Visit Odiham
Explore and see
Odiham is a picturesque, rural historic village in the Hart district of Hampshire, dating from Saxon times and the first Hampshire entry in Domesday Book of 1087 because it had become William the Conqueror’s largest holding in Hampshire. King John built a castle here and it was a stepping stone to the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede and home to the de Montforts, the most influential baronial family in 1265. RAF Odiham is home to Chinook helicopters that are often seen in the sky.
Odiham has an extensive choice of good restaurants and places to eat and drink. It is an ideal stopping place for travellers coming or going to London, Canterbury, Windsor, Runnymede, Winchester, Salisbury, Oxford and Portsmouth. It convenient location is the main reason King John built a castle here.
The top 10 attractions are:
Odiham High Street – runs west to east along a line of springs and was mainly built in the 15th to 18th centuries. Long ‘burgage plots’ are behind most of the medieval properties on the north side of the street. Georgian frontages were added to many properties to hide timber framing and jetties. There is attractive architecture, interesting shops and good hospitality.
All Saints Church – a beautiful Norman building on the site of a Saxon minster. During the civil war Odiham lay between Royalist Basing House and Parliamentary Farnham and a contemporary account recorded: “The good people of Odiham were sadly disturbed whilst in church on 11th Feb 1644. Some of the garrison of Farnham Castle rode into church during service and presented their pistols at Master Holmes the Minister, saying with a loud impudence: “Sir, you must come down for we do not allow such kind of preaching”. One trooper fired his pistol in the church and a number of women fainted and one, Bushell’s wife, fell down dead”.
The Basingstoke Canal – completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation. Now a Site of Special Scientific Interest offering lovely walks and canal boat rides.
Odiham Castle – also known as King John’s castle. King John began construction of a castle on the banks of the local river Whitewater in 1207. It provided a convenient and secure stopping place, half way between Windsor and Winchester, where he could also indulge his passion for hunting in Odiham’s Royal Deer Park. It is believed that the king and his entourage rode out from Odiham castle on the morning of 10th June 1215 to meet baronial leaders on the water meadows of Runnymede, where the Articles of Barons was probably sealed on the same day.
Old Court Almshouses – endowed in 1623 by Sir Edward More who leased the Manor and Hundred of Odiham from the Crown. The almshouses today are under the stewardship of Odiham Consolidated Charities who carry on the good works of the original benefactors.
The Bridewell – House of Correction or prison built in 1743 with a small exercise yard and separate male and female accommodation. It was one of the first in Hampshire. Later a Police Station and Court and now home to Odiham Library.
The Pest House – ‘Pest’ was the old word for Plague and Odiham’s Pest House, built in 1622 as a dwelling house for the poor, was subsequently used as an isolation hospital for residents or travellers with plague, smallpox or other infectious diseases. It is 1 of only 5 surviving examples in England. After 1781, the building reverted to a dwelling house for the poor and its last resident died in 1930.
The Stocks in The Bury – The Bury, the village heart with church and pub facing, was the original area of settlement and fairs were held here from the 15c to 19c; it’s now used for many town events including farmers markets, carol singing, jazz and more. From 1376 every town or village had to have stocks ‘to encourage virtue and discourage evil doers’. They were used up to the early 19c to punish misdeeds such as blasphemy, drunkenness and breaking the Sabbath.
The Deer Park – Saxon royal hunting park lying to the north of the High Street – was first mentioned in 1130 and has a distinctive oval footprint with kinks to the north, south, east and west denoting former gates remain today. Now farmland crossed by public footpaths.
Bel & The Dragon at The George – the largest half-timbered building in Odiham, is Grade II* listed and dates from the 15c, 16c and 18c. Originally built – probably as a high status house – in 1473, it was first granted a licence as an Inn in 1585. The Odiham Agricultural Society was formed 1783 in The George Inn – a ‘society for the encouraging of Agricultural and Industry in their town and neighbourhood’. It was from this Society of local landowners and men of learning that the idea of giving young farriers a “scientific education” to improve the treatment of sick animals evolved into a plan for the creation of a veterinary profession. This plan led directly to the establishment of the Veterinary College in Camden Town in 1791
Please see Magna Carta Food and Ale Trail (link to Event) for local pubs, restaurants and cafes.