Whitchurch, Hampshire
Encyclopedia
Whitchurch is a town in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is on the River Test
River Test
The River Test is a river in Hampshire, England. The river has a total length of 40 miles and it flows through downland from its source near Ashe, 10 km to the west of Basingstoke , to the sea at the head of Southampton Water...

, 13 miles (20.9 km) from Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF...

, 12 miles (19.3 km) from Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

, 7 miles (11.3 km) miles from Andover
Andover, Hampshire
Andover is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18.5 miles west of the town of Basingstoke, 18.5 miles north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles north of the city of Southampton...

 and 12 miles (19.3 km) miles from Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...

. Much of the town is a Conservation Area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...

. Because of the amount of wildlife in and near the river, parts of the town are designated as Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

. Much of the land to the south of the town centre is old water meadow. The old maps show how it was fed by springs.One key spring still exists at Ninesprings Nursery on The Weir. It originally fed what is now thought to be some of the oldest watercress beds in Britain.They are shown on the 1810 map and the 1872 and 1876 maps show them clearly also the history of how the River Test was diverted. The site now grows aquatic plants that are distributed nationally. The adjacent Millennium Green exposes an old dam used for flooding the meadow in the past and a sluice and wooden sheep dip hundreds of years old. Whitchurch is the largest town to not have traffic lights.

The West of England Main Line
West of England Main Line
The West of England Main Line is a British railway line that runs from , Hampshire to Exeter St Davids in Devon, England. Passenger services run between London Waterloo station and Exeter...

 links the town's railway station
Whitchurch (Hampshire) railway station
Whitchurch station serves the town of Whitchurch, Hampshire UK. The station is served and operated by South West Trains.-Services and facilities:A ticket office is available during the morning peak.Off peak services:*West of England Main Line...

 to London, and two main roads that by-pass the town (A34 – a major north-south route, and A303
A303 road
The A303 is a 92-mile long trunk road in England. It is the main road between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon. The M3, the A303 and the A30 together make up one of the main routes from London to South West England, running from London to Land's End in Cornwall...

 – a major east west route).

History

Earliest origins

The name is Anglo Saxon
Old English language
Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 in origin, and means 'white church', although there is evidence of occupation from the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

  archaeological excavations having uncovered Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 and Iron Age pottery, tools and skeletal remains. The earliest written record of Whitchurch dates from 909 AD in a charter by which King Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...

 confirmed the manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 of Whitchurch to the monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

s of Winchester as England recovered from the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 onslaught of the previous fifty years. It next appears in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086. This records the name as 'Witcerce', occupying 6100 acres (24.7 km²) in the 'Hundred
Hundred (division)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...

 of Evingar' and also records that Witcerce was 'owned' by the monks at Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

  Another theory on the origin of the name is that it means "Place of Proclamation". In parts of the north of England we see it reflected in Whit Walks with Roman Catholics and Protestants choosing different days over the Whit Period for their Whit Walks. Whitchurch is well-placed being at the cross roads for north-south, east-west travellers.

13th century

By 1241, it was known as Witcherche and was becoming prosperous, holding a market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...

 on Mondays in the market place
Market Place
Market Place is the financial programme broadcast Monday to Friday at 10:30pm in Hong Kong by television channel TVB Pearl....

. This was a vital feature of medieval society, and produce such as butter, eggs, fruit and livestock were brought in for sale from the outlying farms and villages.

Witcherche received a royal charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

 in 1285, having become a borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....

 in 1284. The land ownership had by now passed to a form of tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...

 known as a burgage
Burgage
Burgage is a medieval land term used in England and Scotland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town rental property , owned by a king or lord. The property usually, and distinctly, consisted of a house on a long and narrow plot of land, with the narrow end facing the street...

. As a borough, it was governed by a Court Leet
Court leet
The court leet was a historical court baron of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts.-History:...

