Alton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in East Hampshire, England, near the source of the northern branch of the River Wey. It is on the A31 road southeast of Farnham and northwest of Winchester.
It was an important market town: it was recorded in the 11th-century Domesday Book as having the most valuable market in England. There have been multiple historic battles in Alton, in 1001 and during the English Civil War in 1643. Alton was the site of the treaty in which Robert Curthose recognised Henry I as the King of England.
The town had an urban district council until 1974, when a civil parish was established, creating Alton Town Council. The town had a population of 17,880 at the 2021 census.
The town has connections with Sweet Fanny Adams, who was famously murdered in 1867, and Georgian novelist Jane Austen.
History
Toponymy The River Wey has a source in the town, and the name Alton comes from an Anglo-Saxon word "aewielltun" meaning "farmstead at the source of the river".Coates, Richard (1989), Place Names of Hampshire, Batsford. Alton was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as Aoltone. During the Saxon period Alton was known as Aweltun.
Early history
The Alton Hoard of Iron Age coins and jewellery found in the vicinity of the town in 1996 is now in the British Museum. There is evidence of a Roman posting station at Neatham near Alton, probably called Vindomis, and a ford across the River Wey on the line of a Roman road that ran from Chichester to Silchester. An Anglo-Saxon settlement was established in the area and a 7th-century cemetery was discovered during building excavations. It contained grave goods including the Alton Buckle which is on display in the Curtis Museum and considered to be the finest piece of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship found in Hampshire. The buckle, found in the grave of a warrior, has a silver-gilt body set with garnets and glass.
In 1001 Danish forces invaded England and during the First Battle of Alton the forces of Wessex came together and fought against them. About 81 Englishmen were killed, including Ethelwerd the King's high-steward, Leofric of Whitchurch, Leofwin the King's high-steward, Wulfhere a bishop's thane, and Godwin of Worthy, Bishop Elfsy's son. The Danes were the victors although Danish casualties were higher and fleeing Englishmen took refuge in Winchester.
Alton (as Aoltone in the 'Odingeton Hundred — Hantescire') is recorded as having the most valuable market in the Domesday Book. There were 13 households and was in the Hundred of Neatham.
The Treaty of Alton was signed in 1101 between William the Conqueror's eldest son Robert II of Normandy and his brother Henry I of England. Henry had seized the throne while his elder brother was away on the First Crusade. Robert returned to claim the throne, landing in Portsmouth. The brothers met in Alton and agreed terms which formed the Treaty of Alton. Part of the main street through Alton is called Normandy Street, probably reflecting this event.
Middle Ages The first recorded market in Alton was in 1232, although the market at Neatham first recorded in the Domesday Book may also have been in the town. Blome wrote in 1673 of a 'market on Saturdays, which is very great for provisions, where also are sold good store of living cattle'.Blome's Hampshire, 1673 The Saturday market is featured on Kitchin's map of Hampshire (1751) which marks the town as Alton Mt. Sat. (viewed on website: )
1307 was, in fact, the first year of Edward II's reign but Edmund of Woodstock was not lord of the manor then. According to the Victoria County History (written after Curtis' book):-
As can be seen, Queen Margaret held the manor until 1317 and so the fair could not have been granted to Edmund of Woodstock in 1307.
The correct date for the grant seems to be 22 November 1320 (according to the Charter Rolls, 14 Edward II, no.15). The grant was for a 9-day fair – the vigil [eve] and feast of Whitsuntide and seven days after.
The two main manors in Alton – Alton Eastbrook and Alton Westbrook – had a fair each. That of Alton Eastbrook has no extant charter, and may never have had one. It was originally held on St Lawrence's Day and so its origin was, presumably, the patronal festival. The religious aspect would have ceased when the country was no longer Roman Catholic. This fair seems to have been held on Crown Close (which is in the manor of Alton Eastbrook) in the early 19th century. When this land was built upon, the fair moved and was held where ever the Westbrook fair was – the Market Place, various meadows and the Butts.
The date of the Eastbrook fair was changed to Michaelmas in the mid-18th century as it came during harvest time and the farmers were not satisfied. Some accounts for this fair in the early 18th century do survive and show that there was a cheese fair as well the usual mix of travelling and local people with stalls and stands – people selling lace, gloves, books, gingerbread, bodices, sugar plums, toys, soap and knives, to name but a few. By the late 19th century, this fair was said to be mainly for horses, sheep and, occasionally, hops. Alton still has an annual fair, but it now takes the form of a carnival.
Modern period
A battle was fought in Alton during the English Civil War. A small Royalist force was quartered in the town when on 13 December 1643 they were surprised by a Parliamentary army of around 5,000 men. The Royalist cavalry fled, leaving Sir Richard Bolle (or Boles) and his infantry to fight. Outnumbered, the Royalists were forced into the Church of St Lawrence, where Bolle was killed along with many of his men. Over 700 Royalist soldiers were captured and bullet holes from the battle are still visible in the church today.
