106-688: 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 . The barracks is on the eastern outskirts of the town, near the ancient Battlesbury Camp hill fort , and was first occupied by the Welch Regiment in 1965. On 9 December 2005 the barracks was taken over by the Duke of Wellington's Regiment on their return to
212-474: A personal union between England , Denmark and Norway , in the 11th century. The Anglo-Saxons migrated to Britain from mainland northwestern Europe after the Roman Empire 's withdrawal from Britain at the beginning of the 5th century. Anglo-Saxon history thus begins during the period of sub-Roman Britain following the end of Roman control , and traces the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in
318-643: A church; so in 597 Augustine built the church and founded the See at Canterbury. Æthelberht was baptised by 601, and he then continued with his mission to convert the English. Most of the north and east of England had already been evangelised by the Irish church. However, Sussex and the Isle of Wight remained mainly pagan until the arrival of Saint Wilfrid , the exiled Archbishop of York , who converted Sussex around 681 and
424-582: 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 , in 1924 on the site of the town's former rubbish tip. A children's play area
530-524: A clear-cut or stable group of seven kingdoms. The number of kingdoms and sub-kingdoms fluctuated rapidly during this period as competing kings contended for supremacy. The four main kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England were East Anglia , Mercia , Northumbria (originally two kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira ), and Wessex . Minor kingdoms included Essex , Kent , and Sussex . Other minor kingdoms and territories are mentioned in sources such as
636-413: 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 moved to the town in 1937, where it has remained since. Between 1937 and 1965, a significant military presence formed at Warminster, with
742-524: A grant-making charity. Warminster has one Grade I listed building: Portway House, to the north of the town centre, built for a wealthy clothier in 1722. The Bath stone 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
848-523: A lower status than that of the Anglo-Saxons. Discussions and analysis still continue on the size of the migration, and whether it was a small elite band of Anglo-Saxons who came in and took over the running of the country, or mass migration of peoples who overwhelmed the Britons. An emerging view is that two scenarios could have co-occurred, with large-scale migration and demographic change in
954-475: A lukewarm, stagnant, bankrupt state." However, by that year the town had begun to adopt new trades in brewing 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 in the town in the mid-1870s to make agricultural machines. During the 20th century, Warminster's economy became more dependent on
1060-536: A safe haven, and they provided a safe place for the king's moneyers and mints. A new wave of Danish invasions commenced in 891, beginning a war that lasted over three years. Alfred's new system of defence worked, however, and ultimately it wore the Danes down: they gave up and dispersed in mid-896. Alfred is remembered as a literate king. He or his court commissioned the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , which
1166-423: 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 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
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#17327767268861272-466: 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 to commemorate the inclosure of the parish. Warminster Town Hall , at the junction of the High Street and Weymouth Street,
1378-526: Is also close to the former Selwood Forest . A minor river known as The Were flows through the town to join the River Wylye 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. The Domesday survey of 1086 recorded 104 households, largely craftsmen for the royal demesne , but
1484-598: Is also home to Headquarters Small Arms School Corps and Headquarters Infantry, which was formed in 1996 and is responsible for the recruiting, manning and training policies of the Infantry. Harman Lines is a smaller installation nearby; in 2013, elements of the Royal Tank Regiment were here. Battlesbury Barracks (near the ancient Battlesbury Camp ) is the home of the Royal Dragoon Guards , an armoured cavalry regiment. Between 2005 and 2020, forces of
1590-480: Is also home to a Center Parcs holiday village . The Warminster Journal is the local paid-for weekly newspaper . Published since 1881, it covers the surrounding villages as well as the town. The town is also within the area of the Wiltshire Times , another weekly newspaper. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West and ITV West Country . Television signals are received from
1696-476: 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 feoffees (trustees) on behalf of the town, and they invite the vicar of St Denys' to hold services. Methodists built a chapel on George Street, west of