. Meetings were held in the village hall
Village hall
In the United States, a village hall is the seat of government for villages. It functions much as a city hall does within cities.In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building within a village which contains at least one large room, usually owned by and run for the benefit of the local...

 each year, in October, to elect a mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 and burgesses. Witcherche's prosperity was again on the rise due to its widespread sheep farming, the wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

 being a valuable commodity at the time.

The River Test provided the power for at least four watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

s, located every half mile along the river through the town. The Town Mill was the source of power for milling corn, and other mills were used for finishing wool, weaving silk and dressing cloth. Only Whitchurch Silk Mill
Whitchurch Silk Mill
Whitchurch Silk Mill is a watermill on the River Test, located in the town of Whitchurch, Hampshire, England. The mill was constructed in 1815 on a plot of land called Frog Island. The mill is probably on the same site as one of the four mills recorded in the Domesday Book. Originally it was a...

 survives, the others having been converted into residential dwellings. The Silk Mill is still operating as a working mill and popular visitor attraction.

16th century

When Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 died in 1547 his nine year old son, Edward VI, inherited the throne. Under Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...

, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

, and Edward Seymour
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp of Hache, KG, Earl Marshal was Lord Protector of England in the period between the death of Henry VIII in 1547 and his own indictment in 1549....

 the Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...

, England became more Protestant, and the people of Whitchurch were persecuted for their religious beliefs for six years until the death of Edward and the succession
Order of succession
An order of succession is a formula or algorithm that determines who inherits an office upon the death, resignation, or removal of its current occupant.-Monarchies and nobility:...

 of Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

.

Also during the 16th century, under the reign of Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 the town had become large and prosperous enough to send its first two members to Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

 in 1586. Until 1832, it was known as a Rotten Borough
Rotten borough
A "rotten", "decayed" or pocket borough was a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament....

, as the members were nominated by an absent landlord.

18th century

The town hall was built during the reign of Queen Anne. In 1712, Henri de Portal, a Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 refugee from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, established a paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

 at Bere Mill in Whitchurch, producing exceptionally hard and close-textured paper. The quality of the paper was considered so high that within twelve years, Portal was supplying the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

, a tradition that still continues. de Portal eventually naturalised to English nationality
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....

, and established a second mill at Laverstoke
Laverstoke
Laverstoke is a village in the north of Hampshire, England. It forms a parish with the nearby village of Freefolk.Businesses include Laverstoke Park Farm-Literature:...

; in more recent times the business moved to neighbouring Overton
Overton, Hampshire
Overton is a village and parish in Hampshire, England located west of the town of Basingstoke, and east of Andover and Whitchurch. The village of Quidhampton lies to the north of the village. The River Test rises 1 km to the east near the hamlet of Ashe....

, where it is still based today. He died in 1747, and is buried at All Hallows, Whitchurch.

19th century

In 1888, the Star newspaper reported:
Whitchurch is in Hampshire. People who live IN it call it a town. People who live OUT of it call it a village. It is about as big as a good-sized pocket handkerchief. It has three shops and 19 public houses.


Also in 1888, Charles Denning and Clara Thomas married in Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

. They set up home in Whitchurch, where Clara's father had purchased two houses for them in Newbury Street. Here Charles established a drapery
Drapery
Drapery is a general word referring to cloths or textiles . It may refer to cloth used for decorative purposes – such as around windows – or to the trade of retailing cloth, originally mostly for clothing, formerly conducted by drapers.In art history, drapery refers to any cloth or...

 business. It was also here that one of their children, Alfred Thompson or "Tom", grew up. He later became one of the most renowned judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

s in English legal history - Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...

. The house in Newbury Street is today marked with a commemorative plaque. Before returning to the Court of Appeal as Master of the Rolls, Denning, for a time, was a member of the judicial committee of the House of Lords, taking the title Baron Denning of Whitchurch.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....

 and its open-air services were the dominant talking point. They maintained that they had a right to hold these services but were prosecuted for obstructing the highways and causing a disturbance. The conviction in 1889 of one group, and their subsequent treatment by the authorities, led to demonstrations. In October 1889, 5000 Salvationists and 12 Salvation Army bands demonstrated in the Town Square at Whitchurch. They were charged with riot, unlawful assembly and rout, and the Salvationists applied for the case to be heard in the High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...

