Although it is known that prehistoric people inhabited the Alton
district, the first real evidence of settlement in the area comes
from Roman times as various coins and other Roman items have been
unearthed in the town.
The Saxons gave the town its name and a cemetery of this date, uncovered
by building work, revealed a range of material including the spectacular
buckle now on display in the Curtis Museum. The name Alton can best
be interpreted as “the Farm or Settlement of the Great Spring”
- a reference, no doubt, to the springs of the River Wey in meadows
just north of the town.
After the Norman Conquest, King William assumed control of the manor
and divided it into two. He kept the manor of Alton Westbrook for
himself but bargained with the monks of Hyde Abbey, Winchester,
whereby they gained Alton Eastbrook together with the parish church
and its advowson in exchange for property in Winchester over which
the King extended his palace. The “Brook” mentioned
here is, of course, the Northern River Wey which splashed its way
across the main street in those early days.
King Edward II, in 1320 granted the Manor of Alton Westbrook the
right to hold a nine days’ annual fair commencing on Whitsun
eve. The Manor of Alton Eastbrook also held a fair on 10 August
- St. Lawrence’s Day. These fairs brought trade to Alton.
July 1840 saw the first annual ‘Great Lamb Fair’ held
on The Butts. In the 1500s, after the dissolution of the monasteries,
the Manor of Alton Eastbrook came back into Royal hands and was
granted to the Knight family of Chawton in 1611.
The Parish Church of St. Lawrence is a fine example of the Perpendicular
style, although the Norman tower dates from about 1070. In 1643
the church was the final scene of a battle in the Civil War between
the Parliamentarians and the Royalists. Bullets and other relics
are preserved in the church, and the main door and walls bear the
marks of battle today.
The town had various weaving industries - kersey (coarse narrow
cloth woven from long wool), baragons (corded material), white yarn
and bombazine (worsted-silk mixture used for mourning) as well as
hop-bags were produced. Hops were widely grown because of the suitability
of the soil; local timber gave impetus to the turning trade, whilst
several tanneries flourished using oak bark from local forests.
These industries are now no more and the once flourishing paper
making business has gone too. William King was associated with the
latter trade and the River Wey was dammed to form King’s Pond
for this purpose. The Spicer family then ran the paper mill for
over 100 years until it closed in 1909.
Alton has had a brewing industry since the early 18th century and
many firms have operated here over the years. Two of the most well-known
were Courages (formerly Halls) and Watneys (formerly Crowleys) both
of whom were brewing elsewhere before they bought already established
breweries in the town.
In the late 19th century there were numerous bars in London where
a glass of Crowleys’ Alton Ale or Stout and a sandwich could
be purchased - perhaps the ancestors of the modern Sandwich Bar.
The Swan Hotel was first mentioned in 1499 although it has been
enlarged and rebuilt over the years. It was the stopping place for
the stage coaches travelling daily from London to Winchester and
Southampton until the coming of the railway in 1852. The landlord
then ran a coach to meet every train.
Alton was the scene of one of the most notable Victorian tragedies
- the murder of Fanny Adams in 1867. She was brutally killed by
a solicitor’s clerk named Frederick Baker. Afterwards parts
of her body were collected and taken to the Leathern Bottle public
house in Amery Street. From this event came the expression ‘Sweet
FA’.
Frederick Baker was executed on Christmas Eve 1867 in the presence
of 5,000 people. He was one of the last men to be publicly hanged
in front of the County Jail at Winchester.
The War Memorial, which is situated in front of the Assembly Rooms
and Curtis Museum, is known as The Cairn. It was built of 30 tons
of Cornish granite and was erected in 1920 in memory of the fallen
in the First World War. The Cairn replaced one of Miss Bell’s
two fountains, which was moved to the top of Station Road and later
to the Public Gardens where it remains. The Cairn also bears the
names of Altonians killed during the Second World War and the plaque
listing their names was unveiled in 1949.
The Assembly Rooms were presented to the town by the Hall family
in commem-oration of the victories gained by the Allies in the Great
War and the Alton Institute and Curtis Museum were presented to
Alton at the same time as a War Memorial.
The Curtis Museum and Allen Gallery
The Curtis name is one of the most famous to have been associated
with Alton, and is today chiefly recalled by the red brick Museum
which stands at the end of High Street, opposite the Assembly Rooms.
