Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering 300 square miles. 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, the plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of Englands best known landmarks. Additionally the plain has arable land, and a few areas of beech trees. Its highest point is Easton Hill, the boundaries of Salisbury Plain have never been truly defined, and there is some difference of opinion as to its exact area. The river valleys surrounding it, and other downs and plains beyond them loosely define its boundaries, to the north the scarp of the downs overlooks the Vale of Pewsey, and to the north west the Bristol Avon. The River Wylye runs along the south west, and the Bourne runs to the east, the Hampshire Avon runs through the eastern half of the plain and to the south the plain peters out as the river valleys close together before meeting at Salisbury.
From here the Avon continues south to the English Channel at Christchurch, the Hampshire Downs and the Berkshire Downs are chalk downland to the east and north of Salisbury Plain, and the Dorset Downs is to the south west. In the west and north west the geology is mainly of the clays and limestones of the Blackmore Vale, the A303 road runs along the southern area of the plain, while the A345 and the A360 cut across the centre. Salisbury Plain is famous for its history and archaeology, in the Neolithic period Stone Age man began to settle on the plain, most likely centred around the causewayed enclosure of Robin Hoods Ball. Large long barrows like White Barrow and other earthworks were built across the plain, by 2500 BC areas around Durrington Walls and Stonehenge had become a focus for building, and the southern part of the plain continued to be settled into the Bronze Age. Roman roads are visible features, probably serving a settlement near Old Sarum, villas are sparse and Anglo-Saxon place names suggest that the plain was mostly a grain-producing imperial estate.
In the 6th century Anglo-Saxon incomers built planned settlements in the valleys surrounded by strip lynchets, the cathedral is evidence of the prosperity the wool and cloth trade brought to the area. In the mid-19th century the wool and cloth industry began to decline, leading to a decline in the population and change in use from sheep farming to agriculture. Wiltshire became one of the poorest counties in England during this period of decline, there are a number of chalk carvings on the plain, of which the most famous is the Westbury White Horse. The Kennet and Avon Canal was constructed to the north of the plain, in 1896, George Kemp and Guglielmo Marconi experimented with wireless telegraphy on Salisbury Plain, and achieved good results over a distance of 1.75 miles. Media related to Army Training Estate Salisbury Plain at Wikimedia Commons The military training area covers roughly half of the plain, the army first conducted exercises on the plain in 1898. From that time, the Ministry of Defence bought up large areas of land until the Second World War, the MoD now own 150 square miles of land, making it the largest military training area in the United Kingdom.
Of this, around 39 square miles are permanently closed to the public, as of 2016, the largest camps and barracks are at Larkhill, Tidworth, Trenchard Lines and Warminster
A345 road
The A345 is a secondary A road in Wiltshire, England running from Salisbury to Marlborough and the A4. The road is a main link across Salisbury Plain, which is renowned for its rich archaeology. At this point it passes within 2 miles of the World Heritage Site at Stonehenge, continuing north, the road passes near to Woodhenge and the Ministry of Defence Royal School of Artillery base at Larkhill. This part of the route can be hazardous as there are often tanks crossing, the next significant places are Netheravon, and Upavon where the road briefly separates into a one-way system around the village, running concurrently with the A342 to Devizes. From here the A345 goes to Pewsey, where the Pewsey White Horse is best viewed, originally the A345 extended north from Marlborough to a junction with the A419 at Commonhead, south east of Swindon. From there it went through Swindon to meet the A419 again at Blunsdon, when the M4 motorway was opened, the section from Marlborough to the motorway junction 15 became a northern extension of the A346.
From the motorway to Commonhead, the became part of the A419. Between Amesbury and Durrington a 0, the southern terminus was originally further south along Castle Street at Salisbury market square, but with the opening of the Salisbury Inner Ring Road in 1969 the southern section was declassified
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899. Alfred successfully defended his kingdom against the Viking attempt at conquest and he is one of only two English monarchs to be given the epithet the Great, the other being the Scandinavian Cnut the Great. He was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself King of the Anglo-Saxons, details of Alfreds life are described in a work by the 10th-century Welsh scholar and bishop Asser. In 2002, Alfred was ranked number 14 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Alfred was born in the village of Wanating, now Wantage, historically in Berkshire but now in Oxfordshire. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex by his first wife, Osburh. In 853, at the age of four, Alfred is reported by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to have sent to Rome, where he was confirmed by Pope Leo IV. Victorian writers interpreted this as a coronation in preparation for his eventual succession to the throne of Wessex. This is unlikely, his succession could not have foreseen at the time.