. In July 1890 the court found in their favor and set down laws granting the public the right to hold orderly public demonstrations, which were the rules followed until the beginning of the 21st century, when the government overturned them.

All Hallows Church

The Saxon church was the original "white church", because it was built of limestone or chalk. The church and all its property were given by Henry de Blois in 1132 to St Cross Hospital in Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

 and the gift was confirmed by Richard I in 1189.

Little is known about the earlier Saxon structure because its Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 lords
Lords
- Places :*Lord's Cricket Ground, English Cricket Ground and home of Marylebone County Cricket Club.- Politics :*House of Lords, upper house of the British parliament*Lords Spiritual, clergymen of the House of Lords...

 built a more imposing successor which is the basis of the present Parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 church of All Hallows. The first stage was completed in about 1190 when the three western bays on the south side of the nave were added. A north aisle was added in the 15th century. The tower was re-built in 1716 but still features the original oak stair turret. The whole church was largely re-built in 1866 and the square Norman tower was capped by a Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 spire.

It is a Grade 2* Listed Building and the oldest remaining structure in the town. All Hallows is also widely known for its 3-manual pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

 with 41 stops
Organ stop
An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; some can be "on" , while others can be "off" .The term can also refer...

 dating from 1935, and a peal
Ring of bells
"Ring of bells" is a term most often applied to a set of bells hung in the English style, typically for change ringing...

 of 10 bells
Church bell
A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...

 in the tower. The earliest of the six bells in the tower is of 15th century origin and the others were gifts made in the 17th and 18th centuries. The bells were cast in a field belonging to a farm in Wood Street, now called Bell Street. The spire of All Hallows weighs 500 tons and is held in place by its own weight.

Present day

The population is 4,500. The town is a growing community with a combination of residential areas and some light industry, and serves as a small commuter town to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and to a lesser extent Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...

 and Andover
Andover, Hampshire
Andover is a town in the English county of Hampshire. The town is on the River Anton some 18.5 miles west of the town of Basingstoke, 18.5 miles north-west of the city of Winchester and 25 miles north of the city of Southampton...

. Newbury
Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF...

 and Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

, whilst nearby cannot be reached by rail without significant detour and so commuting to these places is mostly by car. Lynch Hill Park, a small housing development, was used in a TV advert for Roysters crisps because of its "typical" American appearance. It also contains a house with an interesting roof line that is strangely pink. The centre of the town is a roundabout known as The Square.

Education

Testbourne Community School
Testbourne Community School
Testbourne Community School in Whitchurch, Hampshire, England, has been a secondary school since the Victorian era and is a foundation school. It has had performing arts specialist status since 2005 and educates around 760 students aged 11–16...

 is a foundation school
Foundation school
In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools....

 and was rated as "outstanding" in November 2010 by OFSTED. It has had performing arts specialist status
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...

 since
2005 and educates around 760 student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

s aged 11–16. The Headteacher
Head teacher
A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....

 is Hilary Jackson.

Whitchurch Church of England Primary School
Whitchurch Church of England Primary School
Whitchurch Church of England Primary School is located in the town of Whitchurch, Hampshire, England.The Headteacher is Sarah Peters, who took up the post in April 2008....

 serves the younger students in the town and its surrounding areas. It was rated in January 2011 as "good" with a number of "outstanding" features, by OFSTED. The headteacher, Sarah Peters, started in April, 2008.

