National Gazetteer (1868) - Bishops Waltham

"BISHOP'S WALTHAM, a parish and market town in the hundred of the same name, Droxford division of the county of Southampton, 9 miles to the S. E. of Winchester, and 65 miles from London by road, or 79 miles by railway. It is a station on the Gosport and Portsmouth branch of the London and South-Western railway. The parish is situated in a pleasant country near the source of the river Hamble, and includes the chapelries of Ashton and Curdridge, and the tything of West Hoe. The prefix. "Bishop's" denotes the fact that the manor belongs to the see of Winchester. It has been held by the bishops from time immemorial, and was the site of the episcopal palace or castle originally founded in the reign of King Stephen, by his brother, Henry de Blois.

It was the chosen seat of William of Wykeham, to whose cultivated taste was chiefly owing the grandeur and beauty of the building. The last days of his long and active life were spent here. The palace was destroyed during the civil war of the 17th century; but there are some remains to testify to its former extent. The business of the town is chiefly connected with agriculture. A brisk trade in leather is carried on, and a small malt trade. The living is a rectory* in the diocese of Winchester, of the value of £915, in the patronage of the bishop. The church is dedicated to St. Peter.

There is a grammar school, founded in 1679 by Bishop Morley, with an endowment of about £40 a year. Other charitable endowments of the parish produce about £100 per annum. National schools have been established. Waltham Chase, near this town and included in the manor, was formerly a notorious haunt of deer-stealers, who, from the custom of blackening their faces, obtained the name of Waltham Blacks. The legislature interfered at last, and, in 1723, to put a stop to their depredations, passed the Act called the Black Act. The village of Wickham, near the Chase, was the birthplace (1324) of the great prelate, William of Wykeham. Bishop's Waltham is a polling-place for the county elections, and a County Court is held in the town. Friday is the market-day. Fairs are held on the second Friday in May, the 30th July, and the first Friday after Old Michaelmas Day. "ASHTON, a tything in the parish of Bishop's Waltham, and hundred of the same name, in the county of Southampton, 1 mile from Bishop's Waltham. "CURBRIDGE, a hamlet in the parish of Bishop's Waltham, in the county of Hants, 2 miles S.W. of Bishop's Waltham. "DEAN, a hamlet in the parish of Bishop's Waltham, in the county of Hants, 1 mile N.E. of Bishops Waltham. "DUNDRIDGE, a hamlet in the parish of Bishop's Waltham, in the county of Hants, 1 mile N.E. of Bishop's Waltham. "FAIRTHORN, a hamlet in the parish of Bishop's Waltham, county Hants, 3 miles S.W. of Bishop's Waltham. The South-Western railway passes in the neighbourhood."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]