A letter of Leo IV shows that Alfred was made a consul and it may be based on Alfreds having accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to Rome, where he spent some time at the court of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, around 854–855. On their return from Rome in 856, Æthelwulf was deposed by his son Æthelbald, with civil war looming, the magnates of the realm met in council to hammer out a compromise. Æthelbald would retain the western shires, and Æthelwulf would rule in the east, when King Æthelwulf died in 858, Wessex was ruled by three of Alfreds brothers in succession, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred. Bishop Asser tells the story of how as a child Alfred won as a prize a book of Saxon poems, legend has it that the young Alfred spent time in Ireland seeking healing. Alfred was troubled by health problems throughout his life and it is thought that he may have suffered from Crohns disease. Statues of Alfred in Winchester and Wantage portray him as a great warrior, evidence suggests he was not physically strong, and though not lacking in courage, he was noted more for his intellect than as a warlike character.
During the short reigns of the two of his three elder brothers, Æthelbald of Wessex and Æthelberht of Wessex, Alfred is not mentioned. This arrangement may have been sanctioned by Alfreds father, or by the Witan, the arrangement of crowning a successor as royal prince and military commander is well known among other Germanic tribes, such as the Swedes and Franks, to whom the Anglo-Saxons were closely related. In 868, Alfred is recorded as fighting beside Æthelred in an attempt to keep the Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar the Boneless. At the end of 870, the Danes arrived in his homeland, the year which followed has been called Alfreds year of battles
Eleanor of Provence
Eleanor of Provence was Queen consort of England, as the spouse of King Henry III of England, from 1236 until his death in 1272. She served as regent of England during the absence of her spouse in 1253, although she was completely devoted to her husband, and staunchly defended him against the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, she was very much hated by the Londoners. On one occasion, Eleanors barge was attacked by citizens who pelted her with stones, pieces of paving, rotten eggs. Eleanor was the mother of five children, including the future King Edward I of England and she was renowned for her cleverness, skill at writing poetry, and as a leader of fashion. Born in Aix-en-Provence, she was the daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy. She was well educated as a child, and developed a love of reading. Her three sisters married kings, after her elder sister Margaret married Louis IX of France, their uncle William corresponded with Henry III of England to persuade him to marry Eleanor.
Like her mother and sisters, Eleanor was renowned for her beauty and she was a dark-haired brunette with fine eyes. Piers Langtoft speaks of her as The erles daughter, the fairest may of life, on 22 June 1235, Eleanor was betrothed to King Henry III. Eleanor was probably born in 1223, Matthew Paris describes her as being jamque duodennem when she arrived in the Kingdom of England for her marriage, Eleanor was married to King Henry III of England on 14 January 1236. She had never seen him prior to the wedding at Canterbury Cathedral and had never set foot in his kingdom, edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated. She was dressed in a golden gown that fitted tightly at the waist. The sleeves were long and lined with ermine and Henry together had five children, Edward I, married Eleanor of Castile in 1254, by whom he had issue, including his heir Edward II. His second wife was Margaret of France, by whom he had issue, married King Alexander III of Scotland, by whom she had issue. Beatrice, married John II, Duke of Brittany, by whom she had issue, edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, married Aveline de Forz in 1269, who died four years without issue, married Blanche of Artois in 1276, by whom he had issue.
