Overton, ENG - Postcode - RG25 3JS

Description of Overton, Hampshire

Located west of Basingstoke and east of Andover and Whitchurch, Overton is a major community and parish in the English county of Hampshire. Southington, Northington, Ashe, Polhampton, and Quidhampton are all smaller communities inside the larger village. It is in Ashe, a location 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east, where the River Test begins its journey westward.

Objects discovered and burial mounds discovered nearby attest to people living in the area as early as the Stone and Bronze Ages. Banknote paper has been made in the area since the 18th century, and as of March 2020, the Bank of England still sources their paper from Overton Mill.

History of Overton

Tumuli can be found at Popham Beacons in the parish's southernmost corner, at Abra Barrow on the boundary south-west of Overton, at a long barrow to the west of Willesley Warren Farm in the northernmost corner of the parish, at strip lynchets on Rotten Hill, and on the Harrow Way, an ancient track which runs across the parish north-to-south.

Roman pottery shards unearthed in Little Meadow attest to the presence of Romans in the area, and the Port Way Roman Road serves as the northern limit of the parish.

Frithstan, Bishop of Winchester, in a chartership dated 909, was awarded "Uferantun" by King Edward the Elder, marking the beginning of the village's rapid expansion throughout the 10th century.

Located on the River Test, Overton flourished throughout the next century, growing to encompass numerous homes, the Church of St. Mary, and a number of corn mills by the time of the Doomsday Book. By the 12th century, Overton had become an important location, with the construction of the royal mansion Tidgrove Kings House to the north of the town. The palace was constructed for Henry II to use on his travels between Windsor and Winchester or Hamwych (Southampton), the usual point of entry and exit to and from his French territories. In 1218, when burgage tenure was established, King Henry III granted the bishop of Winchester permission to hold a market in "his manor of Overton," which sparked a period of uninterrupted growth and prosperity that lasted into the 13th century. By this time, Overton had grown into a significant town on the Winchester-bound north-south highway. Because of the Black Death, Overton's population did not grow, rents dropped by more than half, members from the town were removed from parliament to save money, and the tourns (medieval tribunals) were not convened. Overton managed to keep going despite the slowdown by merging farms and receiving aid from the bishopric.

Since 1442, when records began to be kept, the White Hart Inn has stood as Overton's oldest continuously operating business.

As the population boomed at this time, a new fulling mill was constructed . At 1519, Thomas Wolsey, bishop of Winchester, secured permission to celebrate "the eve, the feast, and the morrow of the Feast of St. George the Marty" with a fair in Overton.

Beginning in the early 16th century, growth was formed when settlements west of the River Test were established. Even Nevertheless, agriculture remained the backbone of the local economy; the sheep fair alone recorded pen numbers of approximately 30,000 sheep on average. The development of maize mills, fulling mills, and silk mills along the River Test also contributed to the expansion of the local economy.

As the borough's freeholders prospered and sought more authority, they began to elect their own port reeve, constable, bailiffs, beer-tasters, and leather sealers at the borough's court leet.

The London and South Western Railway opened the West of England Main Line and Overton railway station in 1854, having a profound effect on the village of Overton during the Victorian era. The New Inn, which had been standing since 1770, was sold and torn down in 1860 because of competition from the nearby railroad.

The land where once stood the New Inn was given to the town school by George Lamb. Lamb bought the plot of land in Red Lion Lane and spent his own money to construct the school there. Even after the town's junior and infants schools were integrated into a new school in Court Drove, the buildings that opened in 1868 and 1871 continued to serve the community for nearly a century.

Geography of Overton

Located in Hampshire, Overton's civil parish encompasses 3,471 hectares, or around seven miles north to south (from Polhampton to the A303) and two and a half miles east to west (from Ashe Park Lodge to Southington Lodge in Laverstoke Park). The north of Overton parish is in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, while the rest of the parish is essentially rural.

The headwaters of the River Test, a chalk stream known worldwide for its excellent trout fishing, are located approximately a mile east of Overton, near Ashe, under average rainfall levels, but can move as far east as Oakley during extreme downpours. Several mills in the settlement were powered by the river as it made its way westward into Whitchurch and then southward through Hampshire to Eling, which is close to Southampton and the coast.