Our June visit was to Bishop’s Waltham. A bit of a trek but well worth it.
Bishop’s Waltham is a medieval market town situated at the source of the River Hamble. It has a foot in the South Downs National Park and is located at the midpoint of a long-established route between Winchester & Portsmouth. It is home to the ruins of Bishop's Waltham Palace a Scheduled Ancient Monument under English Heritage management, and a well-preserved high street with many listed buildings which now house independent shops.
It has a population of approx. 8,000
Our slightly damp group posing outside St Peter's Church.
St George's Square
Basingwell Street:
This replica pump was placed here in Basingwell Street by the Bishop’s Waltham Society near the spot where a village pump stood in years gone by.
St Paul’s Methodist church built in 1910
In Bank Street we saw the site of the last provincial bank in the United Kingdom. Gunner and Company was an English private bank based in Bishop’s Waltham. Founded in 1809, it served as the primary provincial bank for Bishop’s Waltham and the Meon Valley throughout much of the 19th century. It was the last provincial bank in the UK from 1921 until it was bought out by Barclays Bank in 1953.
We didn’t have time to properly visit the remains of Bishop’s Waltham Palace but it did look very interesting
Our final destination for lunch!