Katherine Four others are listed, but their existence is in doubt as there is no record of them. It was because of her influence that King Henry granted the duchy of Gascony to Edward in 1249 and her youngest child, seems to have had a degenerative disease that rendered her deaf. When the little girl died at the age of three, both her parents suffered overwhelming grief
A303 road
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 routes from London to South West England. It is a primary A road throughout its length, passing through five counties, the road has evolved from historical routes, some of which are thousands of years old including the Harrow Way and the Fosse Way. The modern route was first laid out in the early 19th century as the New Direct Road and it was initially in demand but fell into disuse as railways became popular from the 1840s onwards. It was not thought of as a significant through route when roads were initially numbered, since then, the A303 has gradually been upgraded to modern standards, though there are still several unimproved parts. As a primary route to southwestern England, the A303 is frequently congested on its single carriageway sections, as it passes through the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, attempts to upgrade the road in those areas have been controversial.
In particular, the Stonehenge tunnel, which would see the A303 rerouted underground, has proposed and delayed several times. Nevertheless, the remains a popular alternative to motorway driving. The A303 is about 93 miles long and it starts at the M3 motorway south of Basingstoke at Junction 8, as a dual carriageway. It heads south west, crossing the A34 near Bullington before passing south of Andover, the road passes by Solstice Park and Bulford Camp before bypassing Amesbury and entering the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. The route becomes single carriageway before passing Stonehenge itself, the presence of the road through a World Heritage Site has been controversial for decades. After Winterbourne Stoke the route again becomes dual carriageway from Yarnbury Castle and across the Wylye valley. Continuing west, it passes south of Wincanton and north of Sparkford to a roundabout where the road once more to single carriageway. The road bypasses Ilchester and RNAS Yeovilton and widens to dual carriageway again, between Ilchester and Shores Bridge the road follows the course of the Roman Fosse Way.
At Yeovilton the road becomes dual two lane again, and connects with the A37 which joins it until it reaches the end of the bypass and this final section of dual carriageway ends at South Petherton. It runs north of Ilminster as a road where it meets the A358. The A303 is of a lower standard west of Ilminster and is no longer considered part of the road network. It passes through the Blackdown Hills as a road following the contours of the land
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
Postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the GPO, a full postcode is known as a postcode unit and designates an area with a number of addresses or a single major delivery point. For example, the postcode of the University of Roehampton in London is SW15 5PU, the postcode of GCHQ is GL51 0EX, where GL signifies the postal town of Gloucester. The postal town refers to an area and does not relate to a specific town. GL51 is one of the postcodes for the town of Cheltenham which is where GCHQ is located, the London post town covers 40% of Greater London. On inception it was divided into ten districts, EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W. The S and NE sectors were abolished and these divisions changed little, usually only changed for operational efficiency. Some older road signs in Hackney still indicate the North East sector/district, following the successful introduction of postal districts in London, the system was extended to other large towns and cities.
Liverpool was divided into Eastern, Northern and Western districts in 1864/65, in 1917 Dublin – still part of the United Kingdom – was divided into numbered postal districts. These continue in use in a form by An Post. In 1923 Glasgow was divided in a way to London. In January 1932 the Postmaster General approved the designation of some urban areas into numbered districts. In November 1934 the Post Office announced the introduction of numbered districts in every town in the United Kingdom large enough to justify it. Pamphlets were issued to each householder and business in ten areas notifying them of the number of the district in which their premises lay, the pamphlets included a map of the districts, and copies were made available at local head post offices. The public were invited to include the district number in the address at the head of letters. A publicity campaign in the following year encouraged the use of the district numbers, the slogan for the campaign was For speed and certainty always use a postal district number on your letters and notepaper. A poster was fixed to every box in the affected areas bearing the number of the district.
Every post office in the district was to display this information
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is free to everyone, regardless of immigration or visitor status. The NHS commissions most emergency services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK. As with other services, the public normally access emergency medical services through one of the valid emergency telephone numbers. This led to the formation of predominantly county based ambulance services, which gradually merged up and changed responsibilities until 2006, when there were 31 NHS ambulance trusts in England. Following further changes as part of the NHS foundation trust pathway, the commissioners in each region are responsible for contracting with a suitable organisation to provide ambulance services within their geographical territory. The primary contract for each area is held by a public NHS body, of which there are 11 in England. The service was operated before reorganisation in 1974 by the St Andrews’ Ambulance Association under contract to the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service was established in 1995 by parliamentary order, and serves the whole of Northern Ireland.
