Category: About Warminster: Cuckoos Nest Lane

Right Of Way WARM 10 Footpath, Warminster, 2025

Monday 2nd June 2025

Item 21 on the Agenda for a meeting of the Town Development Committee of Warminster Town Council, held at the Civic Centre, Warminster, on the evening of Monday 2nd June 2025, was: “Rights Of Way Volunteers. To note the update from the Rights of Way Volunteers.”

The Rights Of Way Volunteers presented a Warminster Rights Of Way Maintenance Analysis, which included the following information for WARM 10:

Ser. 10
Parish number: WARM 10.
Name: not named.
Status: Footpath.
Length (m): 725.
Surface: Mixed.
Remarks: A short section follows Cuckoo’s Nest Lane before running along pavements to the footbridge crossing the Were. It has been diverted onto a new line and laid to tarmac as a cycle track besides the Grovelands Way public open space. On leaving that field it follows an ancient track between hedges before turning right and eventually joining WARM 8 crossing across the West Warminster Urban Extension (WWUE) as a grass path with an established trod.

A Sense Of Humour ~ Cuckoo’s Nest, Warminster

Victor Manley, in his Regional Survey Of The Warminster District, Volume Five, compiled in the 1920s and 1930s, listed and attempted to explain the meaning of several local place names. He included Cuckoo Nest in his list, giving its location as “Rear of West Street, on north side.” Manley, seeking an explanation for the name, says “A sense of humour may have altered the original as a cuckoo does not make a nest but lays its eggs in other birds’ nests.”

Cuckoo’s Nest ~ Two Cottages At Pickford’s Lane, Warminster

At the beginning of the 20th century, Cuckoo’s Nest was the name for two cottages at Pickford’s Lane, off the north side of West Street, Warminster.

The 1901 Census of Warminster records that Frank Humphries who lived at No.1 Cuckoo’s Nest and Ernest Morrell who lived at No.2 Cuckoo’s Nest were both nurseryman labourers.

The 1901 Census tells us that Frank Humphries, was then aged 33 and that he was born in Warminster. His wife Ellen, three years younger, was born in Frome. The Census records seven Humphries’ children living with them: Albert, aged 13, a baker’s errand boy; Charles, aged 9; Nellie, aged 7; Arthur, aged 6; Mary A., aged 4; Florence, aged 2; and William, aged 1. These children were all born in Warminster.

Ernest Morrell, who lived at No.2 Cuckoo’s Nest, was aged 24 at the time of the 1901 Census and his birthplace is recorded as Taunton, Somerset. His wife Lily Morrell is the same age and was born in Warminster. The Census reveals they had two children at this time: George, aged 3, born in Taunton; and Frank, aged 1, born in Warminster.Â