (PCSO) The

Ministry of Defence Police The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) is a civilian special police force#United Kingdom, special police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence. The MDP's primary responsibilities are ...

and

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

are occasionally to be seen passing through the town, as

and the

Salisbury Plain training area The Salisbury Plain Training Area is a large expanse of land on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, which is managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. History The British Army's Salisbury Pla ...

are policed jointly by all three police organisations.

Fire Service

Warminster has a fire station (The Portway, Warminster, BA12 8QE) and its

retained firefighter In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to eme ...

s are provided by

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is a statutory emergency fire and rescue service covering the local authority areas of Wiltshire, Swindon, Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in England. The service was created on 1 April 2 ...

. They respond to emergencies when alerted by their pagers. Warminster -Fire Station - geograph

Notable people

William Aldridge William Aldridge (1737 – 28 February 1797) was an English nonconformist minister. Biography Aldridge was born at Warminster, in Wiltshire. At age 23 he decided to become a preacher of the gospel, and was admitted to Trevecca College in Sout ...

(1737–1797), independent minister *

Freddie Bartholomew Frederick Cecil Bartholomew (March 28, 1924 – January 23, 1992), known for his acting work as Freddie Bartholomew, was an English-American child actor who was very popular in 1930s Hollywood films. His most famous starring roles are in '' Cap ...

(1924–1992), child actor *

Rupert E. Billingham Rupert Everett Billingham FRS (15 October 1921 – 16 November 2002) was a British biologist who did significant research in the fields of reproductive immunology and organ transplantation. "He made numerous fundamental contributions to our ...

(1921–2002), biologist *

Benjamin Buckler Benjamin Buckler (1716 or 1717 – 24 December 1780) was an antiquarian and an academic at the University of Oxford. Life Buckler, from Warminster in Wiltshire, studied at Oriel College, Oxford, from 1733 onwards. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts ...

(1716–1780), antiquary *

Beryl May Dent Beryl May Dent (10 May 19009 August 1977) was an English Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist, technical librarian, and a programmer of early analogue and digital computers to solve electrical engineering problems. She was born in Chi ...

(1900–1977), mathematical physicist *

Henry Huntingford Henry Huntingford (1787-1867) was an English clergyman and miscellaneous writer. Life Born at Warminster, Wiltshire on 19 September 1787, he was the son of the Rev. Thomas Huntingford, master of Warminster school, and a nephew of George Isaac Hunt ...

(1787–1867), classical scholar and Church of England clergyman *

John Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids John Wynford Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids (30 May 1860 – 28 March 1938) was a British Liberal politician. Background and education Philipps was the eldest son of Reverend Sir James Erasmus Philipps, 12th Baronet, Vicar of Warminster ...

(1860–1938), politician * Henry Wansey (1751–1827), woollen manufacturer and traveller

Twin towns

Warminster is twinned with: * Flers, France *

Warminster, Pennsylvania Warminster Township, also referred to as Warminster, is located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was formally established in 1711. The township is 13.7 miles north of Philadelphia and had a population of 33,603 according to the ...

, United States

UFO sightings

Warminster was the location for a number of UFO sightings during the 1960s and 1970s. The first sighting was recorded on 25 December 1964 by

Arthur Shuttlewood Arthur Shuttlewood (1920–1996) was a British journalist, author and ufologist. Shuttlewood was born in 1920 in Chelmsford, Essex. Shuttlewood moved to Warminster in 1940, and served in the Grenadier Guards and the Air Ministry Constabulary. ...

, who compiled a dossier of further sightings over the following year which he gave to the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' to publish. The newspaper story gained the town some notoriety for UFO sightings, leading to a BBC documentary in 1966, several books on the sightings, a 2009 conference on UFOs, and a 2010 conference with UFO expert Nick Pope.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Warminster Parish CouncilWarminster Town Centre Conservation Area Character Assessment
West Wiltshire DC, Dec. 2006 {{authority control Towns in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire