Everything about Odiham totally explained
Odiham is a village in the
Hart district of
Hampshire,
England. The current population is 4,406.
There is a
Royal Air Force aerodrome to the south of the town,
RAF Odiham.
It is twinned with
Sourdeval in the
Calvados Department of France.
History
The first written record of Odiham's existence is in the
Domesday Book (1086), where it appears with its current spelling, although the spellings
Odiam and
Wudiham have sometimes been used since.
Odiham Castle
King John decided in 1204 to build
Odiham Castle and it was built during the years 1207 to 1214 at a cost of over £1000. He already had some ninety strongholds all over the country, and he may have chosen Odiham because it's halfway between
Windsor and
Winchester. In 1216 the French Dauphin
Louis VIII besieged King John in the castle for two weeks.
King Henry III, son of King John, gave the castle to his sister Eleanor in 1236, so when she married
Simon de Montfort in 1238 the castle became the de Montfort family home. However, Simon was killed in the
Battle of Evesham in 1265 when he led the rebellious
barons to fight against the king; Eleanor was sent into exile.
During the fourteenth century the castle played a role in several significant events, including a sitting of
Parliament, and the imprisonment of King
David II of Scotland in the castle for eleven years. However, by the fifteenth century its only use was as a hunting lodge and orgy house.
The castle was described in 1605 as a ruin, which it remains to this day.
Odiham Pest House
The
Pest house was built c. 1622 and subsequently housed local people and travellers suffering from the plague and other infectious diseases. Many such “isolation hospitals” were built in that period but the Odiham Pest House is one of only five examples surviving. It was restored by the Odiham Society in 1981 to form a mini Heritage Centre.
Pest is the old word for plague and like other Pest Houses built in England, it was subsequently used to house local inhabitants or travellers suffering from the plague,
smallpox and other infectious diseases.
Thomas Cox
Thomas Cox wrote in 1738:
» Odiam or Odiham, a small Market-Town, where was formerly a strong Castle and a Royal Palace. The Castle was straitly besieged, Anno 1216, the 18th of King John, by Lewis the Dauphin of France, and the Barons Army, for fifteen Days together, being maintained by thirteen Men only in it for all that Time. King Henry III gave it with Killingworth Castle, to Simon Earl of Leicester, who repaired them both, and then resigned them into the King's Hands.
» David II of Scotland was kept prisoner here in Edward III of England's Days.
» This Place is famous for giving Birth to Mr. William Lily, who wrote the Grammar; which, with some Alterations, is commanded by Act of Parliament in King Henry VIII's Reign, to be taught in all Schools. He died master of St. Paul's School, London, Anno 1522.
Odiham Agricultural Society
On 16th May, 1783, a group drawn from 'Gentlemen of Rank, fortune and Ingenuity' plus some 'intelligent farmers' met in The George Inn, Odiham to inaugurate the
Odiham Agricultural Society as a 'society for the encouraging of Agricultural and Industry in their town and neighbourhood'[1]. Influenced by key members like Thomas Burgess and Granville Penn, the Society also resolved to reform farriery and animal care by establishing a school to teach veterinary science in England. This was to result in a far-reaching outcome: the foundation of the Royal Veterinary Society and the birth of the veterinary profession in Britain.
[1] Pugh, L.P. (1962).
From Farriery to Veterinary Medicine 1785-1795, Heffner, Cambridge (for RCVS)
Education
For a list of local schools see the
list of Hampshire schools.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Odiham'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://odiham.totallyexplained.com">Odiham Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
