The lovely village of Wickham, about eight miles east of Southampton, has a large square, said to be the second-largest in the country. Shops surround the square, along with Georgian houses, and there are 16th-century houses just around the corner.

Wickham was the birthplace of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester and founder of Winchester College, in the 14th century.

The mound on which the church is built was used by Celts and Saxons for burial or religious rites. St Nicholas’ was built by the Normans in 1120 but has been thoroughly altered since. Inside there is a large memorial to the Uvedale family, once lords of the manor.

In 1268 King Henry III granted a charter to the lord of the manor, Roger de Scures, to hold an annual fair. One has been held every year since – even during wartime.

The old Victory Hall, now converted into fiats, beside the river Meon, was once a busy tannery where men from the village worked. Later it became a brewery, with heavy horses coming and going, pulling great drays loaded with barrels. After part of the building caught fire, it was rebuilt and there is still a plaque on the rear of the building saying ‘Wickham Brewery rebuilt ANO DMI 1887 being the Jubilee Year of the Reign of H.M. Queen Victoria’. The brewery closed in 1910 and later the Victory Club was formed to commemorate victory in the First World War. It was used in the Second World War as home and refuge for many evacuees from Portsmouth and Southampton. There was an army headquarters in the Kings Head public house, Canadian soldiers at Rookesbury School, and army engineers took over part of a garage along the Fareham road. A great many of the engineers married local girls and settled here after the war.

The village information above is taken from The Hampshire Village Book, written by members of the Hampshire Federation of Women’s Institutes and published by Countryside Books.