The History Of The Two Wicham
Wickham In The 19Th Century
In the time that Wickham was growing from mere hamlet to a sizeable village, the wealthier people of Wickham built a number of Georgian houses. Many merchants and craftsmen built fine houses and some were transformed into almshouses or schools. The prosperity of Wickham was reflected in some of the grand houses of the time such as Town House Corner adjoining the old school. Here one of the largest merchant families Roe lived. The house is now called Roffen Hall which is ironic for those who may not know the name is Roe-ffin river bank or ridge.
Roe owned land along both sides of the River Avon right up to Burchetts Green, This Is Hampshire (thisishampshire.co.uk). It is thought that the village would have been better called Wickham New Town due to the large amount of building works that took place between 1800 and 1812. This was mainly to build housing for workers, as well as a Congregational Church (built in 1850). The initial growth of the village coincides with the growth and prosperity of the Army Clothing Depot which consisted of a large complex of buildings next to what is now St James’s Way.
One eye witness wrote ‘There was not a house in the village that was not affected by its presence…’. Towards the end of the century the growth of the village slowed but the village itself wasn’t changing too much. The buildings themselves in Wickham continued to have thatched roofs and dirt roads made up most of the ‘roads’ in Wickham. The majority of those living in Wickham continued to be labourers and farm workers on local farms or one of the small cottage industries such as glass making, for example.
Wickham was well connected with the surrounding villages by road, with the main highway between Brighton and Portsmouth, now the A3, passing through the village centre. The roads to Bentley and Crockford Hall still exist although both are now single-track; in addition there were roads leading to Hambledon, Seend, Sutton Scotney and Lockerley. There were no railways to serve Wickham. The last major development was in 1855 when the London & Southampton Railway arrived. The railway provided a much quicker and easier way to travel to London and other parts of the country.
But it also opened up Wickham for more people to come and visit, and resulted in various visitors coming into town, with many subsequently staying. During the 1800s Wickham continued to prosper and grow. In 1841 Wickham saw a dramatic population change with a surge in population to 2,505 from 782 only thirty years earlier, living proof of the boom brought about by the development of the New Forest Railway. It can be pricey, but it does include breakfast or dinner each day (depending on the room type) and free WiFi.
Wickham In The 20Th Century
This was the death knell for Wickham village. The new railway station, built half a mile away, gradually drew people out of the centre of the village. After 1960, houses began to be sold off in their hundreds to the local authority to enable them to build new roads into town. By 1970 little more than thirty houses were occupied and there were only a handful of shops left. But the gradual decline of Wickham continued.
In 1944 a road was built right through the centre of the main entrance to the village (Broad Street), where once had stood Wickham’s Market Cross. All kinds of new developments such as social housing and private homes came into being in places that had, until then, been fields and paddocks. Now. Today Wickham is a much smaller village but in many regards it is the same as it was 100 years ago. The church, which is one of the largest and most important in the area, dominates the village.
It has been renovated and redecorated at different periods over the years but its exterior walls are still made from flint and stone. In fact some of the flint may have come from old Saxon buildings that once stood on land now part of a stream bed passing underneath Alresford Road. The line from Fareham to Droxford junction was closed in 1955, however between 1958 and 1993 the line was busy with freight traffic. The branch had a considerable amount of freight traffic, milk, grain, livestock, coal and other cargoes.
Some other small industries came to Wickham, one was a jam factory run by Colman’s and the other was a brick works which operated until the Second World War. Then in 1928 the Jubilee Hall was opened now our Village Hall. Pet friendly Portsmouth isn't just for the humans any more. Recently, our tourism teams have been working hard to promote the good things that Portsmouth has to offer our canine friends. We've put together a comprehensive guide to dog-friendly Portsmouth.
Wickham In The 21St Century
The population of Wickham has always been made up of an interesting mix of people from artists to politicians. In the medieval period, Wickham was under the control of Sir William de Wickham. Sir William was a cultured man known for his love of music and poetry. He directed the construction of a church in Wickham, which still stands today. In 2009 a Netherfield Way was created in Wickham to commemorate the location of Netherfield, home of Wickham’s most famous resident.
The road starts off with a group of Malbec vines, made from recycled vehicles, and a sculpture by Don Webb depicting Mr Darcy emerging in his shirt sleeves from Pemberley’s stables. Wickham is my home town, and I was born there on November 24th 1995. I like going to the coast with my friends in the summer and in the autumn and winter I like snow-boarding and other activities. Wickham used to be a thriving market town in the 19th century – but today it is a picturesque village known for its historical buildings.
Wickham In The Middle Ages
In Anglo Saxon times the church, with its glebe land was in the royal manor of Wickham. About 1028 Walkelin Bishop of Winchester exchanged the royal manor of Wickham with king Canute for the royal manor of Ewelme. The royal manors of Wickham and Ewelme were merged in 1048 by Edward the Confessor's charter. In Saxon times the Wickham area was mainly woodland, which supported Britain's largest deer population. Deer were caught in pits and a salt making industry developed in the local woods.
Wickham seems to have been one of the larger settlements in Hampshire. There was a flourishing pottery industry. It is known from the Domesday Book of 1086 that an Anglo-Saxon called Swain had a mill at Wickham. In 1170 it was held by Roger de Merley. He built a castle there and gave permission to build a chapel, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. The parish church of Wickham is dedicated to Saint Mary. The original parish church of St.
Mary was built by the Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon word 'wyk'means a village and the suffix ham is the equivalent of the modern "ton" (a farmstead). So Wickham means The Village By the River Meon. It was also known as Bocheham in Domesday Book. The earliest record of Wickham is in 845. Until then it was a part of the Great Manor of Iwerne Minster. My first set of photos are mostly of historic and scenic features of the village of Wickham.