The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust was established on 1 April 1998, there is a large market for private and voluntary ambulance services, with the sector being worth £800m to the UK economy in 2012. This places the voluntary providers in direct competition with private services, expenditure on private ambulances in England increased from £37m in 2011−12 to £67. 5m in 2013/4, rising in London from £796,000 to more than £8. 8m. In 2014−15, these 10 ambulance services spent £57.6 million on 333,329 callouts of private or voluntary services - an increase of 156% since 2010−11, in 2013, the CQC found 97% of private ambulance services to be providing good care. These private, registered services are represented by the Independent Ambulance Association, there are a number of unregistered services operating, who do not provide ambulance transport, but only provide response on an event site. These firms are not regulated, and are not subject to the checks as the registered providers, although they may operate similar vehicles.
There are a number of ambulance providers, sometimes known as Voluntary Aid Services or Voluntary Aid Societies, with the main ones being the British Red Cross. The history of the ambulance services pre-dates any government organised service. As they are in competition for work with the private ambulance providers. Voluntary organisations have provided cover for the public when unionised NHS ambulance trust staff have taken industrial action, there are a number of smaller voluntary ambulance organisations, fulfilling specific purposes, such as Hatzola who provide emergency medical services to the orthodox Jewish community in some cities. These have however run into difficulties due to use of vehicles not legally recognised as ambulances, all emergency medical services in the UK are subject to a range of legal and regulatory requirements, and in many cases are monitored for performance. This framework is largely statutory in nature, being mandated by government through a range of primary and secondary legislation and this requires all providers to register, to meet certain standards of quality, and to submit to inspection of those standards
Amesbury Priory
Amesbury /ˈeɪmzbəri/ is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is most famous for the monument of Stonehenge which is in its parish. It has been confirmed by archaeologists that it is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the United Kingdom, King Alfred the Great left it in his will, a copy of which is in the British Library, to his youngest son Aethelweard. Eleanor of Provence, queen of England, died in Amesbury on 24 or 25 June 1291, the parish includes the hamlets of Ratfyn and West Amesbury, and most of Boscombe Down military airfield. Amesbury is located in southern Wiltshire,7 miles north of Salisbury on the A345 and it sits in the River Avon valley on the southern fringes of Salisbury Plain and has historically been considered an important river crossing area on the road from London to Warminster and Exeter. This has continued into the present with the building of the A303 across the Avon next to the town, the nearest railway station is located at nearby Grateley, on the London to Salisbury line.
The land around Amesbury has been settled since prehistoric times, evidenced by the monument of Stonehenge and they are now on display at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. Amesbury is recognized as the oldest continuously occupied UK settlement, during the Iron Age a large hill fort now known as Vespasians Camp was built alongside the Avenue and overlooking the River Avon. The fort could easily have catered for up to 1000 people and it is likely that there was a large Romano-British settlement overlooking the River Avon at this point. It has been suggested that the name of Amesbury is derived from Ambrosius Aurelianus, if this is the case he is likely to have used the hill fort as a stronghold. It is possible that an order of monks established a monastery in the area that was destroyed by the Saxons before they settled the area in the 7th century. Amesbury is associated with the Arthurian legend, the convent to which Guinevere retired was said to have been the one at Amesbury. In 979 AD a Benedictine abbey, the Abbey of St Mary, in 1177 the abbey was dissolved by Henry II and replaced with a double priory of the Fontevrault order.
Eleanor of Provence was buried in the abbey on 11 September 1291, Amesbury became an estate and was given to Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford by the crown. On John Speeds map of Wiltshire, the name is spelt both Amesbury and Ambersbury. The Seymour family held Amesbury estate until 1675 and had several homes built, including Kent and Diana houses. The estate subsequently passed to the Bruce family, and to Lord Carleton and it remained in the Queensberry family until 1824. The mansion remained in their hands until 1979, by a decree in Chancery of 1831, the freedom of the grammar school was extended to children of mechanics and small tradesmen
Exeter
Exeter is a cathedral city in Devon, England with a population of 127,300. It lies within the county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council, the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district and is therefore under the administration of the County Council. The city is on the River Exe about 37 miles northeast of Plymouth and 70 miles southwest of Bristol, Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain, although there is evidence a Cornish tribe existed in Exeter before the Roman invasion. Exeter became a centre during the Middle Ages and into the Tudor times, Exeter Cathedral, founded in the mid 11th century. During the late 19th century, Exeter became an affluent centre for the wool trade, after the Second World War, much of the city centre was rebuilt and is now considered to be a centre for modern business and tourism in Devon and Cornwall. The name Exe is a development of the Brittonic name—meaning water or, more exactly, full of fish —that appears in the English Axe and Esk, the Welsh Usk.