1802-594: Is now regarded as the traditional view of the Anglo-Saxon arrival in Britain. He suggested a mass immigration, with the incomers fighting and driving the sub-Roman Britons off their land and into the western extremities of the islands, and into the Breton and Iberian peninsulas. This view is based on sources such as Bede, who mentions the Britons being slaughtered or going into "perpetual servitude". According to Härke
1908-548: Is often used for Scandinavian culture in England. Edgar died in 975, sixteen years after gaining the throne, while still only in his early thirties. Some magnates supported the succession of his younger son, Æthelred , but his elder half-brother, Edward was elected, aged about twelve. His reign was marked by disorder, and three years later, in 978, he was assassinated by some of his half-brother's retainers. Æthelred succeeded, and although he reigned for thirty-eight years, one of
2014-777: The Groans of the Britons ), even though Honorius , the Western Roman Emperor, had written to the British civitas in or about 410 telling them to look to their own defence. There then followed several years of fighting between the British and the Anglo-Saxons. The fighting continued until around 500, when, at the Battle of Mount Badon , the Britons inflicted a severe defeat on the Anglo-Saxons. There are records of Germanic infiltration into Britain that date before
2120-461: The Battle of Dyrham ). This expansion of Wessex ended abruptly when the Anglo-Saxons started fighting among themselves, resulting in Ceawlin retreating to his original territory. He was then replaced by Ceol (who was possibly his nephew). Ceawlin was killed the following year, but the annals do not specify by whom. Cirencester subsequently became an Anglo-Saxon kingdom under the overlordship of
2226-571: The Battle of Ellendun by Egbert of Wessex . Christianity had been introduced into the British Isles during the Roman occupation. The early Christian Berber author, Tertullian , writing in the 3rd century, said that "Christianity could even be found in Britain". The Roman Emperor Constantine (306–337) granted official tolerance to Christianity with the Edict of Milan in 313. Then, in
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#17327767268862332-469: The Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633. Their success was short-lived, as Oswald (one of the sons of the late King of Northumbria, Æthelfrith) defeated and killed Cadwallon at Heavenfield near Hexham. In less than a decade Penda again waged war against Northumbria, and killed Oswald in the Battle of Maserfield in 642. Oswald's brother Oswiu was chased to the northern extremes of his kingdom. However, Oswiu killed Penda soon afterwards, and Mercia spent
2438-500: The British Army and its associated service industries, but other new businesses also came into the area, such as intensive poultry farming , banana ripening , and shoe manufacture. During the late 20th century and early 21st century, the leisure industry has grown in the area, with Longleat and Center Parcs Longleat Forest becoming significant employers. Warminster has a library, museum, theatre, sports centre with pool, and
2544-596: The Conservatives . There are two levels of local government: Wiltshire Council – the unitary authority for the county – and Warminster Town Council, which has 13 elected councillors. Until 2009, when it was abolished, West Wiltshire District Council acted as the second tier of local government. 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
2650-662: The Humber . His son, Æthelstan , annexed Northumbria in 927 and thus became the first king of all England. At the Battle of Brunanburh in 937, he defeated an alliance of the Scots, Danes, Vikings and Strathclyde Britons. Along with the Britons and the settled Danes, some of the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms disliked being ruled by Wessex. Consequently, the death of a Wessex king would be followed by rebellion, particularly in Northumbria. Alfred's great-grandson, Edgar , who had come to
2756-606: The M4 are 22 miles (35 km) to the north. Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England covers the period from the end of Roman Britain in the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066. It consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of England by King Æthelstan (r. 927–939). It became part of the short-lived North Sea Empire of Cnut ,
2862-732: The Mendip and local relay transmitters. BBC Radio Wiltshire is the BBC Local Radio 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 (Three Towns Radio; referring to Warminster, Westbury and Frome ) but from 2008 went through several changes of ownership and station name. Since 2019
2968-648: The Tribal Hideage : At the end of the 6th century the most powerful ruler in England was Æthelberht of Kent , whose lands extended north to the River Humber . In the early years of the 7th century, Kent and East Anglia were the leading English kingdoms. After the death of Æthelberht in 616, Rædwald of East Anglia became the most powerful leader south of the Humber. Following the death of Æthelfrith of Northumbria , Rædwald provided military assistance to