Leisure and sport

As well as the thriving amateur theatre group called WADS, which was established in 1958, there is also an annual beer festival
Beer festival
A Beer Festival is an organised event during which a variety of beers are available for tasting and purchase. Beer festivals are held in a number of countries...

 held at the Longmeadow Sports and Social Club, this is run by the North Hampshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
Being positioned on the Southern edge of the North Wessex Downs Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...

 as well as at the junction of several river valleys, Whitchurch has many opportunities for cycling, both strenuous and sedate, on-road and off. Popular cycle routes include over to the Bourne Valley, the Hampshire County Council Off-Road Mountainbike loop, and down the Test Valley to Longparish.

There is a BMX cycle track and a 'Sk8' board area in Daniel Park, which together with its adjoining open space next to the primary school, has been put forward as a Queen Elizabeth II field in the hope of protecting it forever.

A large water meadow area lies to the south of the town, along Winchester Street. Its ponds have viewing platforms, and there is a log circle gathering spot next to a large oak tree that itself has a rope swing hung from a high branch. The site is administered by Whitchurch Millennium Green Trust, a registered charity.

The Whitchurch Town Council maintains a couple of children's playgrounds: one in Kingsley Park, and the other at the bottom of Alliston Way between the schools. Other play areas are at Caesar's Way and Park View.

Some open areas along footpaths have been set aside for the public, for example around King's Walk.

First Place Winner in BT Competition

Whitchurch was ranked first in the BT "Race to Infinity
BT Infinity
BT Infinity is a broadband service in the United Kingdom provided by BT Retail, the consumer sales arm of the BT Group. The underlying network is fibre-to-the-cabinet , which uses optical fiber for all except the final few hundred metres to the consumer, and delivers download speeds of 'up to...

" competition that finished December 31, 2010. The win means that the local telephone exchange will be one of the first six rural exchanges to be upgraded to fibre-optic technology, to bring faster Internet speeds to residences, businesses, schools and doctors. The exchange serves the town, its surrounding villages and the rurual communities in-between.

The Whitchurch Faster Broadband Campaign saw participation by many volunteers who went "door knocking" in the midst of a severe December snowstorm to secure the votes required to win. In the end, the final score was 104%, as many people without landlines or Internet access were able to cast their vote. In addition, the town also won £5000 of computer equipment from BT for use by a community project.

The Whitchurch Association, a charity, spear-headed the campaign and the collection of ideas for the community project; the Whitchurch Town Council underwrote the campaign and several local businesses contributed. The campaign was also supported by the schools, the doctor's surgery, churches, and politicians, including the area's local MP, The Rt Hon Sir George Young Bt.

Town website

Following a grant from SEEDA
South East England Development Agency
SEEDA, more officially the South East England Development Agency, is one of a number of regional development agencies in England. It was set up as a non-departmental public body in 1999 to promote the region and to enable a number of more difficult regeneration projects which otherwise might not...

, the town website www.whitchurch.org.uk was launched on May 1, 2010. The site is administered by the Whitchurch Association on behalf of the town residents. Any resident is able to contribute, and the site's ethos is non-political following that of the Whitchurch Association.

High-Caffeine Drinks Ban

A report given by the police to the Whitchurch Town Council on 4 April 2011 stated, "We have also asked shops in Whitchurch not to sell ‘Kick, Red Bull or any other stimulation drinks to youths under 16 on Friday evenings". The story was picked up by local media and later, national media. The police request came after meetings with the Whitchurch Youth Project and an assembly at Testbourne school, in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour.

Hampshire Potato Day

Actually two days, the last full weekend in January, see the arrival in the town of around 2,000 keen gardeners from all over the South of England searching for seed potatoes not available anywhere else in the country. The event boasts the largest selection of varieties available to amateur growers in one place in the world, in 2008 that was 143! http://www.potatoday.org

Notable people

  1. Charles Kingsley
    Charles Kingsley
    Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...

    , the author of The Water Babies
    The Water Babies
    The Water Babies may refer to:* The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby, a novel published in 1863* The Water Babies , a 1978 animated film based on the novel* Water Babies , a 1976 album by Miles Davis...

