Oliver's Battery
| Oliver's Battery | ||
|---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
| Region | ||
| Country | England | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
| Post town | Winchester | |
| Postcode district | SO22 | |
| Dialling code | 01962 | |
| Police | Hampshire and Isle of Wight | |
| Fire | Hampshire and Isle of Wight | |
| Ambulance | South Central | |
| UK Parliament | ||
Oliver's Battery is a
History
The name Oliver's Battery refers to a prominent Iron Age earthwork. A fine Anglo-Saxon bowl[2] from a burial within the Battery[3] was on show for many years at the British Museum, but has now been returned to Winchester City Museum on long-term loan.[4] The parish also contains a number of Bronze Age burial mounds. The Olivers Battery name dates back to the English Civil War and is specifically associated with Oliver Cromwell's siege of Winchester in 1645. A map of 1780 refers to the area as "Cromwell's Camp" and later maps show it as "Oliver Cromwell's Battery". The ancient earthwork may well have provided a suitable campsite for the besieging Parliamentarian forces, but cannon of the period would have lacked the range to fire on Winchester Castle and city walls from the so-called battery site.
For centuries, Oliver's Battery was open downland grazed by sheep. Permanent settlements only appeared in the early years of the twentieth century with the establishment of a military camp. During the First World War the army maintained an extensive Veterinary Hospital for horses. After the war, the camp was split up into small holdings with army huts being used as dwellings. Gradually, a community developed as huts were replaced with houses and other homes were built.
In the late 1970s the community was bisected by Badger Farm Road (now the A3090), which acts as a south-western ring road for Winchester. A southern Winchester park-and-ride scheme opened in 2010 and is intended to reduce rush-hour congestion on this road.[5]
Facilities
There is a local shopping centre built in the 1960s, with Sub Post Office. A small Anglican church, St Mark's, doubles up as a village hall and there is also a Catholic church,
Further reading
David Farmer, 2000, A Brief History of Oliver's Battery (pamphlet) [1]
References
- ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
- ^ "Item A2007.31.1". www.winchestermuseumcollections.org.uk. Winchester Museum.
- ^ "Oliver's Battery Burial". www.winchestermuseumcollections.org.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ "Winchester's Saxon hanging bowl is home!". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2007.
- ^ "Hampshire County Council".
External links
- Oliver's Battery Parish Council
- Oliver's Battery Primary School
- St Peter's Catholic School
- Oliver's Battery Countryside Group
External links
Media related to Oliver's Battery at Wikimedia Commons
Electoral wards and parishes in the City of Winchester District, Hampshire, England (since 2016 boundary changes) | ||
|---|---|---|
.svg){kind=spacer} | Wonston and Micheldever | |
| The Worthys | ||
| Alresford and Itchen | ||
| Winchester |
| |
| Badger Farm and Oliver's Battery |
| |
| Colden Common and Twyford | ||
| Upper Meon Valley | ||
| Bishops Waltham | ||
| Central Meon Valley | ||
| Whiteley and Shedfield | ||
| Denmead | ||
| Southwick and Wickham | ||
(Wards ordered from north-west corner, across the map, and then progressively south and east) | ||