Wickham
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- For the town in Western Australia, see Wickham, Western Australia
Template:GBmap Wickham, formerly spelled Wykeham, is a civil parish and small market town in Hampshire, southern England, about three miles north of Fareham, and part of the City of Winchester local government district, in spite of it being notably closer to the town and borough of Fareham. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 4,816.
It is notable for having been formally laid-out around its large square (was cited as an example of this type of village in Sharp, 1946)
It was the fording place of the River Meon on the roman road between Noviomagus Regnorum (Chichester) and Venta Belgarum (Winchester), and the inferred divergant point of the route to Clausentum, (Bitterne). The roman road from Chichester to Wickham is still followed today by local roads, passing behind Portsdown Hill to the north of Portsmouth Harbour, and via Havant, whereas the route to Winchester is mostly lost, likely through neglect in the dark ages before present field patterns emerged. Wickham has occasionally been hypothesised as an alternative to Nursling (on the R. Test) or Neatham (nr Alton) for the roman station Onna listed in the Antonine Itinerary, which has yet to be conclusively located.
It was the birthplace of William of Wykeham, founder of Winchester College and New College, Oxford.
It was an intermediate station on the Meon Valley Railway, a late victorian route, at one time conceived as a direct route from London to the Isle of Wight, itself fashionable due to Queen Victoria's residence Osbourne House, until her death in 1901. This closed in 1955 to passengers, and is now a cycle path in the vicinity of the village.
It has a community centre which is home to many activities, including the Home-Start Meon Valley Charity[1].
References
Academic publications
- Sharp,T (1946), Anatomy of the Village, Penguin: Harmondsworth