December 1949
Local historian Harold Nelson Dewey, J.P., (born 1888, died 1971), who served on Warminster Urban District Council for 49 years (from 1919 to 1968) and was its Chairman on three occasions, as well as being the Headmaster of the Avenue School from 1931 (when the school was built) until 1953 (when he retired), in an address given to the Warminster Chamber Of Trade in December 1949, said that the ignorance and snobbery of some people had been responsible for the word “common’ being removed from the street name Common Close – in similar vein to Warminster Common being re-named Newtown. He said people didn’t understand that the word “common’ was not necessarily to do with things which were vulgar. He noted that the word “Close’ had been retained in the new name for Common Close, even though the road had been opened up by the demolition of the Ship Inn and was no longer a close. He thought this sort of thing was very regrettable.