ALTON HUNDRED 



ALTON 



ALTON 



Autune, Aultone (xi. cent.) ; Auelton, Awelton 

 (xiii. cent.). 



The town is picturesquely situated between 

 chalk hills in a valley in which rises the river 

 Wey. It consists chiefly of a long street, which 

 is part of the main road from London to Gosport 



Alton Westbrook on the right bank, and Alton 

 Eastbrookon the left. In 1602 this river is called 

 'Alton river.' 8 After passing through King's Pond 

 it receives a small stream called the Caker stream, 

 which rises at Trenchants. 



The Pilgrims' Way from Southampton to Can- 



GENERAL VIEW OF ALTON. 



and Southampton, and passes through the suburb 

 called Anstey, Normandy Street and High Street 

 to the Butts. Market Street leads past the market 

 square, in which are the Town Hall, 1 erected 

 in 1812 and enlarged in 1840 and subsequently, 

 and the Corn Exchange, to Basingstoke and Odi- 

 ham and branches off northwards. Church Street, 

 in which is situated the parish church of St. 

 Lawrence, branches off 

 in like manner. The 

 district church of the 

 parish of All Saints, 

 constituted in 1874, 

 is at the western end 

 of the High Street. 

 There is a modern ex- 

 tension of the town 

 towards the south, 

 through which passes 

 the Farnham and Win- 

 chester branch of the 

 London and South- 

 western Railway, 

 opened to Alton in 

 1852 and to Winches- 

 ter in 1865. A light 

 railway from Alton to 

 Basingstoke was 

 opened in 1901, and 



another from Alton through the Meon Valley to 

 Fareham is about to be opened. In a square on 

 the south side of Normandy Hill are situated the 

 Cottage Hospital, the Museum and Art Schools, and 

 the Assembly Rooms. 



The Wey runs covered in through the middle 

 of the town, the High Street sloping down to it 

 on either side. It divides the two manors of 



terbury passed through Winchester and Alton to 

 Farnham and Guildford. 



The road through Alton was called in 1262 the 

 ' passus de Alton.' It went through the king's 

 wood, and on account of divers depredations and 

 murders which had been committed in that wood, 

 Henry III. issued a writ to inquire as to its value 

 and report as to cutting it down and restoring it 

 to cultivation. 3 



The pass of Alton 

 is the traditional scene 

 of the single combat 

 between prince Ed- 

 ward and Adam de 

 Gurdon, an outlawed 

 adherent of Simon de 

 Montfort, whom the 

 former overcame and 

 converted to a loyal 

 adherent by sparing 

 his life.* 



Down to the four- 

 teenth century the 

 wardens of St. Giles" 

 fair, Winchester, paid 

 five mounted serjeants- 

 at-arms to keep the 

 pass of Alton during 

 the fair. 



William Langland refers to the pass in Fieri 

 Ploughman 



Ye, thorugh the pasa of Aultone 

 Poverte myght pass 

 Withouten peril of robbynge. 



At the west end of the town there is a large 

 unenclosed green called 'the Butts,' which was 

 anciently used for the practice of archery, and on 



CORNER OF THE MARKET-PLACE. 



1 Whether the present Town Hall 

 was built on the site of the old hall 

 is not known. See post, p. 480. 



II 



* Ezch. Dep. 44 & 45 Eliz. Mich. 

 No. 57. 



3 Inq. p.m. 46 Hen. III. No. 27. 



473 



White's Selborne, p. 336, V.C.H. 

 Hants, under East Worldham ; Gene- 

 alogist, n.s. iv. 1-4. 



60 