    , stopped at the White Hart Hotel in The Square.
  2. James Robertson Justice
    James Robertson Justice
    James Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...

    , the actor, lived in Whitchurch. Sadly, his son, also called James, died in Whitchurch by drowning in the River Test in 1948.
  3. Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down
    Watership Down
    Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...

     and The Plague Dogs
    The Plague Dogs
    The Plague Dogs is the third novel by Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, about two dogs who escape an animal testing facility and are subsequently pursued by both the government and the media...

    , lives in Whitchurch. Watership Down
    Watership Down, Hampshire
    Watership Down is a hill, or down, at Ecchinswell in the civil parish of Ecchinswell, Sydmonton and Bishops Green in the English county of Hampshire. It rises fairly steeply on its northern flank , but to the south the slope is much gentler . .The Down is best known as the setting for Richard...

     is a real location
    Watership Down, Hampshire
    Watership Down is a hill, or down, at Ecchinswell in the civil parish of Ecchinswell, Sydmonton and Bishops Green in the English county of Hampshire. It rises fairly steeply on its northern flank , but to the south the slope is much gentler . .The Down is best known as the setting for Richard...

    , about 10 km NNE of the town.
  4. Charles I
    Charles I of England
    Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

    , later beheaded at Whitehall
    Whitehall
    Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...

    , stayed with the Brooke family of Whitchurch in 1644. The house, which still stands today opposite All Hallows Church, is named Kings Lodge, presumably after its regal guest.
  5. Carl Barât
    Carl Barât
    Carl Ashley Raphael Barât is an English musician, actor and author. He was the frontman and lead guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things, and recently debuted a solo album, but is best known for being the co-frontman with Peter Doherty of the garage rock band The Libertines.-Early life:Carl Barât was...

     of the Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things
    Dirty Pretty Things (band)
    Dirty Pretty Things were an English band fronted by Carl Barât, a member of The Libertines. The formation of the band was announced in September 2005, after a dispute between Barât and Pete Doherty led to the breakup of The Libertines in 2004. Barât had worked with Vertigo Records and had...

     was brought up in the town from the age of 1.
  6. Actor Leslie Schofield
    Leslie Schofield
    Leslie Schofield is an English actor who is most famous in the UK for his role as Jeff Healy in the popular soap opera, EastEnders where he played Jeff from 1997 to 2000. His character was famous for unsuccessfully proposing to Pauline Fowler...

     who has a long list of acting credits to his name but most notably as Chief Bast
    Chief Bast
    Chief Bast is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe.He was an Imperial Officer stationed aboard the first Death Star. Like General Tagge, Chief Bast feared that the Rebels might find an exploitable weakness in the purloined plans for the battle station. He was unable to convince Grand...

     in Star Wars Episode IV
    Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
    Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...

    , Jeff Healy in EastEnders
    EastEnders
    EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

     and a French Detective in Chucklevision
    ChuckleVision
    ChuckleVision is a popular British television series shown mainly on CBBC. New episodes are always first aired on BBC One, and occasionally episodes are shown on BBC Two. The first episode was shown on 26 September 1987. It follows the adventures of the Chuckle Brothers & the Patton Brothers, who...

     lived in Whitchurch.
  7. Lord Denning, famous English Judge and Master of the Rolls
    Master of the Rolls
    The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the second most senior judge in England and Wales, after the Lord Chief Justice. The Master of the Rolls is the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal...

  8. Peter Honri, an award-winning actor, writer and former council member of Equity; author of John Wilton’s Music Hall, The Handsomest Room in Town, lived in the town since the late 1990s.

Further reading

  • Anon, photographs by John Crook A brief guide to the parish church of All Hallows Whitchurch Hampshire 2002, Parochial Church Council of Whitchurch with Tufton with Litchfield, Hampshire (£1.00, available from church)
  • Fox, John The Whitchurch Town Guide
  • Pitcher, Anne A History of Whitchurch

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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