WICKHAM

A short history of the village/town of Wickham, Hampshire.

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c. 50 AD: Romans build a road connecting Venta Belgarum (Winchester) to Noviomagnus (Chichester). There are several staging-posts along the way (Latin vicus = district/vicinity), one of which will eventually form the basis for Wickham.

c. 500: A group of Jutes (originally from Jutland, but probably by way of the Low Countries) settle in the area. They are called the Meonwaras, and the local river takes their name.

519: The Meonwaras become part of the neighbouring Gewissan Kingdom.

661: The Gewisse are defeated by the Mercians, who transfer the Meonwaras' lands to their local ally, Sussex.

686: The Gewisse, now renamed the West Saxons, regain control of the Meonwaras' lands. By this time the area around the modern church is being used as a cemetery, probably with an early (now lost) chapel or church. The Jutish word 'ham' (village) is tacked onto the Latin vicus to make Wyckham.

826: First mention of Wyckham in official documents.

1086: The Domesday Book records Wicheham as a typical village with a population of around 120. It also had two watermills where grain was ground into flour for the villagers.

1120: St. Nicholas Church built

1269: Wykeham is granted the right to hold weekly markets. (In the Middle Ages there were few shops and if you wished to buy or sell anything you normally had to go to a market). Wykeham Square was probably laid out at that time as a site for markets. Wykeham also had a fair. (Fairs were like markets but were held only once a year). The Wykeham fair attracted buyers and sellers from a wide area. Wickham Fair is still held each year on 20 May.

1324: William Long (later known as William of Wykeham) is born, the son of a village serf (slave).

1347: William enters royal service at Windsor Castle, where he organizes extension work.

1362: William is ordained a priest.

1364: William becomes secretary and lord privy seal.

1366: William is appointed Bishop of Winchester.

1367: William becomes Lord Chancellor of England. 1371: Political changes result in William being sacked.

1379: William founds New College Oxford.

1389-91: The aging William aggres to do two more years as chancellor to Richard II.

1394: William founds Winchester College.

1404: William dies.

c. 1542: Writer John Leland describes Wickham as 'a praty townlet where the water brekith into two armelettes and goith under 2 wodden bridgges'.

c. 1670: Queen Lodge (so later named because Queen Anne, 1702-14, would spend a night there) is built.

1700: Population around 500. In the following century tanning and brewing industries, both reliant on a good water supply, will be based in the town.

1820: Chesapeake Mill built, partly with timber from the American warship USS Chesapeake, captured by HMS Shannon in 1813 during the end stages of the Napoleonic Wars.

1862: The first of two awful Victorian restorations on the church (the second ten years later).

1884: Wickham Parish Council formed.

1901: Population is almost 1,200.

1903: Railway built from Fareham through Wickham, to Droxford, Privett, Farringdon and Alton.

1931: Wickham gains a gas supply. An electricity supply followed shortly afterwards.

1955: Railway closes.

1968: Wickham Primary School built.

1984: Wickham Vineyard opens.

2005: Population around 4,000.

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