| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Coates & Parker Ltd |
| Editor | Ray Shorto and Diana Watkins |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Headquarters | Warminster |
| Circulation | unaudited |
| Website | www |
The Warminster Journal is a weekly newspaper published in Warminster, Wiltshire in South West England. The paper serves the west Wiltshire towns of Warminster and Westbury as well as the villages of the Wylye Valley, Chitterne, Mere, Chapmanslade, Corsley, and Horningsham.
The newspaper's founder, Benjamin Walter Coates, was a son of the Rev. John Coates, master of King James's School, Almondbury. B. W. Coates moved to Warminster in the 1860s and in 1876 bought an existing printing and stationery business. Coates was interested in running a newspaper, but Warminster already had the Warminster Herald, founded in 1857. [1]
A Conservative and a loyal member of the Church of England, in 1881 Coates finally launched the Warminster and Westbury Journal and Wilts County Advertiser as a weekly broadsheet, after a substantial investment in new staff and machinery. The first issue was dated Saturday 19 November 1881, and for twelve years the new paper was in competition with the Warminster Herald. [1] In 1884, both newspapers were published weekly and priced at one penny, and the Journal was noted as having a Conservative affiliation, while the Herald was non-aligned. [2] The Herald ceased publication in 1893. Coates retired as editor in 1898 and was succeeded by his 28-year-old younger son Alfred Coates, who edited the Journal for sixty years. [1] In 1900, Samuel Hillier Parker, originally from Sunderland, joined the firm as an assistant. [1] When he married in 1903, he gave his occupation as bookseller’s assistant. [3] In 1912, Alfred Coates made him a partner. [1] Apart from a single year beginning during the First World War, the paper has appeared weekly since 1881. [4] Due to key staff leaving to join the armed forces, publication was suspended in April 1918 and did not begin again until 15 August 1919. However, the firm's business as stationers continued. [1]
The issue of the Journal of 4 July 1903 announced a forthcoming one-night visit to Westbury by Buffalo Bill's show "Wild West and Rough Riders of the World". [5] The paper of 18 July 1903 said this was due to Westbury's improved railway service. [6]
Samuel Parker died in 1935, and Alfred Coates continued the newspaper, printing and stationery business until 1958, when he retired, selling Coates & Parker to Charlie Mills. Mills died in 1970, leaving the business to his wife and daughter, Elsie and Gladys Mills. As of 2021, his grandchildren Ray Shorto and Diana Watkins are joint editors of the newspaper. [1]
The circulation was stated in 1989 as 5,600. [7]
Wiltshire is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of 3,485 km2. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the south-west, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the south-east, Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east and Berkshire to the east. The county town was originally Wilton, after which the county is named, but Wiltshire Council is now based in the county town of Trowbridge. Within the ceremonial county's boundary are two unitary authority areas, Wiltshire and Swindon, governed respectively by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council.
Warminster is a historic market town and civil parish in south-west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of 18,173 in 2021.
West Wiltshire was a local government district in Wiltshire, England, between 1974 and 2009, when it was superseded by Wiltshire Council.
Westbury is a market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster.
Westbury was a parliamentary constituency in Wiltshire from 1449 to 2010. It was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, and then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 2010.
The Wiltshire Times is a weekly newspaper published in Trowbridge, Wiltshire in South West England. The paper serves the western Wiltshire towns of Bradford on Avon, Trowbridge, Corsham, Chippenham, Warminster, Westbury and Melksham, and their surrounding rural areas.
Dorchester West railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town of Dorchester in Dorset, England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway. The station is located on the Heart of Wessex Line between Castle Cary and Weymouth, 161.63 miles from the zero point at London Paddington, and is at the southern end of a single track section from Maiden Newton. The line becomes double at the station and remains so to just before nearby Dorchester Junction, where the line joins the South West Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth.
Westbury railway station serves the town of Westbury in Wiltshire, England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway.
South West Wiltshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Andrew Murrison, a Conservative, since its creation in 2010.
Melksham railway station serves the town of Melksham in Wiltshire, England. It is 100 miles 13 chains measured from London Paddington, on the TransWilts Line between Chippenham and Trowbridge that was originally part of the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway, absorbed in 1850 by the Great Western Railway.
The Swindon Advertiser is a daily tabloid newspaper, published in Swindon. The newspaper was founded in 1854, and had an audited average daily circulation at the end of 2017 of 8,828.
The Bath Chronicle is a weekly newspaper, first published under various titles before 1760 in Bath, England. Prior to September 2007, it was published daily. The Bath Chronicle serves Bath, northern Somerset and west Wiltshire.
South Wiltshire, formally known as the Southern division of Wiltshire or Wiltshire Southern was a county constituency in the county of Wiltshire in South West England. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.
Henry Whitehead was an eminent Anglican bishop in the last decade of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th.
Abraham Laverton, of Westbury, Wiltshire, was an English cloth mill owner, Liberal Member of Parliament for the parliamentary borough of Westbury from 1874 to 1880, and philanthropist.
Dorset & Wilts 3 North was an English Rugby Union league, forming part of the South West Division, for clubs primarily based in Wiltshire, sitting at tier 10 of the English rugby union system. Promoted teams tended to move up to Dorset & Wilts 2 North and there was no relegation. The league was created in 2005 and was disbanded after the 2019–20 season.
The Westbury Hill Fair, or Westbury Hill Sheep Fair, was an annual fair which took place on the first Tuesday in September on high ground at Westbury, Wiltshire, England, near the north-western corner of Salisbury Plain. The main business was the sale of sheep. The fair was well-established by the mid 19th century and had come to an end by 1942.
Heywood is a civil parish and small village in the county of Wiltshire in southwestern England. The village is approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Westbury and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of the county town of Trowbridge.
Lacock Halt was a minor railway station on the Chippenham–Trowbridge section of the former Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway (WSWR), which opened as far as Westbury on 2 September 1848. This connected to the Great Western Main Line at Thingley Junction and was incorporated into the Great Western Railway in March 1850 after the WSWR ran into financial difficulties.
