In February I was asked by Maggie Dee at Warminster Community Radio to speak about the work of Wiltshire Buildings Record (WBR), and my particular interest in the town. The WCR studio is tucked away next to the Civic Centre, and stepping into it, I was impressed by the high-tech set-up, immediately being shown how to position myself in front of the mike and set at my ease by Maggie, since being put on the spot can be nerve-wracking.

Like me, Maggie is not a native, but both of us have come to love Warminster and appreciate its quirky architectural nooks and crannies. It was a revelation to me that in preparing for the chat I found out that Warminster has well over 200 listed structures mainly grade II, with Portway House being our only grade I building.  We spent an enjoyable half hour discussing how WBR can help with guidance and research on built heritage anywhere in the county, going on longer than the allotted time.

It is not reflected in the Heritage List that the row of buildings between the Athenaeum and North Row are the remains of early 16^th century probable shop-houses in what was historically known as the ‘Market of Warminster’ as opposed to the original settlement around the Obelisk (grade II*, dated 1783). I explained that a big part of WBR’s research is our ongoing dendrochronology project to investigate and date early structures in Wiltshire, so we were very pleased to get a grant from the Warminster Preservation Trust in 2019 to look at those buildings we suspected were earlier than the Heritage List for England suggested. Imagine how gratified we were to prove that not only did we have a whole row of early shops, but other buildings in the town were also early and unacknowledged, including 44/45 Silver Street, which turned out to be dated to 1512/13. This was originally a single grand building with the upper storey most prominent, perhaps once a long-forgotten guildhall? There is so much more to discover and understand.

We could have chatted for ages, Maggie generously allowing me to get carried away, but pretty soon my time was up. I did have a chance to mention one other subject before I left. Something maybe not generally appreciated was that as early as the earlier 20^th century, Warminster Common was a separate and distinct community from Warminster Town, only joined by the main road south out of Warminster, and by a lane, now Pound Street. Infilling by 20^th century housing development obliterated this separation. Anyone interested in Warminster History would be well-advised to join the Warminster History Group which puts on monthly lectures, and where they can get involved in its activities. My thanks go to Maggie and Warminster Community Radio for this opportunity to promote Wiltshire Buildings Record’s work. Even though we have been going since 1979 we still have visitors saying they’ve never heard of us.