3074-586: The Yorkshire Regiment (latterly the 1st Battalion) were based here; the regiment's 3rd Battalion was awarded the freedom of the town in 2012. Warminster is at the junction of two primary routes, the A36 and the A350 , which both now bypass the town to the south and east. There is a service area where the two roads meet. The A303 is about 7 miles (11 km) south of the town, and junctions 17 and 18 of
3180-541: 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. During the Civil War , between 1642 and 1645,
3286-442: The 16th century and continuing to be the economic backbone of the town until the 19th century. The market also included a significant corn 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
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3392-402: 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. The chapel of St Lawrence, on the High Street near the market place, has been a chapel-of-ease to St Denys since at least 1290. Its tower
3498-533: The 20th century, and after the 1983 amalgamation the chapel was demolished in 1987. The Baptist 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 ,
3604-616: The 3rd (DWR) Battalion on 25 July 2013. The 3rd Battalion was then renumbered as the new 1st Battalion (1 Yorks), whilst the PWO Battalion took over the Colours of the 2nd Battalion (Green Howards) and renumbered as the new 2nd Battalion (2 Yorks). In November 2020, as part of the broader Defence level rebasing plan, 1 Yorks moved to Catterick Garrison conducting a straight swap with the Royal Dragoon Guards who moved to Battlesbury Barracks. The following units are currently based at
3710-478: The 5th and 6th centuries (conventionally identified as seven main kingdoms : Northumbria , Mercia , East Anglia , Essex , Kent , Sussex , and Wessex ); their Christianisation during the 7th century; the threat of Viking invasions and Danish settlers ; the gradual unification of England under the Wessex hegemony during the 9th and 10th centuries; and ending with the Norman Conquest of England by William
3816-532: The 5th century, until most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came under the overlordship of Egbert of Wessex in 829. This approximately 400-year period of European history is often referred to as the Early Middle Ages or, more controversially, as the Dark Ages . Although heptarchy suggests the existence of seven kingdoms, the term is just used as a label of convenience and does not imply the existence of
3922-444: The 980s the kings of Wessex had a powerful grip on the coinage of the realm. It is reckoned there were about 300 moneyers, and 60 mints, around the country. Every five or six years the coinage in circulation would cease to be legal tender and new coins were issued. The system controlling the currency around the country was extremely sophisticated; this enabled the king to raise large sums of money if needed. The need indeed arose after
4028-522: The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms fell to the invaders: Northumbria in 867, East Anglia in 869, and nearly all of Mercia in 874–77. Kingdoms, centres of learning, archives, and churches all fell before the onslaught from the invading Danes. Only the Kingdom of Wessex was able to survive. In March 878, the Anglo-Saxon King of Wessex, Alfred , with a few men, built a fortress at Athelney , hidden deep in
4134-600: The Archbishop of Canterbury, was chosen to deliver the news to Godwin and his family. The Godwins fled rather than face trial. Norman accounts suggest that at this time Edward offered the succession to his cousin, William (duke) of Normandy (also known as William the Conqueror , William the Bastard, or William I), though this is unlikely given that accession to the Anglo-Saxon kingship was by election, not heredity –
4240-493: The Armorican peninsula ( Brittany and Normandy in modern-day France ): initially around 383 during Roman rule, but also c. 460 and in the 540s and 550s; the 460s migration is thought to be a reaction to the fighting during the Anglo-Saxon mutiny between about 450 to 500, as was the migration to Britonia (modern-day Galicia , in northwest Spain) at about the same time. The historian Peter Hunter-Blair expounded what
4346-552: The Britons), while the Danes held East Anglia and the North. After the victory at Edington and resultant peace treaty, Alfred set about transforming his Kingdom of Wessex into a society on a full-time war footing. He built a navy, reorganised the army, and set up a system of fortified towns known as burhs . He mainly used old Roman cities for his burhs, as he was able to rebuild and reinforce their existing fortifications. To maintain
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4452-528: The Cannimore Brook, bringing typhus and smallpox . 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. The town centre was redesigned after 1807 when George Wansey , from a family of clothiers in Warminster, left £1,000 (equivalent to £100,528 in 2023) to improve
