About the Athenæum
Warminster Athenæum is a Victorian venue in Warminster, Wiltshire, England, and a Grade II listed building. Built in Jacobean style in 1857/8 to designs by William Jervis Stent, it is held in trust on behalf of the residents of Warminster by a charitable trust (Charity number: 1086353) and is Wiltshire’s oldest working theatre. It is one of the oldest non-cinema venues in the country to still be showing films – the first having been presented in 1897.
History
Kyngeston Manor?
c1300s
c1600-1810
1810 – 1853
1849 – 1857
The Athenæum
The Palace Cinema
Warminster/West Wilts Arts Centre
The Athenæum Centre
1857 – 1912
1912 – 1964
1969 – 1997
2000 – Present
The area of Warminster where the Athenæum now stands was not developed until the Middle Ages, by which time it was on the eastern fringes of the town. There has been speculation for many centuries that the medieval Kyngeston Manor stood on this site, formerly known as Corn Hylle, and that its foundations form part of the current building. The Manor house was owned by Sir John de Kyngeston, guardian to John Mauduit, holder of the Manor of Warminster in 1329. We have yet to find physical evidence on site other than medieval stones removed in 1935.
The Search Hoop Inn
The earliest known record for the site is from 1644 during the English Civil War when a visitor to the Inn was accused of being a Roundhead spy. At this time the Inn was a popular coaching stop servicing those travelling cross-country to London, as well as local merchants who attended the bustling Saturday corn market and the pig shambles that stood in front of the tavern. A Search Hoop was used to sieve barley and was the symbol of the first Inn on this site
In 1810 a large fire broke out and destroyed part of the thatch, timber and stone inn, which included outhouses, stables and a malthouse. The following year, the tavern was rebuilt by Samuel Provis and renamed The London and Commercial Inn. This post house became a noted coaching point for the town and was briefly home of the Inspector in charge of the newly established County Police 1840-42. It was also a popular location for the auctioning of property, goods and produce. The cellars of the C17th tavern are the only part known to have survived to this day.
London & Commercial Inn
On Market Day The London Inn would dine four to five dozen farmers. Up to five hundred wagons of corn could arrive on Market Day extending the full length of the town – with tens of thousands of sacks of corn – often grid-locking the roads into town from all directions on a Friday night.
The London Inn received six stagecoaches per week – three arriving and three departing. The main route served by Warminster was the Exeter Road between London and Barnstaple, The other route was Portsmouth to Bristol. The Inns flourished and the town prospered until the arrival of the railways in 1851 took the passing trade. Within a couple of years, the London Inn was bankrupt.
The Athenæum
The Athenæum Centre is Wiltshire’s oldest working theatre and one of the older venues in the country. It began life in October 1849, when a group of local professional men met to discuss literature and the Arts over a chemist shop in Market Place. Within two years a more permanent group was established as an Athenæum Institution for Warminster; “to afford intellectual enjoyment as a means of cultivating literary taste and to improve the education of school pupils”. In 1857, after several years operating out of a premises in the Market Place and the Town Hall, a new home was sought and the London Inn was pulled down to create the beautiful grade II listed building we still know and love.
The new Athenæum, originally with a smaller glass-roofed lecture hall for 350 patrons, flourished as a centre of learning and entertainment, with lectures from eminent speakers such as author Charles Kingsley, novelty acts, penny readings, choral music and recitals.
The auditorium was rebuilt in 1879 in memory of one of the founders, Dr Charles Bleek. The larger hall and stage with its balcony remains, for the most part, unchanged to the current day. It was on this same stage that Oscar Wilde lectured in 1884, General Booth in 1906 and Emmeline Pankhurst in 1911.
First Pictures 1897
Cinema arrives at the The Athenæum in February 1897. We are one of the oldest venues in the country still to be showing films.
As the years rolled by, lectures gave way to more music hall entertainments, plays and shows. The library and literary institution side of the Athenæum became redundant. By 1895, in the hands of the Urban District Council, the use of the building changed considerably. The Athenæum Education classes expanded and a large new extension was built on The Close as the town’s first permanent Secondary School.
In the hall, the biggest change came following a public vote in 1912 to convert it into the Palace Cinema. Through two World Wars and the Great Depression, The Palace Cinema entertained the people of Warminster, showing over 10,000 films and a host of stage entertainment. It finally came to a close in 1964.
After a few years of restoration, the building reopened in 1969 as an Arts Centre and the cultural heart of Warminster. A rich and diverse programme of plays, concerts, film and dance gave the Centre stability for over twenty-five years. As it developed, the demands of running a professional venue overstretched the finances and in 1997 the Centre went into liquidation.
The building was then maintained by the resident dance studio until 2000 when a newly reformed Athenæum Trust brought the theatre back to full life and began a comprehensive programme of entertainment and repairs.
The long-neglected areas of the building were renovated and upgraded. Major works were undertaken to replace the heating, facilities, decoration, exterior and restore the roof surfaces at a cost of many hundreds of thousands of pounds.
In Spring 2011, the trustees developed a large void between the main building and the hall to improve accessibility. The project, along with a community kitchen and accessible toilet, was the most extensive alteration to the building since the 1930s.
Since 2000, the resident groups have staged outstanding and inspirational musicals, plays, films and shows, allowing the trustees to further invest in the building. Most recently, major improvements have been made to the entrance, toilet facilities, stage rigging, lighting and sound systems. In memory of one of its founding members, The Sheila Toomey Award was created in 2003 to support those aspiring to a career in the Arts. In 2020, the neighbouring Close Centre was acquired, reuniting the two parts of the building – separated since the 1940s – allowing the Centre to grow, and in 2024, Warminster Foodbank relocated here from Dewey House.
Through the decades and centuries, in its various forms, The Athenæum has never stood still, ever-evolving, improving, but always remaining a cherished building at the heart of the community.
Read about the Warminster Athenæum Trust here.