Exeter began as settlements on a dry ridge ending in a spur overlooking a navigable river teeming with fish, although there have been no major prehistoric finds, these advantages suggest the site was occupied early. Coins have been discovered from the Hellenistic kingdoms, suggesting the existence of a settlement trading with the Mediterranean as early as 250 BC. Such early towns had been a feature of pre-Roman Gaul as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentaries, the Romans established a 42-acre playing-card shaped fort named Isca around AD55. To distinguish the two, the Romans referred to Exeter as Isca Dumnoniorum, Watertown of the Dumnonii, a small fort was maintained at Topsham, a supply depot on the route between the two was excavated at St Loyes on Topsham Road in 2010. The presence of the built up an unplanned civilian community of natives. This area was excavated in the 1970s, but could not be maintained for public view owing to its proximity to the present-day cathedral, in January 2015, it was announced that Exeter Cathedral had launched a bid to restore the baths and open an underground centre for visitors.
In the late 2nd century, the ditch and rampart defences around the old fortress were replaced by a bank and wall enclosing a much larger area, although most of the visible structure is older, the course of the Roman wall was used for Exeters subsequent city walls. Thus about 70% of the Roman wall remains, and most of its route can be traced on foot, the dating of the coins so far discovered, suggests a rapid decline, virtually none have been discovered dated after the year 380. By that time, the city was held by the Saxons, Exeter was known to the Saxons as Escanceaster. In 876, it was attacked and briefly captured by Danish Vikings, alfred the Great drove them out the next summer. Over the next few years, he elevated Exeter to one of the four burhs in Devon and these permitted the city to fend off another attack and siege by the Danes in 893. King Athelstan again strengthened the walls around 928, and at the time drove out the remaining Britons from the city
Water-meadow
A water-meadow is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries, derelict water-meadows are often of importance as wetland wildlife habitats. Water-meadows should not be confused with flood-meadows, which are covered in shallow water by seasonal flooding from a river. Water-meadow is sometimes used loosely to mean any level grassland beside a river. Two main types of water-meadow were used and these were used for fields on slopes, and relatively little engineering skill was required to construct them. Water from a stream or spring was fed to the top of a sloping field, the water could be used again for fields lower down the slope. Bedwork or floated water-meadows were built on almost-level fields along river valleys. A leat, called a main, carrier or top carrier, was used to water from the river and carry it down the valley at a gentler slope than the river. Mains were often along the edge of the valley, each main supplying up to about 1 km of the valley, the water from the main was used to supply many smaller carriers, on the crests of ridges built across the fields.
The channel on the crest of each ridge would overflow slowly down the sides of the ridge, the seeping water would be collected between the ridges, in drains or drawns, these joining to form a bottom carrier or tail drain which returned the water to the river. The ridges and the made a interlocking grid, but the ridge-top channels. A by-carrier took any water not needed for irrigation straight from the back to the river. The ridges varied in height depending on the available head – usually from around 10 to 50 cm. The pattern of carriers and drains was generally regular, but it was adapted to fit the natural topography of the ground, the water flow was controlled by a system of hatches and stops. Irrigation could be provided separately for each section of water-meadow, sometimes aqueducts took carriers over drains, and causeways and culverts provided access for wagons. The working or floating and maintenance of the water-meadow was done by a skilled craftsman called a drowner or waterman. The terminology used for watermeadows varied considerably with locality and dialect, water-meadow irrigation did not aim to flood the ground, but to keep it continuously damp – a working water-meadow has no standing water.