4558-579: The Conqueror in 1066. The Normans persecuted the Anglo-Saxons and overthrew their ruling class to substitute their own leaders to oversee and rule England. However, Anglo-Saxon identity survived beyond the Norman Conquest, came to be known as Englishry under Norman rule , and through social and cultural integration with Romano-British Celts , Danes and Normans became the modern English people . Bede completed his book Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ( Ecclesiastical History of
4664-579: The Danes, but the success was short-lived: at the Battle of Ashingdon , the Danes were victorious, and many of the English leaders were killed. Cnut and Edmund agreed to split the kingdom in two, with Edmund ruling Wessex and Cnut the rest. In 1017, Edmund died in mysterious circumstances, probably murdered by Cnut or his supporters, and the English council ( the witan ) confirmed Cnut as king of all England. Cnut divided England into earldoms : most of these were allocated to nobles of Danish descent, but he made an Englishman earl of Wessex. The man he appointed
4770-647: The Deiran Edwin in his struggle to take over the two dynasties of Deira and Bernicia in the unified kingdom of Northumbria. Upon the death of Rædwald, Edwin was able to pursue a grand plan to expand Northumbrian power. The growing strength of Edwin of Northumbria forced the Anglo-Saxon Mercians under Penda into an alliance with the Welsh king Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd, and together they invaded Edwin's lands and defeated and killed him at
4876-517: The Elder succeeded him. When Æthelred died in 911, Æthelflæd succeeded him as "Lady of the Mercians", and in the 910s she and her brother Edward recovered East Anglia and eastern Mercia from Viking rule. Edward and his successors expanded Alfred's network of fortified burhs, a key element of their strategy, enabling them to go on the offensive. When Edward died in 924 he ruled all England south of
4982-665: The English People ) in around 731. Thus, the term for English people ( Latin : gens Anglorum ; Old English : Angelcynn ) was in use by then to distinguish Germanic groups in Britain from those on the continent (Old Saxony in Northern Germany). The term ' Anglo-Saxon ' came into use in the 8th century (probably by Paul the Deacon ) to distinguish English Saxons from continental Saxons ( Ealdseaxan , 'old' Saxons). The historian James Campbell suggested that it
5088-610: The English coast. The result was that the courts of England and Normandy became increasingly hostile to each other. Eventually, Æthelred sought a treaty with the Normans, and ended up marrying Emma , daughter of Richard I, Duke of Normandy in the Spring of 1002, which was seen as an attempt to break the link between the raiders and Normandy. Then, on St. Brice's day in November 1002, Danes living in England were slaughtered on
5194-520: The English pay a ransom, but the English commander Byrhtnoth refused; he was killed in the ensuing Battle of Maldon , and the English were easily defeated. From then on the Vikings seem to have raided anywhere at will; they were contemptuous of the lack of resistance from the English. Even the Alfredian systems of burhs failed. Æthelred seems to have just hidden, out of range of the raiders. By
5300-490: The Isle of Wight in 683. It remains unclear what "conversion" actually meant. The ecclesiastical writers tended to declare a territory as "converted" merely because the local king had agreed to be baptised, regardless of whether, in reality, he actually adopted Christian practices; and regardless, too, of whether the general population of his kingdom did so. When churches were built, they tended to include pagan as well as Christian symbols, evidencing an attempt to reach out to
5406-588: The Mercians, rather than Wessex. By 600, a new order was developing, of kingdoms and sub-kingdoms. The medieval historian Henry of Huntingdon conceived the idea of the Heptarchy , which consisted of the seven principal Anglo-Saxon kingdoms ( Heptarchy is a literal translation from the Greek: hept – seven; archy – rule). By convention, the Heptarchy period lasted from the end of Roman rule in Britain in
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#17327767268865512-530: 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 Salisbury 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
5618-625: The Roman rites by force. Between the 8th and 11th centuries, raiders and colonists from Scandinavia, mainly Danish and Norwegian, plundered western Europe, including the British Isles. These raiders came to be known as the Vikings ; the name is believed to derive from Scandinavia, where the Vikings originated. The first raids in the British Isles were in the late 8th century, mainly on churches and monasteries (which were seen as centres of wealth). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that
