Odiham is a village in the
Hart districtHart is a local government district in Hampshire, England, named after the River Hart. Its council is based in Fleet. It was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the urban district of Fleet, and the Hartley Wintney Rural District.Hart District is one of the...
of
HampshireHampshire , sometimes historically Southamptonshire, Hamptonshire, , or the County of Southampton, is a county on the south coast of England. The county borders , Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
,
EnglandEngland 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 and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The current population is 4,406. It is twinned with
SourdevalSourdeval is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-See also:*Communes of the Manche department...
in the
CalvadosThe French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the coast.- History :...
Department of France.
RAF OdihamRAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force station situated a little to the south of the historic small village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift helicopter, the Chinook HC.2/HC.2A...
aerodromeAn aerodrome or airfield is a term for any location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve cargo or passengers or neither....
lies to the south of the village.
History
The first written record of Odiham's existence is in the
Domesday BookThe Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William I of England, or William the Conqueror...
(1086), where it appears with its current spelling, although the spellings
Odiam and
Wudiham have sometimes been used since.
Odiham Castle
King JohnJohn , King of England, reigned from 6 April 1199 until his death. He acceded to the throne as the younger brother of King Richard I, who died without issue...
decided in 1204 to build
Odiham CastleOdiham Castle is a ruined castle situated near Odiham in Hampshire, United Kingdom. It is one of only three fortresses built by King John during his reign....
and it was built during the years 1207 to 1214 at a cost of over £1000. He already had some ninety strongholds all over the country, and he may have chosen Odiham because it is halfway between
WindsorWindsor is a suburban town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is best known as the site of Windsor Castle....
and
WinchesterWinchester is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. It 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 the River Itchen...
. In 1216 the French Dauphin
Louis VIIILouis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut...
besieged King John in the castle for two weeks.
King Henry IIIHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
, son of King John, gave the castle to his sister Eleanor in 1236, so when she married Simon de Montfort in 1238 the castle became the de Montfort family home. However, Simon was killed in the
Battle of EveshamThe Battle of Evesham was one of the two main battles of 13th century England's Second Barons' War. It marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and the rebellious barons by Prince Edward – later King Edward I – who led the forces of his father, King Henry III...
in 1265 when he led the rebellious
baronBaron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman."...
s to fight against the king; Eleanor was sent into exile.
During the fourteenth century the castle played a role in several significant events, including a sitting of
ParliamentThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories...
, and the imprisonment of King
David II of ScotlandDavid II was King of Scotland from 7 June 1329 until 22 February 1371.-Early life:...
in the castle for eleven years. However, by the fifteenth century its only use was as a hunting lodge and orgy house.
The castle was described in 1605 as a ruin, which it remains to this day.
Odiham Pest House
The
Pest houseIn the past, a pest house or pesthouse was a hospital or hostel used for persons afflicted with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, or smallpox...
was built c. 1622 and subsequently housed local people and travellers suffering from the plague and other infectious diseases. Many such “isolation hospitals” were built in that period but the Odiham Pest House is one of only five examples surviving. It was restored by the Odiham Society in 1981 to form a mini Heritage Centre.
Pest is the old word for plague and like other Pest Houses built in England, it was subsequently used to house local inhabitants or travellers suffering from the plague,
smallpoxSmallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and other infectious diseases.
Thomas Cox
Thomas Cox wrote in 1738:
- Odiam or Odiham, a small Market-Town, where was formerly a strong Castle and a Royal Palace. The Castle was straitly besieged, Anno 1216, the 18th of King John, by Lewis the Dauphin of France, and the Barons Army, for fifteen Days together, being maintained by thirteen Men only in it for all that Time. King Henry III gave it with Killingworth Castle, to Simon Earl of Leicester, who repaired them both, and then resigned them into the King's Hands.
- David II of Scotland
David II was King of Scotland from 7 June 1329 until 22 February 1371.-Early life:...
was kept prisoner here in Edward III of EnglandEdward III was one of the most successful English monarchs of the Middle Ages. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into the most efficient military power in Europe...
's Days.
- This Place is famous for giving Birth to Mr. William Lily, who wrote the Grammar; which, with some Alterations, is commanded by Act of Parliament
An act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament....
in King Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
's Reign, to be taught in all Schools. He died master of St. Paul's School, London, Anno 1522.
Odiham Agricultural Society
On 16 May, 1783, a group drawn from 'Gentlemen of Rank, fortune and Ingenuity' plus some 'intelligent farmers' met in The George Inn, Odiham to inaugurate the
Odiham Agricultural Society-HISTORY:On 16 May, 1783, the Odiham Agricultural Society was inaugurated[1,2] as a 'society for the encouraging of Agricultural and Industry in their town and neighbourhood'...
as a 'society for the encouraging of Agricultural and Industry in their town and neighbourhood'. Influenced by key members like Thomas Burgess and Granville Penn, the Society also resolved to reform farriery and animal care by establishing a school to teach veterinary science in England. This was to result in a far-reaching outcome: the foundation of the Royal Veterinary Society and the birth of the veterinary profession in Britain.
Education
For a list of local schools see the list of Hampshire schools.
See also
- HMS Odiham
HMS Odiham was one of 93 ships of the of inshore minesweepers.Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. The minesweeper was named after Odiham in Hampshire.-References:*Blackman, R.V.B. ed. Jane's Fighting Ships
...
, a Ham class minesweeperThe Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers , known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. It took its name from the fact that all the ship names were British place names ending in -"ham"...
- The Basingstoke Canal
The Basingstoke Canal is a British Canal, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation. From Basingstoke, the canal passes through or near Odiham, Fleet, Aldershot, Mytchett, Brookwood, and Woking. Its eastern end is at Byfleet, where it connects to the...
runs past Odiham
External links