It was founded in 1855 by Dr. William Curtis second cousin of William
Curtis the botanist (1746-1799). The latter’s birth place
in Lenten Street is marked by a plaque. Trained as an apothecary,
the botanist became one of the foremost naturalists of his age.
He published works on botany and entomology, was a founder member
of the Linnaean Society and founded the Botanical Magazine in 1787.
The Museum is essentially a local one, and is administered by the
Hampshire County Museum Service. The displays are informative yet
easily understood, and there is continuing change and improvement.
The exhibition aims to tell the story of the local area from the
formation of the rocks some 100 million years ago right up to the
present. Of particular interest are the displays about the Roman
pottery industry, the medieval growth of the town, the Civil War
and the coming of the railways. Also to be seen is the unique, 1,500
year old Alton Buckle.
Upstairs there are sections on local hop growing, brewing, clock
making and travel.
Local crafts and trades are represented in more modern displays
that will be of interest to both residents and visitors to the area.
Fascinating dioramas show the natural history and how man has changed
this beautiful corner of the Hampshire countryside into what it
is today.
A small area is designed to be of particular appeal to children
and contains a selection of things used and enjoyed by children
through the ages including a fine Victorian dolls’ house and
toys, games, dolls and books.
A few yards away across the High Street and into Church Street is
the Allen Gallery. It houses a fine display of the Hampshire County
Museum Service Collection of English Pottery and Porcelain, which
dates from the 16th century to the present day. A selection of silver
is on view including the famous 400 year-old Tichborne spoons.
The Gallery also has an exhibition area in which are shown temporary
exhibitions and paintings from the W.H. Allen (1863-1943) bequest.
Behind the Gallery, which also boasts a coffee shop, is a small
but interesting garden that is provided with seats for visitors
and gives a place of contemplation and peace in the middle of the
town.
Admission to the Curtis Museum and Allen Gallery is free. Enquiries
from the public for advice and identification of items are welcome,
as are visits from schools and other parties. Prior notice to the
Curator - Tony Cross - is desirable in the latter case. The Museum
and Gallery are open Tuesdays to Saturdays between 10 am and 5 pm.
Guided Walks of Alton
New to Alton? Just visiting? Either way, if you would like to find
out more about the town, the buildings, the streets, history and
the people from the past, then why not join one of the Guided Tours
of the town which operate from the 1st May to the end of September
each season. The tours last little over an hour and start from either
the Railway Station or the Alton Craft Centre in Cross & Pillory
Lane; a small charge is made. During the summer, you can just turn
up or out of the main season, tours can be booked by appointment.
For further details on all the tours, please contact the Craft Centre,
on 01420 544827. The Visitor Information Point, also in Cross &
Pillory Lane, carries many other visitor publications about the
town and surrounding area.
Some Famous People
Edward Spenser
In narrow Amery Street by the Market Square is a house, said to
have been lived in by Edmund Spenser, the poet of the “Fairie
Queene”. John Aubrey states that he had been told by Rev.
Samuel Woodford of Hartley Mauditt that “Mr. Spenser lived
some time in these parts in this delicate sweet ayre: where he enjoyed
his Muse: and writt good part of his Verses” and Spenser certainly
had estates in Ireland near those of the Jephsons of Froyle. Although
he wrote the “Fairie Queene” at Penshurst Place whilst
staying with Sir Philip Sidney, he may have written “The Ruins
of Time” and “Mother Hubbard’s Tale” whilst
somewhere near Alton. The latter melancholy tale is probably a reflection
of “Fairie Queene”, for it brought him not a State Office
as he had hoped, but only a £50 pension.
Cardinal Newman A
plaque on the wall of 59 High Street proclaims that Newman, author
of the hymn “Lead, Kindly Light”, lived there for three
years. It reads: “John Henry Newman, later Cardinal, 1801-90,
lived here with his parents 1816-1819”.
James Burt Burt was
a famous local cricketer of the last century, who ran The Duke’s
Head, on the corner of Butts Road and Mount Pleasant Road. He weighed
22 stone, but nevertheless played in a game of cricket a few days
before he died.
Jimmy Dickinson Alton’s
most famous sporting hero, Jimmy Dickinson, has become the most
recent person to be commemorated with a Blue Plaque in the town.
Gentleman Jim, as he was affectionately known, had a lifelong connection
with Alton and this will be remembered in the plaque that has been
erected on the front of his childhood home at 13 Bow Street.
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