5724-729: The UK from Belfast Barracks in Osnabrück , Germany, as their permanent UK base. In December 2004, as part of the re-organisation of the infantry , it was announced that the Duke of Wellington's Regiment would be amalgamated with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and the Green Howards , all Yorkshire -based regiments in the King's Division , to form the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalion of
5830-421: The addition of camps, a permanent barracks at Battlesbury , married quarters, a School of Infantry, and workshops for vehicle repairs. 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
5936-422: The army that live in that earldom". There are over 3,000 words in modern English that have Scandinavian roots, and more than 1,500 place-names in England are Scandinavian in origin; for example, topographic names such as Howe, Norfolk and Howe, North Yorkshire are derived from the Old Norse word haugr meaning hill, knoll, or mound. In archaeology and other academic contexts the term Anglo-Scandinavian
6042-413: The barracks: British Army Defence Equipment & Support Warminster Warminster ( / ˈ w ɔːr m ɪ n s t ər / ) is a historic market town and civil parish in south-west Wiltshire , England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain . 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
6148-438: The battle of Maldon, as Æthelred decided that, rather than fight, he would pay ransom to the Danes in a system known as Danegeld . As part of the ransom, a peace treaty was drawn up that was intended to stop the raids. However, rather than buying the Vikings off, payment of Danegeld only encouraged them to come back for more. The Dukes of Normandy were quite happy to allow these Danish adventurers to use their ports for raids on
6254-489: The burhs, and the standing army, he set up a taxation system known as the Burghal Hidage . These burhs (or burghs) operated as defensive structures. The Vikings were thereafter unable to cross large sections of Wessex: the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that a Danish raiding party was defeated when it tried to attack the burh of Chichester. Although the burhs were primarily designed as defensive structures, they were also commercial centres, attracting traders and markets to
6360-514: The churches of St Denys and St John; Byne House , Church Street, 1755; and Warminster School , 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,
6466-486: The collapse of the Roman Empire. It is believed that the earliest Germanic visitors were eight cohorts of Batavians attached to the 14th Legion in the original invasion force under Aulus Plautius in AD 43. There is a recent hypothesis that some of the native tribes , identified as Britons by the Romans, may have been Germanic-language speakers, but most scholars disagree with this due to an insufficient record of local languages in Roman-period artefacts. It
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#17327767268866572-405: The core areas of the settlement and elite dominance in peripheral regions. According to Gildas , initial vigorous British resistance was led by a man called Ambrosius Aurelianus . From then on, victory fluctuated between the two peoples. Gildas records a "final" victory of the Britons at the Battle of Mount Badon in c. 500, and this might mark a point at which Anglo-Saxon migration
6678-420: The earl's daughter. This arrangement was seen as expedient, however, as Godwin had been implicated in the murder of Alfred, the king's brother. In 1051 one of Edward's in-laws, Eustace, arrived to take up residence in Dover; the men of Dover objected and killed some of Eustace's men. When Godwin refused to punish them, the king, who had been unhappy with the Godwins for some time, summoned them to trial. Stigand,
6784-420: The east coast of England. The expedient adopted by the Romano-British leaders was to enlist the help of Anglo-Saxon mercenaries (known as foederati ), to whom they ceded territory. In about 442 the Anglo-Saxons mutinied, apparently because they had not been paid. The Romano-British responded by appealing to the Roman commander of the Western empire, Magister militium Aetius , for help (a document known as
6890-423: The faith to the Angles or Saxons. Pope Gregory I sent Augustine in 597 to convert the Anglo-Saxons, but Bede says the British clergy refused to help Augustine in his mission. Despite Bede's complaints, it is now believed that the Britons played an important role in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons . On arrival in the south east of England in 597, Augustine was given land by King Æthelberht of Kent to build
6996-414: The holy island of Lindisfarne was sacked in 793. The raiding then virtually stopped for around 40 years; but in about 835, it started becoming more regular. In the 860s, instead of raids, the Danes mounted a full-scale invasion. In 865, an enlarged army arrived that the Anglo-Saxons described as the Great Heathen Army . This was reinforced in 871 by the Great Summer Army. Within ten years nearly all of
