Tony Kippenberger is chairmen of Bishop’s Waltham Town Team, a group comprising members from several community organisations and Winchester City Council.  The group aims to future-proof the high street, encouraging shoppers and visitors from all over the region, but also attracting local people to use their town centre.

The village was originally called simply Waldham from the Saxon words – wald meaning a wood and ham meaning a settlement.  It only became known as Bishop’s Waldham in the 12th century when Winchester Bishop Henry of Blois, brother of King Stephen, built first a church, followed by a castle and finally a palace (above left) there. Before that there had been a Saxon Minster, but the site of that is unknown.

Henry of Blois was also responsible for the building of Wolvesey Palace in Winchester (above right) and Merdon Castle (which is near Hursley). He also developed the big fishpond north of the village, which has since been bisected by the road to Winchester.  Fishponds were a necessity in those days before refrigeration was invented and when the only religion was the Roman Catholic faith.

Bishops’ Waltham later became a thriving market town and an administrative centre.   King Alfred had earlier built protected towns, called burghs, each with its own armed force and mint, all within twenty miles of each other.

Waldham, as it was then known, enjoyed the status of a royal burgh.  When the Vikings arrived in 1001, by sailing up the river Hamble, they attacked and burned the town.  However, it rose from the ashes to become the tenth largest settlement in Hampshire, according to the Domesday Book (1086), which records that the town had a population of around 450, which in those days meant that it was a large settlement.  It was recorded as having 115 households, 37 plough teams (eight oxen per team), a deer park, two churches and a priest. There were 483 settlements in Hampshire at that time.