Whitchurch Town Council Whitchurch Town Seal "Sigal Magn Villae et Burghi de Whitchurch"

History

Travellers in Anglo-Saxon England knew where they were because the place names described prominent local features. So it was with the "white church" made from local chalk and flint stones that gave its name to Whitchurch. The present All Hallows Church can trace its existence back 1200 years. But the settlement here was older than Anglo-Saxon England. Ancient and Roman roads crossed the area and recent excavations in Whitchurch have uncovered Roman and iron age pottery, tools and the skeletal remains of early inhabitants...

The first record of the town is a charter of 909 AD by which King Edward, the Elder, confirmed the manor of Whitchurch to the monks of Winchester as England recovered from the Viking onslaught of the previous fifty years. Whitchurch also appeared in William the Conqueror's inventory of his new country known as the Domesday Book. Whitchurch was granted the status of Town by Edward I in 1284 (the Charter arrived one year later). The White Hart Inn was founded in 1462 and still provides excellent accommodation, food and drink to locals and travellers. By 1586 Whitchurch returned two members of Parliament. One local family, the Brookes, emigrated to the American colonies after finding themselves on the wrong side in the Civil War when Cavaliers fought Roundheads in the 1640's. The house that they left still stands opposite the church. The latest of a long line of American Brookes recently returned to the church of his ancestors, All Hallows, to be baptised.

In 1712 a Protestant refugee, a Huguenot, named Henri de Portal escaped from France and using the power and clear water of the River Test introduced the skills of paper making to Whitchurch. A later Portal became a Marshal of the Royal Air Force and the factory, now owned by De La Rue PLC, still produces bank notes from nearby Overton. The connection with money was reinforced by the temporary arrival of the Bank of England in Whitchurch in the Second World War to escape the Blitz in London.

Weaving has employed Whitchurch folk since at least the time of the Domesday Book. There are four mills on the river in Whitchurch; one of them, the Silk Mill is still working while two others, both now private houses, reflect the town's history; Fulling Mill where the finishing of high quality woollens used to be carried out and Bere Mill where Henry Portal began making bank note paper. Visitors can tour the Silk Mill and discover how silk is made.

So many of the strands of our national and local history are still present in the weave that makes up Whitchurch. There is for example a modest building in Winchester Street used by the Salvation Army. Just over a hundred years ago, 5000 people and 12 Salvation Army Bands came to Whitchurch to celebrate the right won here by the Salvation Army after riots and persecution to free assembly and peaceful demonstration.

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For more information on Whitchurch Town Council or its services please contact Catherine Burt, Clerk to the Council, Whitchurch Town Council, The Town Hall, Newbury Street, Whitchurch, Hants, RG28 7DW, E-mail: whitchurchtowncouncil@whitchurch.hants.gov.uk

Comments or feedback on this web site should be sent to Whitchurch Town Council, whitchurchtowncouncil@whitchurch.hants.gov.uk

This page last updated on 22 October 2004

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