7102-420: The longest reigns in English history, he earned the name "Æthelred the Unready", as he proved to be one of England's most disastrous kings. William of Malmesbury , writing in his Chronicle of the kings of England about one hundred years later, was scathing in his criticism of Æthelred, saying that he occupied the kingdom, rather than governed it. Just as Æthelred was being crowned, the Danish Harald Gormsson
7208-449: The marshes of Somerset. He used this as a base from which to harry the Vikings. In May 878 he put together an army formed from the populations of Somerset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire, which defeated the Viking army in the Battle of Edington . The Vikings retreated to their stronghold, and Alfred laid siege to it. Ultimately the Danes capitulated, and their leader Guthrum agreed to withdraw from Wessex and to be baptised. The formal ceremony
7314-404: The matter; Saint Wilfrid was an advocate for the Roman rites and Bishop Colmán for the Irish rites. Wilfrid's argument won the day and Colmán and his party returned to Ireland in their bitter disappointment. The Roman rites were adopted by the English church, although they were not universally accepted by the Irish church until Henry II of England invaded Ireland in the 12th century and imposed
7420-501: 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 maltings 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
7526-487: The more modern view is of co-existence between the British and the Anglo-Saxons. He suggests that several modern archaeologists have now re-assessed the traditional model, and have developed a co-existence model largely based on the Laws of Ine . The laws include several clauses that provide six different wergild levels for the Britons, of which four are below that of freeman. Although the Britons could be rich freemen in Anglo-Saxon society, generally it seems that they had
7632-645: The new Yorkshire Regiment . The re-badging parade took place on 6 June 2006 and the 'Dukes' formally became the 3rd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment (Duke of Wellington's) . In 2009, the extent of the site was 29 hectares (72 acres). In 2013, under the Army 2020 changes, the Green Howards Battalion (2nd) in Cyprus was to be disbanded. The soldiers were merged into the 1st (PWO), Battalion in Germany and
7738-562: The next few centuries to predominate throughout what is now England , at the expense of British Celtic and British Latin . The arrival of the Anglo-Saxons into Britain can be seen in the context of a general movement of Germanic peoples around Europe between the years 300 and 700, known as the Migration period (also called the Barbarian Invasions or Völkerwanderung). In the same period there were migrations of Britons to
7844-642: The orders of Æthelred. In mid-1013, Sven Forkbeard , King of Denmark, brought the Danish fleet to Sandwich, Kent. From there he went north to the Danelaw, where the locals immediately agreed to support him. He then struck south, forcing Æthelred into exile in Normandy (1013–1014). However, on 3 February 1014, Sven died suddenly. Capitalising on his death, Æthelred returned to England and drove Sven's son, Cnut , back to Denmark, forcing him to abandon his allies in
7950-475: The pagan Anglo-Saxons, rather than demonstrating that they were already converted. Even after Christianity had been set up in all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, there was friction between the followers of the Roman rites and the Irish rites, particularly over the date on which Easter fell and the way monks cut their hair. In 664, a conference was held at Whitby Abbey (known as the Whitby Synod ) to decide
8056-489: The period of the Anglo-Saxon first rebellion of 442. If the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is to be believed, the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which eventually merged to become England were founded when small fleets of three or five ships of invaders arrived at various points around the coast of England to fight the sub-Roman British, and conquered their lands. The language of the migrants, Old English , came over
8162-467: 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. Census: 1801–2011 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
8268-450: The process. In 1015, Cnut launched a new campaign against England. Edmund fell out with his father, Æthelred, and struck out on his own. Some English leaders decided to support Cnut, so Æthelred ultimately retreated to London. Before engagement with the Danish army, Æthelred died and was replaced by Edmund. The Danish army encircled and besieged London, but Edmund was able to escape and raised an army of loyalists. Edmund's army routed
8374-560: The reign of Emperor Theodosius "the Great" (379–395), Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire. It is not entirely clear how many Britons would have been Christian when the pagan Anglo-Saxons arrived. There had been attempts to evangelise the Irish by Pope Celestine I in 431. However, it was Saint Patrick who is credited with converting the Irish en masse . A Christian Ireland then set about evangelising
