Wednesday 20th May 2015
The greenery of the beech woodland on Arn Hill, Warminster, seen from Warminster Library car park. The view looks across part of the Central Car Park and the Early Years Centre adjacent the Avenue Primary School. Photograph taken by Danny Howell on Wednesday 20th May 2015.
Friday 26th December 2014
Arn Hill, in the rain. View from Warminster Rugby Club at Folly Lane. Photograph taken by Danny Howell on Friday 26th December 2014.
Friday 12th September 2014
Photographs taken by Danny Howell on Friday 12th September 2014 of the last survivor of three lime kilns which were once worked on Arn Hill, Warminster. The survivor is now ruinous and partly clad in ivy ~ perhaps a candidate for a preservation project which may save it as an interesting feature for passers-by, tourists and historians to see.
The lime kiln is situated within the fork of the Lime Kiln Path and the Arn Hill Pleasure Grounds Path.
Friday 12th September 2014
A seat on the south-facing slope of Arn Hill, Warminster, from which can be viewed the area between Warminster and Upton Scudamore, and beyond to Cley Hill and Longleat.
The seat features a small brass plaque.
The wording on the plaque reads: “In affectionate memory of Harold Butler 1928 – 1998. Rest and enjoy the view he loved.”
The view from the seat.
The view west from the seat to Colloway Clump.
The view south-east from the seat, to the Bath Road Trading Estate, Warminster. Longleat Woods and Cley Hill in the distance.
The view south-west to the county border and beyond into Somerset.
West to Colloway Clump.
Photographs taken by Danny Howell on Friday 12th September 2012.
Monday 6th May 2013
The view west from Battlesbury Hill to Arn Hill and Kidnapper’s Hole. Photographed by Danny Howell on Monday 6th May 2013.
Monday 11th March 2013
Arn Hill Nature Trail.
Arn Hill rises to over 650 feet above sea level and its beech woodland was donated to the town by the Marquess of Bath in 1920. The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust have established a Nature Trail around Arn Hill which passes a former lime kiln (now in ruins) and rises above the old-fashioned sheep walks of Kidnapper’s Hole (a former chalk quarry which supplied the lime kiln). This two-mile circular footpath allows the enjoyment of the chalkland flora and its fauna. In the summer there are Fritillary and Small Blue butterflies to be seen as well as Burnet moths. The birds include skylarks, meadow pipits, tree-creepers and chiffchaffs.
From the woods (which feature not only beech but also some yews, holly and wayfaring trees) the path joins the open Plain area around the West Wilts Golf Course, where views look north and east over the vast expanse of Salisbury Plain, south east to the Great Ridge Woods, south towards neighbouring Dorset, and west into the wetlands of Somerset. A wooden seat on the part of the down overlooking New Farm and Norridge Wood is a good vantage point for seeing the distant landmarks of Alfred’s Tower near Stourhead, and the Mendip television transmitter near Wells on Mendip.
Access to Arn Hill can be gained from paths off the Westbury Road or from Elm Hill where there is some car parking space. Admission to Arn Hill is free.
Sunday 3rd February 2013
Steps to a path in the south-east corner of Arn Hill, Warminster. Photographed by Danny Howell on the afternoon of Sunday 3rd February 2013.
Extract from The Changing Face Of Warminster by Wilfred Middlebrook, published in 1971:
Having climbed the Nun’s Path to Arn Hill, it might be of interest to have a closer look at this rampart of Warminster Down. According to Daniell, on Arn Hill is a square entrenchment, and a long barrow or burial mound in the plantation which was found to contain three skeletons when opened up in 1802.
This gruesome spot made a fitting site for the hanging of two felons in 1813, a spectacle that was “enjoyed” by sightseers on the tower of the Minster Church. A double gallows was erected for the execution of George Ruddock and George Carpenter, who had been found guilty of murdering a farmer and his servant at Roddenbury. It is related that a handkerchief was given to Carpenter after he was tied up, to be dropped when he was ready for the cart to be drawn away from under him; he delayed for nearly half an hour, then tried to prevent his fall, thus suffering greatly in dying. Ruddock jumped boldly off the cart and was killed instantly.
An old lime-burner at the Arn Hill Kiln, long defunct and ruinous (the kiln, not the lime-burner), told the late Mr. Harold Dewey that his father planted the firs that now form the plantation, to commemorate the marriage of the Prince Of Wales (later Edward The Seventh), and at that time removed the stumps of the gallows.
On a more cheerful note, the spacious and breezy summit of Arn Hill is now the site of the West Wilts Golf Course, founded in 1891 with a course of nine holes in 1906. The Club House used to be at the top of Elm Hill, but a fine road was made from this point to the summit of Arn Hill, where a new and up-to-date Club House was opened in October 1953.
The public, too, can enjoy the amenities of Arn Hill, a thoughtful Town Council having provided pleasant paths and seats on the southern slopes, a vantage point from which one may indeed get an excellent view of the changing face of Warminster, with the lonely but imposing Cley Hill in the background.
A public footpath encircles the lofty down, giving a fine panoramic vista as one proceeds around the perimeter of the golf course, with an ancient drove that finally leads one back to the top of Elm Hill. A few years ago I found this pleasant walk blocked at the bottom of the drove by a private garage built across the track, but a complaint in the right quarter resulted in a passage-way being opened up along the side of the garage, and an official sign denoting a public footpath.
1957
The Urban District Of Warminster Official Guide 1957/8 noted that:
Arn Hill . . . . The Marquess of Bath has presented the wooded hillside to the town as a recreation ground. The views from Arn Hill across the wooded valleys to the opposite slopes of the Plain on the one side and the Mendips on the other are amazingly fine, and the whole of this part of the downs is a treasure house for the botanist.
The Wiltshire And Swindon History Centre, at Cocklebury Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 3QN, holds the following document(s):
Correspondence. Arn Hill Borehole. 1940-1943. Reference K4/140/35.
