Odiham
Odiham today has a population of 4406 and is situated in Hart district council in the English county of Hampshire.
There is a Royal Air Force aerodrome to the south of the town, RAF Odiham.
It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Calvados Department of France.
History
The first written record of Odiham's existence is in the Domesday Book (1086)[1], where it appears with its current spelling, though the spellings Odiam have Wudiham sometimes been used since.
Odiham Castle
King John decided in 1204 to build Odiham 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 between Windsor and Winchester. In 1216 the French Dauphin Louis VIII besieged King John in the castle for two weeks.
King Henry III, son of King John, gave the castle to his sister Eleanor in 1236, so when she married Simon de Montfort in 1238 the castle became the de Montfort family home. However, Simon was killed in the Battle of Evesham in 1265 when he led the rebellious barons 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 of Parliament, and the imprisonment of King David II of Scotland in the castle for eleven years. However, by the fifteenth century its only use was as a hunting lodge.
The castle was described in 1605 as a ruin, which it remains to this day.[2]
Thomas Cox
Thomas Cox wrote in 1738[3]:
- Odiam or Odiham, a small Market-Town, where was formerly a strong Castle and a Royal Palace. The Castle was straitly besieged, Anno 1216, the 18th of King John, by Lewis the Dauphin of France, and the Barons Army, for fifteen Days together, being maintained by thirteen Men only in it for all that Time. King Henry III gave it with Killingworth Castle, to Simon Earl of Leicester, who repaired them both, and then resigned them into the King's Hands.
- David II King of Scots was kept prisoner here in King Edward III's Days.
- This Place is famous for giving Birth to Mr. William Lily, who wrote the Grammar; which, with some Alterations, is commanded by Act of Parliament in King Henry VIII's Reign, to be taught in all Schools. He died master of St. Paul's School, London, Anno 1522.
Education
For a list of local schools see the list of Hampshire schools.
References
- ^ Domesday Book, 1086
- ^ Hampshire County Council (2006). "Odiham Castle". Countryside Service. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
- ^ Cox, Thomas (1738). Magna Britannia, Antiqua et Nova. London.
External links
- Odiham Parish Council
- Martin and Jean Norgate (2001). "Odiham". Old Hampshire Gazetteer. Retrieved 2006-05-21.