8480-500: The rest of the 7th and all of the 8th century fighting the Welsh kingdom of Powys . The war reached its climax during the reign of Offa of Mercia, who is remembered for the construction of a 150-mile-long dyke which formed the Wales/England border. It is not clear whether this was a boundary line or a defensive position. The ascendency of the Mercians came to an end in 825, when they were soundly beaten under Beornwulf at
8586-564: The rest of the British Isles, and Columba founded a religious community in Iona , off the west coast of Scotland. Then Aidan was sent from Iona to set up his see in Northumbria, at Lindisfarne , between 635 and 651. Hence Northumbria was converted by the Celtic (Irish) church . Bede is very uncomplimentary about the indigenous British clergy: in his Historia ecclesiastica he complains of their "unspeakable crimes", and that they did not preach
8692-668: The station has been owned by Bauer Radio , and in September 2020 it was rebranded to Greatest Hits Radio which broadcasts national and regional music programmes. The British Army 's Waterloo Lines , 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 ). The site
8798-425: The throne in 959, was crowned at Bath in 973 and soon afterwards the other British kings met him at Chester and acknowledged his authority. The presence of Danish and Norse settlers in the Danelaw had a lasting impact; the people there saw themselves as "armies" a hundred years after settlement: King Edgar issued a law code in 962 that was to include the people of Northumbria, so he addressed it to Earl Olac "and all
8904-418: The throne was disputed between Ælfgifu's son, Harald Harefoot , and Emma's son, Harthacnut . Emma supported her son by Cnut, Harthacnut, rather than a son by Æthelred. Her son by Æthelred, Edward, made an unsuccessful raid on Southampton, and his brother Alfred was murdered on an expedition to England in 1036. Emma fled to Bruges when Harald Harefoot became king of England, but when he died in 1040 Harthacnut
9010-461: The time which would link to towns, Warminster chose to improve seven roads around the town, all under three miles long. By the late 18th century some 200 dwellings had been built under squatter's rights 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
9116-621: The town centre, in 1804; it was rebuilt in 1861. The congregation amalgamated with the United Reformed Church 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 (1938 to 1943). Numbers fell in
9222-540: 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 when trying to relieve him. By 1646, the town had suffered £500 (equivalent to £102,760 in 2023) worth of damages by supporting the Roundheads. The market at Warminster was the focus of the town's prosperity, with significant wool , clothing and malting trades established by
9328-430: 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 . 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,
9434-440: The two sons he had with Ælfgifu, he had a further son with Emma, who was named Harthacnut . When Cnut's brother, Harald II, King of Denmark , died in 1018, Cnut went to Denmark to secure that realm. Two years later, Cnut brought Norway under his control, and he gave Ælfgifu and their son Svein the job of governing it. One result of Cnut's marriage to Emma was to precipitate a succession crisis after his death in 1035, as
9540-569: Was Godwin, who eventually became part of the extended royal family when he married the king's sister-in-law. In the summer of 1017, Cnut sent for Æthelred's widow, Emma, with the intention of marrying her. It seems that Emma agreed to marry the king on condition that he would limit the English succession to the children born of their union. Cnut already had a wife, known as Ælfgifu of Northampton , who bore him two sons, Svein and Harold Harefoot . The church, however, seems to have regarded Ælfgifu as Cnut's concubine rather than his wife. In addition to
9646-476: Was a post-graduate facility of King's College London . Today its buildings are part of Warminster School . Philipps also led the foundation of an order of nuns , 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
9752-479: Was able to take over as king. Harthacnut quickly developed a reputation for imposing high taxes on England. He became so unpopular that Edward was invited to return from exile in Normandy to be recognised as Harthacnut's heir, and when Harthacnut died suddenly in 1042 (probably murdered), Edward (known to posterity as Edward the Confessor ) became king. Edward was supported by Earl Godwin of Wessex and married
9858-488: Was added in 1938 with a grant from the national King George V memorial foundation . About 4 miles (6 km) to the west is Longleat , the country house of the Marquess of Bath , and its estate which has included Longleat Safari Park 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
