| Odiham | |
|---|---|
 Odiham High Street | |
  Odiham Location withinHampshire | |
| Population | 4,406 5,616 (civil parish 2011 including North Warnborough)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SU7354250136 |
| • London | 41 miles |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Hook |
| Postcode district | RG29 |
| Dialling code | 01256 |
| Police | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
| Fire | Hampshire and Isle of Wight |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°15′14″N0°56′20″W / 51.254°N 0.939°W /51.254; -0.939 | |
Odiham (/ˈoʊdiəm/ ⓘ) is a large historic village andcivil parish in theHart district ofHampshire, England. It is twinned withSourdeval in theManche Department of France. The 2011 population was 4,406. The parish in 1851 had an area of 7,354 acres with 50 acres covered by water.[2] The nearest railway station is atHook, on theSouth West main line. The village had its ownhundred, namedThe Hundred of Odiham.[3] The village is situated slightly south of theM3 motorway and approximately midway between the north Hampshire towns ofFleet andBasingstoke, some 37 miles (59.5 km) north-northeast ofSouthampton and 43 miles (69 km) southwest of London.
RAF Odiham, home of theRoyal Air Force's Chinook heavy lift helicopter fleet, lies to the south of the village.
The first written record of Odiham's existence is in theDomesday Book (1086),[4] where it appears with its current spelling, although the spellingsOdiam andWudiham have sometimes been used since.
King John decided in 1204 to buildOdiham 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 is halfway betweenWindsor andWinchester. In 1216 the French DauphinLouis VIII besieged King John in the castle for two weeks.[5]
King Henry III, son of King John, gave the castle to his sister Eleanor in 1236, so when she marriedSimon de Montfort in 1238 the castle became the de Montfort family home. However, Simon was killed in theBattle of Evesham in 1265 when he led the rebelliousbarons 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 ofParliament, and the imprisonment of KingDavid II of Scotland in the castle for eleven years.[6] during the reign ofEdward III of England.[5] However, by the fifteenth century its only use was as a hunting lodge. Odiham Park was a park which contained a hunting lodge owned byHenry VIII of England. On 4 August 1531, he stayed there withAnne Boleyn, who would later become hissecond wife.[7]
The castle was described in 1605 as a ruin, which it remains to this day.[8]
ThePest house was builtc. 1622 and subsequently housed local people and travellers suffering from theplague,smallpox 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.
Thomas Cox wrote in 1738:[5]
Two people with links to Odiham won theVictoria Cross in the First World War, and have streets in the village named after them:
ReverendWilliam Addison (VC) was educated at Robert May's School;[9]
BrigadierManley James (VC) was born and spent his childhood in the village.[10]
On 16 May 1783, a group drawn from 'Gentlemen of Rank, fortune and Ingenuity' plus some 'intelligent farmers' met in The George Inn, Odiham to inaugurate theOdiham Agricultural Society as a 'society for the encouraging of Agricultural and Industry in their village and neighbourhood'.[11] 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.
In 2020, Hampshire County Council announced plans to close Odiham library.[12]
| Climate data for Odiham (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.5 (45.5) | 8.0 (46.4) | 10.7 (51.3) | 13.8 (56.8) | 17.1 (62.8) | 19.9 (67.8) | 22.1 (71.8) | 21.8 (71.2) | 18.9 (66.0) | 14.7 (58.5) | 10.6 (51.1) | 7.9 (46.2) | 14.5 (58.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.8 (35.2) | 1.7 (35.1) | 3.0 (37.4) | 4.7 (40.5) | 7.7 (45.9) | 10.6 (51.1) | 12.6 (54.7) | 12.5 (54.5) | 10.2 (50.4) | 7.7 (45.9) | 4.4 (39.9) | 2.1 (35.8) | 6.6 (43.9) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 83.7 (3.30) | 61.1 (2.41) | 50.8 (2.00) | 54.5 (2.15) | 48.9 (1.93) | 53.3 (2.10) | 50.8 (2.00) | 58.4 (2.30) | 61.0 (2.40) | 87.5 (3.44) | 90.8 (3.57) | 82.4 (3.24) | 783.3 (30.84) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 1 mm) | 13.0 | 10.7 | 9.5 | 9.8 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 9.1 | 8.9 | 12.0 | 13.1 | 12.4 | 124.2 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 63.7 | 82.3 | 126.6 | 178.8 | 214.2 | 213.3 | 220.0 | 201.5 | 157.0 | 116.7 | 72.0 | 59.3 | 1,705.3 |
| Source:Met Office[13] | |||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
