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About Andover
Andover’s first mention in history
is in 950 when King Edred is recording as having built
a royal hunting lodge there. In 962 King Edgar called
a meeting of the Saxon 'parliament' his hunting lodge
near Andover. Of more importance was the baptism,
in 994 of the Viking leader Olaf Trygvason. This was
part of a deal with King Ethelred II of England (“The
Unready”) whereby he stopped ravaging England
and returned home. Olaf became king of Norway in 995
and tried to convert his country to Christianity before
his death in battle in 1000. At the time of the Domesday
Book (1086) Andover had 107 male inhabitants and probably
had a total population of about 500. It was quite
a large settlement by the standards of the time. (Most
villages had only 100 to 150 people). Andover also
had 6 watermills which ground grain to flour. In 1175
King Richard I sold Andover a charter granting the
townspeople certain rights, forming an merchant guild
which took over the government of the town. The members
elected two officials called bailiffs who ran the
town. In 1201 King John gave the merchants the right
to collect royal taxes in Andover themselves. In 1256
Henry III gave the townspeople the right to hold a
court and try criminals for offences committed in
Andover. Andover also sent MPs to the parliaments
of 1295 and 1302-1307. The town was ravaged by two
serious fires, one in 1141 and another in 1435. Andover
remained a small market town. Processing wool appears
to have been the main industry and street names in
the area of the town known as “Sheep Fair”
commemorate this. A weekly market, and an annual fair
were held. As well as the Church of St Mary the town
had a priory and a hospital run by monks, dedicated
to St John the Baptist, and also a lepers hostel to
St Mary Magdalene. In 1538 during the Reformation
Henry VIII closed the priory and the hospital. In
1571 a free school for the boys of Andover was established.
This in time became Andover Grammar School, and is
now John Hanson Community School In 1599 the town
received a new charter from Elizabeth I. The merchants
guild was made a corporation and the number of annual
fairs was increased from one to three. Like other
towns Andover suffered from outbreaks of plague. There
were outbreaks in 1603-5, 1625-6 and 1636. During
the 18th century, being situated on the main Exeter
– Salisbury – London road Andover became
a major stopping point on the stagecoach routes, more
than 30 stagecoaches passing through the town each
day. In 1789 a canal to Southampton was opened, though
this was never a commercial success and closed in
1859. It was replaced by a railway in the 19th century,
which was closed down in 1964. The land, together
with the adjacent gasworks and P. M. Coombes woodyards,
were then sold to the TSB Bank who later built their
headquarters there. During the 19th century the town
acquired all the usual additions, a theatre in 1803,
gas street lighting in 1838, a fire station and cottage
hospital in 1877, a swimming pool opened in 1885 and
a recreation ground opened by Common Acre in 1887.
A water company was formed in 1875 to provide piped
water to the town and a system of sewers and drains
was built in 1899-1902. The public library opened
in 1897. The woollen industry had declined but new
industries took it place. Taskers Iron Works opened
at Abbots Ann in 1809 and flourished. Andover Airfield
was opened during the First World War and became the
site of an RAF Staff College. During the Second World
War it was the headquarters of RAF Maintenance Command.
In 1932 Andover gained a new industry when the printers
for Kelly’s street directories moved to the
town. Slowly the town grew and by 1960 had a population
of about 17,000. In 1955 the Town Council decided
it would be a good idea to add fluoride to the drinking
water to improve dental health. This provoked a furious
public response, and a strong anti-fluoridation campaign
started. In the 1958 local elections anti-fluoridation
candidates swept the board, turning out many established
members, and the idea was dropped. In 1960 the Town
Council was approached by the Greater London Council
to become an overspill town, to build houses and take
people and industry relocated from the overcrowded
capital. Some contend that had the old Town Council
still been in charge this would never have been agreed.
But it was, and in 1961 the plan was drawn up to expand
to a population of some 47,000 by 1982, with 9,000
new homes to be built. The first new council houses
were ready by 1964 and by 1981 the population had
risen to 51,000. A bypass, industrial estates and
a new shopping centre were all built. and the town’s
character changed completely. Major industries who
moved there included Twinings the tea and coffee firm,
Ducal Pine Furniture (until they closed in 2003) and
Thompson International Publishers, who produce the
Pitkin Guides to be found in many churches and other
notable buildings. The Town Museum, based in the old
grammar school, had a Museum of the Iron Age added
in 1986 which houses the finds from excavations at
nearby Danebury Hill Fort. The new council houses
proved to be very badly built. It seemed that the
local council would have to foot the enormous bill
for reconstruction, but after starting legal action
against the Greater London Council a settlement was
achieved, in which the GLC paid a large sum of money
to the local council, who started a programme of refurbishment
which finished in 1995. Today the population of Andover
is 38,000. The Town Council and Rural District Council
were abolished in the local government reorganisation
of 1974, and replaced by Test Valley Borough Council,
which included the land down to the edge of Southampton
in the south, quite a rural area apart from Andover.
Light industry is still the main employer. Situated
about 1 hour 20 minutes from London by train there
are also quite a few who commute to the capital to
work. The tensions between town and country and the
“old” and “new” Andover still
exist in some measure, and in the future more expansion
is planned.
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