Oliver's Battery | |
---|---|
The earthworks and shops in Oliver's Battery Road South. | |
Location within Hampshire | |
Population | 1,547 (2011 Census) [1] |
OS grid reference | SU458277 |
• London | 62.2m |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Winchester |
Postcode district | SO22 |
Dialling code | 01962 |
Police | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
Fire | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
Ambulance | South Central |
UK Parliament | |
Oliver's Battery is a civil parish in Hampshire, England, of some 700 households located just to the south of the City of Winchester. The parish was formed in 1956 (in the then Winchester Rural District, and part of the City of Winchester District since 1974) from part of Compton parish. The parish does not include the whole of the settlement known informally as Oliver's Battery, with the northern boundary following the A3090 and therefore excluding Oliver's Battery Road North.
The name Oliver's Battery refers to a prominent Iron Age earthwork. A fine Anglo-Saxon bowl [2] from a burial within the Battery [3] was on show for many years at the British Museum, but has now been returned to Winchester City Museum on long-term loan. [4] The parish also contains a number of Bronze Age burial mounds. The Olivers Battery name dates back to the English Civil War and is specifically associated with Oliver Cromwell's siege of Winchester in 1645. A map of 1780 refers to the area as "Cromwell's Camp" and later maps show it as "Oliver Cromwell's Battery". The ancient earthwork may well have provided a suitable campsite for the besieging Parliamentarian forces, but cannon of the period would have lacked the range to fire on Winchester Castle and city walls from the so-called battery site.
For centuries, Oliver's Battery was open downland grazed by sheep. Permanent settlements only appeared in the early years of the twentieth century with the establishment of a military camp. During the First World War the army maintained an extensive Veterinary Hospital for horses. After the war, the camp was split up into small holdings with army huts being used as dwellings. Gradually, a community developed as huts were replaced with houses and other homes were built.
In the late 1970s the community was bisected by Badger Farm Road (now the A3090), which acts as a south-western ring road for Winchester. A southern Winchester park-and-ride scheme opened in 2010 and is intended to reduce rush-hour congestion on this road. [5]
There is a local shopping centre built in the 1960s, with Sub Post Office. A small Anglican church, St Mark's, doubles up as a village hall and there is also a Catholic church, St Stephen's. Oliver's Battery Primary School was opened in 1973. St Peter's Catholic Primary School was built in the 1980s (having originated in Winchester in the 1850s), next to St Stephen's. The Catholic school and church are in Oliver's Battery Road North, and therefore not within the civil parish. There is no secondary school, but Kings' School is within walking distance.
David Farmer, 2000, A Brief History of Oliver's Battery (pamphlet)
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Barton Stacey is a village and undulating civil parish, which includes the hamlets of Bransbury, Newton Stacey, Drayton and Cocum, in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England, centred about 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Andover. It is bounded to the north by the estate of Drayton Lodge, and, to the south, by the minor A30 road; both being east–west routes, and connected by The Street/Cocum Road, the main road that bisects the village. The distance between the A303 and A30 at this point is 2 miles (3.2 km), which is twice the width of the parish.
Bulford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, near Salisbury Plain. The village is close to Durrington and about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the town of Amesbury. The Bulford Camp army base is separate from the village but within the parish.
West End is a parish in Hampshire in the borough of Eastleigh, five miles (8.0 km) east of the city of Southampton. The village of West End is small and generally classed as an area in the outer suburbs or rural urban fringe of the borough of Eastleigh because of the surrounding woodland and countryside, including Telegraph Woods and Itchen Valley Country Park.
Corhampton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Corhampton and Meonstoke, in the Winchester district, in the county of Hampshire, England. It lies on the western bank of the River Meon. In 1931 the parish had a population of 87. On 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished and merged with Meonstoke to form "Corhampton and Meonstoke".
Sparsholt (/ˈspɑːʃəʊlt/) is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England, 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) west of Winchester. In 1908 its area was 3,672 acres (1,486 ha). The 2011 Census recorded its population as 982.
Wellow is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England that falls within the Test Valley district. The village lies just outside the New Forest, across the main A36 road which runs from the M27 motorway to Salisbury. The nearest town is Romsey, 4 miles (6.4 km) to the east, and the closest city is Southampton, 9 miles (14 km) to the southeast. The parish had a population of 3,239 in the 2021 census.
Sutton Veny is a village and civil parish in the Wylye valley, to the southeast of the town of Warminster in Wiltshire, England; the village is about 3 miles (5 km) from Warminster town centre. 'Sutton' means 'south farmstead' in relation to Norton Bavant, one mile (1.6 km) to the north. 'Veny' may be a French family name or may describe the village's fenny situation.
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