.

A Brief History of Bishopstoke

Some notable dates and events in a thousand years of history.

The Romans No written evidence found, as yet , but substantial remains of buildings beneath the sewage treatment works off Chickenhall Lane.

Bishopstoke Parish has been connected with the Winchester Diocese since the mid-7th. Century.

The Saxons First written evidence in a document of 928 from King Athelstan to the Bishop of Winchester.

The Normans The Domesday Book of 1086 lists Bishopstoke as having a church and a mill.

Stoke Park woods may have been part of the Forest of Bere. In 1202 and 1205 King John hunted stags there and wrote a letter from Bishopstoke in 1205.
1301/2 Winchester Pipe Rolls name the Bailiff and Reeve of Bishopstoke and list 1 beadle, 4 ploughmen, 1 oxherd, 1 cowherd and 1 smith.
1547-52 John "Bilious" Bale, Rector of Bishopstoke, author of the first historical play. He supported Thomas Cromwell when the monasteries were dissolved under Henry the Eighth.
1647 Henry Coxe Pastor of Bishopstoke during Puritan era.
1650 Earliest extant Parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials.
1652 Samuel Sewell baptised in Bishopstoke. He became a judge at the trial of the Salem witches. A noted diarist.
1710 Itchen Navigation Canal opened between Winchester and Southampton.
1787 Sunday Schools opened.
1793 Bishopstoke Poor House built in Stoke Common.
1804 William Gilbert born in Bishopstoke, a noted Victorian Novelist and Father of W.S. Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan).
1807 The Reverend Thomas Garnier became Rector and rebuilt the Rectory in 1808. He had the church rebuilt in 1825.
1822 An Act of Inclosure laid out the roads and fields in Bishopstoke.
1839 The Railway line opened from London to Basingstoke and from Winchester to Southampton - completed in 1840 and the station called "Bishopstoke Junction" was built.
1840 The Poor House was sold, when Bishopstoke came into the Winchester Union, and converted into cottages.
1843 Bishopstoke National School opened in Middle Street.
1844 Walter Twynam, a wealthy farmer, built the house which later became The Mount.
1848 Bible Christian Chapel opened in Stoke Common.
1851 Visit of Prince Albert to the Rectory and its famous garden.
1852 Bishopstoke Cheese Market built at side of the railway.
1865 Visit by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) to his close friend Admiral Sir Henry Keppel at "The Cottage", Bishopstoke.
1869 The Reverend Dean Thomas Garnier retired as Rector.
1874 The Reading Room (now a Billiard Club) built by Captain Hargreaves the new owner of The Mount.
1880 Bishopstoke Board School (1st building) opened in Church Road.
1890/91 New church of St. Mary's built in Church Road on land given by Mr. Barton, owner of Longmead House.
1891 Railway Carriage Works moved from Nine Elms to Eastleigh and houses built in Bishopstoke for some of the workers.
1892 Mr Cotton bought The Mount, after Captain Hargreaves died, and had it rebuilt.
1896 Second Bishopstoke School built.
1897/9 Bishopstoke amalgamated with Eastleigh.
1910 Locomotive Works moved to Eastleigh and more houses built for workers in Bishopstoke.
1927 The Mount sold to Hampshire County and converted to a sanatorium for TB patients.
1928 Auction of Longmead House and remaining land, some of which including the house was unsold. Spring Lane bridge demolished. The house finally demolished in 1938.
1952 The remaining land of Longmead Estate sold to Eastleigh Borough Council and laid out with roads and council houses.
1960's Demolition of former Poor House, old cottages in Spring Lane, Whitehaugh and Asfordbye.
 
 
The Parish Council is endebted to Mrs Joan Simmonds for preparing these texts on the history of Bishopstoke.
 
 
Home Page