Our Publications
The Society is empowered to ‘publish papers, reports and other literature’ and ‘inform public opinion and provide information’. In recent years we have taken up this opportunity (see below).
We owe particular thanks to Alan Inder, our late President and a founder member of the Society, whose 2011 book The Changing Face of Bishop’s Waltham and its 2017 updated reprint both sold out quickly and created funds that we have been able to reinvest in new publications.
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For details of the Society's publications see below (the occasional report on local matters, that the Society produces from time to time, are downloadable at the bottom of the page). Additional downloadable documents can be found at our Bishop's Waltham's History page.
In 2023 we published THE EARLY HISTORY OF WALTHAM told in posters by Tony Kippenberger
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Bishop’s Waltham’s long history is showcased in a unique series of outdoor storyboards. The 10,000 year timeline covers the Stone Age to the destruction of the Bishop’s Palace during the Civil War, and as a public exhibition it delivers a fascinating picture of the small market town in bite-sized portions. ​You can buy your own copy of all the posters of The Early History of Bishops Waltham for £5 at Sweet Corner, Studio 4, and the Museum as well as at our monthly meetings at the Catholic Church Hall in Martin Street.
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In late 2022 we published a 12-page Booklet about the 10-day visit of Henry VIII to Waltham Palace, during which he signed the 'Treaty of Waltham' with Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor.
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The 500th anniversary of the visit, in June and July 1522, was celebrated on July 2nd and 3rd 2022 - which included the exact anniversary of the signing of the Treaty. The celebrations at the Palace included an exhibition at the Bishop's Waltham Museum created by our former chairman, Tony Kippenberger. This 12-page booklet is based on that exhibition and explains in some detail how and why this meeting happened and the significance of the Palace in Charles V's 6-week visit to England.
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When the booklet was published all Society members at the time received a free copy. It is downloadable here
as a pdf for home printing or reading free of charge.
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During 2020 we published these 3 booklets about the Second World War and life in Bishop's Waltham.
The first two 12-page booklets are downloadable and were written by Tony Kippenberger to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan respectively and published on VE and VJ day. The third booklet, produced by Trish Simpson-Davis, contains many extracts from the Oral History project about life in and around Bishop's Waltham during the war years. Bishop's Waltham Museum has also produced a VE Day booklet taking a more local look at those times.
This booklet presents memories of local people during WWII and includes a detective trail to help you to explore locations mentioned including a US Bomber crash site and a Royal Observer Corps observation post. Available at local outlets or at www.pgwells.co.uk for only £5. Stocks are now low and it may have sold out.
2018 saw the publication of “We Will Remember Them” by Peter Ridley, Alan Inder and Tony Kippenberger
This 156-page book, published in November 2018, records the stories of the 61 servicemen from Bishop’s Waltham who laid down their lives in the Great War, this “war to end all wars”. The 156-page book is packed with details of the men, their families and the war itself. With more than 50 illustrations, it captures the effect that this brutal conflict had on the men and women of a quiet rural town in Hampshire.
The Bishop’s Waltham servicemen signed up to many different kinds of service on both land and sea, their common bond being that they all lived in or near a town of about 3,000 people. A town that had a brewery, nine public houses, five butchers, five bakers, two banks and two blacksmiths. A town whose families were closely linked by kinship and marriage and one that would directly feel the loss of so many of its young men. The youngest was just 16 when he was killed.
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The town’s first fatal casualty died of his wounds near Merville in November 1914 and the last died at his mother’s house in July 1919. Five men from Bishop’s Waltham lost their lives on the same day at the Battle of Jutland, two families lost three of their sons during the course of the war. The men fought on the Western Front, at Gallipoli, in Mesopotamia, in Serbia and Italy.
We Will Remember Them is usually available on the High Street at Tashinga. Price £8.99 a copy. It is also available (+ postage and packing) from Keith Fry, Treasurer (click here for contact details).
The first print run sold out within weeks and a reprint was run. All profits will go to the Royal British Legion - £600 has so far been donated.
“The Changing Face of Bishop’s Waltham” by Alan Inder
This is the fully revised and updated edition of Alan Inder’s highly popular 2011 book of the same name. It is over 100 pages long, in A4 landscape style, and is packed with ‘before and after’ photographs and text explaining the changes that have taken place in Bishop’s Waltham over the past 150 years and particularly the last four decades.
Published in 2017 it is available at Bishop’s Waltham Museum (when it is open). Only a limited number of copies available, so BUY NOW!
“Bishop’s Waltham Palace” by Dr John Hare
The previous, largely black and white, edition of English Heritage’s guide to Bishop’s Waltham Palace sold out in the early ‘noughties’ and so, in 2015, the Society decided to fund the printing of 1,000 copies of a new all-colour guide. It is available at £3.00 a copy at Bishop’s Waltham Museum, when it is open between May and September.
FREE PUBLICATIONS
From time to time, the Society feels it appropriate or necessary to produce a publication or other document (such as a letter) to make a case or explain a situation. Four of these are downloadable below - just click on each image to download the full publication.
Archaeological significance of the
Malt Lane development site
In a 2018 planning application for the development of the perennially difficult Malt Lane site (near what used to be Budgens and is now Sainsbury's), the Society was very concerned that the potential for archaeological discovery on the site was being ignored. As a result, the Society wrote an 11-page (downloadable) letter and appendices outlining the potentially critical archaeological significance of the site.
Subsequently a trial archaeological dig by Southampton University in November 2020 revealed important evidence which in turn has made detailed archaeological examination a likely pre-condition of work commencing on the site. Something we urged in a letter dated March 2021. A report on Southampton University's findings, by Penny Copeland of Bishop's Waltham Museum, can be downloaded here.
Opposing the possible demolition of Abbey Mill
In 2017, Beechcroft Development submitted a planning application to redevelop the Abbey Mill site, owned by Sainsbury’s. The application included a proposal to demolish the Abbey Mill itself. The Society felt that it was reflecting a strong community resistance to this idea and therefore composed a 9-page (downloadable) letter to Winchester City Council’s Planning Officers, arguing the case for its retention within the overall scheme.
In their revised 2018 plans, the developer agreed to keep the Mill building and this was part of the plans approved by Winchester City Council in 2022.
Proposals to purchase Bishop’s Waltham Palace
and its grounds
In May 2017 the opportunity arose (under the provisions of the Localism Bill 2011) for the public to buy the Palace site. The reason was that the owners of Palace House, who also own the Palace, had put their house and the grounds on the market. The Parish Council needed to know urgently what local opinion was and so asked community groups, like us, to give them feedback within two weeks.
The Society produced this 4-page (downloadable) document within days, circulated it to members asking for a simple yes/no response and was able to provide the Council with detailed feedback within the deadline (the vote was 2:1 against the public purchase of the Palace and its grounds).
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The Parish Council did not go ahead with the purchase of the site.
Household Waste Recycling Centre
In 2016 Hampshire County Council proposed major changes to their Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) to save money because of budget cuts.
This posed a very direct threat to the HWRC in Bishop’s Waltham and so the Society produced a 6-page (downloadable) guide to the consultation process which was delivered to all Society members.
We were aware that we should not tell people how to vote, but felt we needed to explain the 22-page questionnaire. In the end our local HWRC was retained.