In 1665, Alton suffered an outbreak of bubonic plague, but soon recovered. On Saturday, 24 August 1867, an eight-year-old girl, Fanny Adams, was murdered in Alton. Her assailant, Frederick Baker, a local solicitor's clerk, was one of the last criminals to be executed in Winchester. As was the custom of the time, the initial inquest for the death of Fanny Adams took place shortly after the body was found and took place at the Duke's Head public house (now "The George") on 27 August 1867. Frederick Baker was further remanded awaiting his trial on 29 August 1867 at Alton Town Hall.internet research including You Tube channels "Eryberrie True Crime" "The True Story of FannieAdams" Fanny Adams' grave can still be seen in Alton cemetery. The brutal murder, so the story goes, coincided with the introduction of tinned meat in the Royal Navy, and the sailors who did not like the new food said the tins contained the remains of "Sweet Fanny Adams" or "Sweet F.A." The expression "sweet fanny adams" has an old-fashioned slang meaning of nothing.
Governance
Prior to the Local Government Act 1972, Alton had fallen under the aegis of the (now defunct) Alton Urban District Council. The Act resulted in the dissolution of this body, and the establishment (on 1 April 1974) of the current Alton Town Council. The responsibilities of the Alton Urban District Council were divided between the new Alton Town Council, the Hampshire County Council and the newly formed East Hampshire District Council. The Council meets at Alton Town Hall, in Market Square.
Geography Alton is located at the eastern end of the Hampshire Downs, a belt of chalk overlooking the Weald. The town is bordered to the east by Wealden Grassland. Nearby Brockham Hill, situated northeast of Alton, rises to above sea level.
Alton is between Farnham to the northeast and Winchester to the southwest. London is .
Alton is a small built-up area according to the ONS built-up area classification.
Climate Along with the rest of South East England, Alton has a temperate climate which is generally warmer than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between . June and July are the warmest months in the area with average daily maximum around .
Economy
There have been a number of breweries in Alton since 1763, with Hall & Co. and Crowley & Co. establishing large brewery operations in Turk Street in the 1800s. As the brewing industry consolidated in the c.20th, these breweries were acquired by Courage Ltd and Watney, Combe Reid & Co. Ltd. A further brewery was opened nearby in Manor Park in December 1962 to produce Harp Lager as part of a consortium involving Guinness, Courage and a number of other partners. Watney, Combe Reid & Co. Ltd closed its brewery in 1970 and it became a depot until the 1980s. The original Courage site and Manor Park was sold to Bass Brewers in 1979 who closed the original brewery in 1980 to replace it with a warehouse and kegging facility. Following further mergers and sales within the brewing industry, Coors Brewing Company acquired the Manor Park brewery in 2001. The brewery produced Carling, Grolsch and Worthington until it was closed in 2015 due to a decline of demand for beer and a loss of a third party contract.
Alton was significant in the 18th century for the manufacture of paper and of dress materials including ribbed druggets, shallons, silks and serges, bombazine and figured barragons.Brookes, R., 1815 (16th edn): The General Gazetteer: (London)
Alton has businesses in the retail and service sectors in the centre of the town, and over a hundred businesses in the four industrial areas of Mill Lane, Newman Lane, Caker Stream and Omega Park, ranging from light industrial to computer software production. Clarcor, TNT N.V. and Poseidon Diving Systems all have businesses in Alton's Industrial Site, Mill Lane.
One of Alton's largest commercial employers is the financial services sector. Lumbry Park, which used to be known as Lumbry Farm, is on the B3006 Alton to Selborne road, and was occupied by Inter Group Insurance Services (IGIS), a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Inter Group employs over 170 people on this site, and specialises in travel insurance. The company operated in Alton since 1999, was acquired by Churchill Insurance in 2001, becoming part of RBS Insurance division in 2003 as part of an RBS takeover. However, on 11 November 2008, Inter Group announced its proposal to close its office in Alton in August 2009 due to "changes in the travel insurance market", leading to the loss of 104 full-time staff and around 16 part-time.
Alton has a range of chain stores and independent shops including greengrocers, butchers and a hardware shop. There are five main supermarkets that serve the town.
Alton's employment rate was 59.8% in 2021. The largest industry of the town's residents was health and social work activities, followed by wholesale and retail trade.
Demographics The Alton built-up area had a population of 17,880 as of the 2021 Census. Its median age was 44. 90% of residents were born in the UK. + Households by accommodation type, AltonHouse type households%Whole house or bungalow: Detached1,78521.8Whole house or bungalow: Semi-detached2,40029.3Whole house or bungalow: Terraced1,77521.7Flat, maisonette or apartment2,22027.1A caravan or other mobile or temporary structure[c][c] +Households by tenure, AltonTenure type households%Owned: owns outright2,83535.9Owned: owns with a mortgage or loan or shared ownership2,35529.8Rented: social rented1,55019.6Private rented or lives rent free1,16514.7
Culture Jane Austen Regency Week is a celebration of the time the author Jane Austen spent in Alton and Chawton and is held in June each year.
The Allen Gallery serves as Alton's art gallery. It houses a large, permanent ceramics collection as well as temporary exhibitions.
Holybourne Theatre is on the site of a former Nissen hut that was converted into a theatre by German prisoners-of-war during World War II. Plays have been performed there since 1950, but the official opening was not until 1971.