Ash Vale & Aldershot site for local and British & Canadian military history

"The history of Aldershot - Part 1"

Home

Aldershot is known worldwide for it's links with the British Army. However, it did not really become a town at all until the first military camp was set up here in 1854. Before this, it was a small agricultural village, just like hundreds of others; but since it was in an area of barren heathland, it could only support a tiny population. Nevertheless, people have lived around Aldershot since the earliest times. Some very old flint tools and weapons have been discovered in the area; and there are also the sites of prehistoric earthworks.

The nearest, Caesar's Camp, is thought to date from well before Roman times (despite it's name, given to it much later). The name "Aldershot" means a wood (or copse) of alder trees. It was first recorded as "aldershete" inthe 13th Century; and since then at least 19 different spellings have been recorded. Incidentally, "shot", meaning wood or copse, occurs in the names of many other local towns and villages.

Aldershot was once part of the ancient Crondall Hundred, which covered 30,000 acres of land in North East Hampshire. This area of land was left by King Alfred to his nephew Ethelm in the 9th Century. In 975 it was handed over by King Edgar to the monks at Winchester; and remained in their hands until 1539 (the time of the dissolution of the monasteries) when their lands were seized by King Henry VIII. Two years later, he gave this land to the new Dean and Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. It remained in their hands (except briefly, during the Civil War, when it was seized by Parliament) until 1861, when it was taken over by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

Throughout this period, Aldershot remained a quiet and obscure rural hamlet, centred around it's parish church (St Michael, dating from the 12th Century) and it's Manor house, first recorded in 1481. In 1725 the first census count for Aldershot gave it's population as "six score and fifteen souls". By the middle of the 19th Century there were still only a few large houses, some farms, and several inns. We can still recognise some of their names today:

Aldershot Lodge, Elm Place, Ayling Farm, Boxalls Farm, Holly Farm, and Herretts Farm, for example. Some of the old roads still exist today, such as Cranmore Lane (originally known as Cranmer Lane), North Lane, and Church Lane. Rowhill Copse was once called Rough Hills Copse; and the present High Street was initially a mere track leading from Ash to the main London - Winchester Turnpike Road (now Farnborough Road). Most of Aldershot's inhabitants paid tithes or rent to the owners of their land. Many were farmers, producing grain and hops which were taken to Farnham to be sold at the market. Many of the local people were born and died here without ever travelling very far away. However, they were not completely insulated from the outside world; although there were no

big battles in the area during the Civil War, there were a number of small skirmishes, particularly around Farnham Castle. And in 1675 Nell Gwynn is said to have stayed at a house on Weybourne Road, opposite the end of Ayling Lane. Many people travelled along the main London - Winchester Turnpike. This road (and the area around Aldershot) was considered to be quite dangerous, since it was a regular haunt of highwaymen and was the scene of many highway robberies.