Irrigation in early spring kept frosts off the ground and so allowed grass to grow several weeks earlier than otherwise, the grass was used both for making hay and for grazing by livestock
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and the second largest library in the world by number of items catalogued. It holds well over 150 million items from many countries, as a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. The Library is a public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. The Librarys collections include around 14 million books, along with holdings of manuscripts. In addition to receiving a copy of every publication produced in the UK and Ireland, the Library adds some three million items every year occupying 9.6 kilometres of new shelf space. Prior to 1973, the Library was part of the British Museum, the Euston Road building is classified as a Grade I listed building, of exceptional interest for its architecture and history. The British Library was created on 1 July 1973 as a result of the British Library Act 1972.
Prior to this, the library was part of the British Museum. In 1983, the Library absorbed the National Sound Archive, which holds many sound and video recordings, with over a million discs, the core of the Librarys historical collections is based on a series of donations and acquisitions from the 18th century, known as the foundation collections. From 1997 to 2009 the main collection was housed in this new building. Construction work on the Newspaper Storage Building was completed in 2013, the collection has now been split between the St Pancras and Boston Spa sites. The British Library Document Supply Service and the Librarys Document Supply Collection is based on the site in Boston Spa. Collections housed in Yorkshire, comprising low-use material and the newspaper and Document Supply collections, the Library previously had a book storage depot in Woolwich, south-east London, which is no longer in use. The new library was designed specially for the purpose by the architect Colin St John Wilson, facing Euston Road is a large piazza that includes pieces of public art, such as large sculptures by Eduardo Paolozzi and Antony Gormley.
It is the largest public building constructed in the United Kingdom in the 20th century, in December 2009 a new storage building at Boston Spa was opened by Rosie Winterton. The building was Grade I listed on 1 August 2015, in England, Legal Deposit can be traced back to at least 1610. The other five libraries are, the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the University Library at Cambridge, the Trinity College Library at Dublin, in 2003 the Ipswich MP Chris Mole introduced a Private Members Bill which became the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003. The Act extends United Kingdom legal deposit requirements to electronic documents, such as CD-ROMs, the Library holds the Asia and Africa Collections which include the India Office Records and materials in the languages of Asia and of north and north-east Africa
Warminster
Warminster is a town and civil parish in western Wiltshire, England, by-passed by the A36 and the partly concurrent A350 between Westbury and Blandford Forum. It has a population of about 17,000, the River Were runs through the town and can be seen running through the middle of the town park. The Minster Church of St Denys sits on the River Were, the name Warminster first occurs in the early 10th century. Two Roman Villas have discovered in the area, as have caches of Roman coins. By the 10th century, Warminster included a manor and an Anglo-Saxon Minster. The royal manor was passed to new lords in the 12th century, during 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. The towns name has evolved over time, known as Worgemynstre in approximately 912, the rivers name, Were may derive from the Old English worian to wander. During the English Civil War, between 1642 and 1645, the town was the site of a few incidents, a major for the Roundheads, Henry Wansey was besieged in Warminster, while a force under Edmund Ludlow entered a skirmish on Warminster Common whilst trying to relieve him.
By 1646, the town had suffered £500 worth of damages by supporting the Roundheads, the market included a significant corn trade throughout the period and was regarded as the second largest corn market in the west of England in 1830. The town had an amount of accommodation for visitors to the market. 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, despite the prosperity, one settlement of houses near Warminster Common had a poor reputation. William Daniell wrote in 1781 that people were living in unplastered hovels with earth floors, the people were considered rude and drunk criminals. Daniell and members of the clergy were keen to help the residents, the town was significantly redesigned in after 1807 when George Wansey, who was from a family of clothiers in Warminster, left £1,000 to improve the town, provided it could be matched by fundraising.
The money was spent on demolishing houses to widen roads, allowing for new houses to be built, in 1851, a railway line from West In 1907, a committee was put together to advertise the town, creating a town guide and advertising in national publications. Unfortunately the committee could not come to an agreement with Lord Bath over the location of a new hotel, between 1937 and 1961, a military presences formed at Warminster, with the addition of camps, a permanent Barracks at Battlesbury, married quarters and workshops for vehicle repairs. Warminster falls under two levels of government, Wiltshire Council and Warminster Town Council. The town council was established in April 1974, after the reorganisation which removed the Warminster Urban District Council which had established in 1894