9964-736: Was begun in the 11th century. The High Street and Market Place have many fine buildings including the Athenaeum Centre , the Town Hall , St Lawrence Chapel, The Old Bell and a variety of independent shops. Several Army establishments, known collectively as the Warminster Garrison , are on the edges of the town. The origin of the root Wor is wara , the genitive plural of the Old English noun waru meaning "those that care for, watch, guard, protect, or defend." It
10070-431: Was built in 1922 to designs of Bristol architect Sir Frank William Wills . 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 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
10176-561: Was completed a few days later at Wedmore . There followed a peace treaty between Alfred and Guthrum, which had a variety of provisions, including defining the boundaries of the area to be ruled by the Danes (which became known as the Danelaw ) and those of Wessex. The Kingdom of Wessex controlled part of the Midlands and the whole of the South (apart from Cornwall, which was still held by
10282-414: Was designed c. 1837 by Edward Blore at the expense of the 5th Marquess of Bath ; the two-storey front elevation is a replica of Longleat , with the addition of a central bellcote, clock and coat of arms. The building was sold by the district council in 1979. Warminster falls within the parliamentary constituency of South West Wiltshire , which has been represented since 2001 by Andrew Murrison for
10388-464: Was given to the town by Saxon settlers in the seventh century. The main settlement at Warminster dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period , although there is evidence of pre-historic settlements in the area, especially at the nearby Iron Age hill forts : Battlesbury Camp , Scratchbury Camp and Cley Hill . Two Roman villas have been discovered in the area, as have caches of Roman coins. By
10494-726: Was not until the late Anglo-Saxon period that England could be described as a nation-state. It is certain that the concept of "Englishness" only developed very slowly. As the Roman occupation of Britain was coming to an end, Constantine III withdrew the remains of the army in reaction to the Germanic invasion of Gaul with the Crossing of the Rhine in December 406. The Romano-British leaders were faced with an increasing security problem from seaborne raids, particularly by Picts on
10600-462: Was quite common for Rome to swell its legions with foederati recruited from the German homelands. This practice also extended to the army serving in Britain, and graves of these mercenaries, along with their families, can be identified in the Roman cemeteries of the period. The migration continued with the departure of the Roman army, when Anglo-Saxons were recruited to defend Britain; and also during
10706-599: Was temporarily stemmed. Gildas said that this battle was "forty-four years and one month" after the arrival of the Saxons, and was also the year of his birth. He said that a time of great prosperity followed. But, despite the lull, the Anglo-Saxons took control of Sussex, Kent, East Anglia and part of Yorkshire; while the West Saxons founded a kingdom in Hampshire under the leadership of Cerdic , around 520. However, it
10812-454: Was to be 50 years before the Anglo-Saxons began further major advances. In the intervening years the Britons exhausted themselves with civil war, internal disputes, and general unrest, which was the inspiration behind Gildas's book De Excidio Britanniae (The Ruin of Britain). The next major campaign against the Britons was in 577, led by Ceawlin , king of Wessex, whose campaigns succeeded in taking Cirencester, Gloucester and Bath (known as
10918-494: 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
11024-546: Was trying to force Christianity onto his domain. Many of his subjects did not like this idea, and shortly before 988, Sweyn , his son, drove his father from the kingdom. The rebels, dispossessed at home, probably formed the first waves of raids on the English coast. The rebels did so well in their raiding that the Danish kings decided to take over the campaign themselves. In 991 the Vikings sacked Ipswich, and their fleet made landfall near Maldon in Essex. The Danes demanded that
11130-543: Was used as an endonym by both Goths and Jutes . Their specific ethnonym is unknown, though it likely was related to the native name of the oppidum at Battlesbury Camp during Sub-Roman 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 . The noun minster derives from Old English mynster meaning monastery, nunnery, mother church or cathedral, and
11236-756: Was written in Old English (rather than in Latin, the language of the European annals). Alfred's own literary output was mainly of translations, but he also wrote introductions and amended manuscripts. From 874 to 879, the western half of Mercia was ruled by Ceowulf II , who was succeeded by Æthelred as Lord of the Mercians. Alfred the Great of Wessex styled himself King of the Anglo-Saxons from about 886. In 886/887 Æthelred married Alfred's daughter Æthelflæd . On Alfred's death in 899, his son Edward
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