Category: Inns, Pubs, Beerhouses and Temperance In Warminster

Information and pictures for inns, public houses, beerhouses, drinking hostelries, and the temperance movement in Warminster.

To Be Let – The Organ Inn, Warminster

From the Salisbury & Winchester Journal, Monday 1st January 1816:

Warminster – Organ Inn.
To be Let, – The above Inn, with the yard, stables, garden, and other appurtenances, situate in the centre of the town. The House contains, on the ground floor, two rooms in front, bar, back parlour, and kitchen, with eight bedrooms in the first storey. It has long been established as an inn, having been in the hands of one family for upwards of half a century. – Possession may be had as early as convenient to the coming tenant, who will be required to take the Stock and Brewing Utensils at a fair valuation. – For further particulars apply to Mrs. A. Provis, the owner and present occupier.

The Half Moon Is Included In William Buckler’s Memoranda Book

An 18th century Memoranda book of William Buckler of Boreham, Warminster, principally consisting of surveys of his leasehold lands, including the public house The Half Moon, can be found in the archives at the Wiltshire And Swindon History Centre at Cocklebury Road, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 2QN. The reference number is 2875/1.

Surely All Glory Is But A Sign!

There once was an inn called The Admiral Vernon at Silver Street, Warminster.

Some notes about the fall from grace of Admiral Vernon, the person:

Admiral Vernon was court-martialled in 1746, for publishing defamatory pamphlets against the Government. The King directed their Lordships in the House of Lords to strike Vernon’s name from the list of flag officers.

In days gone by, the fall from popularity of public figures and the rising stardom of others was obviously good enough reason for changing the signs of inns named after real persons.

Horace Walpole, in a letter to a Mr Conway, dated 16th April 1747, said “I was yesterday out of town, and the very signs, as I passed through the villages, made me make very quaint reflections on the mortality of fame and popularity. I observed how the Duke’s head [Duke William] had succeeded almost universally to Admiral Vernon’s, as his had left but few traces of the Duke of Ormond’s. I pondered these things in my heart, and said unto myself, surely all glory is but a sign!”

Vernon died suddenly on 30th October 1757, aged 72. Six years later his nephew, Francis Vernon, who was Lord Otwell (later the Earl of Shipbrook), erected a monument to Admiral Vernon in the north transept of Westminster Abbey.

His name lives on though, not just for inn names. Admiral Vernon is the name of an antiques market and arcade at Portobello Road, London.

Unicorn Beerhouse At Warminster Not Indexed In Summary 1747 ~ 1757

The Unicorn Beer House, West End / Vicarage Street, Warminster.

There is no record of a beerhouse or inn of this name in Warminster in an “Indexed Summary of the Alehouses named in the enrolled recognizances of licensed victuallers, 1747 to 1757.’ (ref WRO A1/325/8 to 15). BOX 15/9.