Petersfield

Petersfield Heath's burial mounds may be up to 4,000 years old; their distribution is mainly to the east and south east of the Heath. These are considered to be one of the more important lowland barrow groups in this country. The barrows indicate that the area of the Heath was occupied by people who may have come to regard this area as sacred to their religion. As yet no trace has been confirmed for the dwellings of these people as the structures would have been wooden[3] but Petersfield Museum hosts a community project to throw more light on this period of history.[4]

The statue of King William III in The Square

The town was founded during the 12th century by William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, later chartered by his widow, Hawise de Beaumont,[5] and confirmed by charter in 1198 from "John, Count of Mortain" (later to be King John). In 1415 King Henry V granted the burgesses of Petersfield freedom from toll, stallage, picage, pannage, murage, and pontage throughout the realm of England. All charters are preserved in the archive files at Petersfield Town Council.

The town grew in prosperity due to its position on frequently travelled routes, local sheep farming, and cottage industries including leather and cloth. There were weekly markets in the town square for sheep, horse and cattle trading, and two annual fairs, in June (on the feast of St Peter and St Paul) and November (on the feast of St Andrew). An autumn fair which began in the early 19th century was held in October on The Heath, called "The Taro Fair".

The town's market square has an 18th-century statue of King William III by Henry Cheere. The king is mounted and the statue is on an engraved plinth. It is one of only five statues of William in the United Kingdom outside Northern Ireland (the others being in Glasgow, Brixham, Hull and Bristol) and, as such, attracts bands of marching Orangemen in mid-July to commemorate William's victory at the Battle of the Boyne.

Aerial view from NE with railway (r) and College St (l)

Aerial view from SW with the A3 in the foreground

Petersfield is situated in the valley of the Western Rother, on the Lower Greensand at the northern edge of the South Downs. The town lies at the western end of the Greensand Ridge, a sandstone ridge running through Hampshire, Surrey and Kent.

The town is surrounded on all sides by farmed countryside, with the South Downs south of the town, the Hampshire Downs to the west, and forested hills (Durford Wood) to the north east.

The town is a centre for exploring the South Downs National Park.

Heath Pond, autumn 2006

Close to the town and situated on the South Downs is Queen Elizabeth Country Park, which incorporates Butser Hill (270 metres), and has a variety of scenery including chalk hills, beech woodland and pine forest. The Hangers Way footpath starts from the country park, goes to Buriton, through Petersfield and in to Alton.

On the south east side of the town is Petersfield Heath, 95 acres (38 ha) of heathland including woodland, grassland, a pond, and a picnic and recreation area. Petersfield Heath is a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI). It also contains 21 Bronze Age barrows which have resulted in the site being given Scheduled Ancient Monument status.

Heathland is very rare throughout Europe and Petersfield Heath is a typical heathland mosaic of micro habitats. Across the site are sandy heath and acid heath areas, grassland and scrub which gives the area diverse zones for insects, reptiles, birds and small mammals.

Petersfield Heath is at one end of "The Serpent Trail", a 65-mile (105 km) walk through heath and downland of Hampshire and West Sussex to Haslemere.[6]

Petersfield Cemetery, situated in Ramshill, was opened in 1857.[7]

Petersfield has an Arts and Crafts Society which was formed in 1934. One of the founder members was the artist Flora Twort. PACS holds regular demonstrations and workshops and also holds a yearly exhibition in the Petersfield Festival Hall.[12]

St Peter's Church

The parish church of St Peter, after which the town is named,[19] is the Anglican church of Norman origins in the town centre, The Square. Other churches include Methodist (Station Road), Catholic (St Laurence's, Station Road) and United Reformed Church (College Street).

The Evangelical fellowship meets at the Herne Farm Leisure Centre on the eponymous estate, the Religious Society of Friends in the Voluntary Centre, High Street, The Salvation Army in Swan Street and Life Church Petersfield, formerly Petersfield Christian Fellowship, is in Chapel Street.[20]

Sports venues include the Taro Centre, a leisure centre containing 3x swimming pools, squash courts, gymnasium, a sauna, steam room and other facilities. The town has tennis courts (both public and members only), an open-air pool, a number of playing fields and a golf club. Petersfield has clubs and teams for sports. Petersfield Town F.C. plays in the Wessex League. Several players have gone on to professional sporting careers, such as footballer Maik Taylor, rugby player Tim Rodber and more recently Calum Chambers who plays for Aston Villa and has been called up for England as well. The town has a Triathlon Club. [21]

Petersfield has cycling groups including a local CTC group and The Petersfield Mountain Bikers.[22]

At a national level, Petersfield is part of the Westminster parliamentary constituency of East Hampshire.

At a county level, Petersfield is part of Hampshire County Council.

At a district level, Petersfield is part of East Hampshire District Council (EHDC). Before the creation of the EHDC in 1983, the town had been represented through the Petersfield constituency.

At a town level, Petersfield is represented through the Petersfield Town Council.

The Town Mayor of Petersfield currently exists as a ceremonial role and the mayoral term length is currently one year.

Petersfield railway station connects directly to London and Portsmouth.

Petersfield railway station is on the Portsmouth Direct line between London and Portsmouth. A branch line to Midhurst closed in 1955. The main station buildings date from the opening of the line in 1859 and are of a "town" type.

Petersfield stood at a major crossroads until the A3 London to Portsmouth road was bypassed to the west of the town. The A272 bypasses the town via the A3 and a link road to Sheet on its route between Winchester, Hampshire's county town, and Heathfield, East Sussex.

Regional local news and television programmes are BBC South and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Midhurst TV transmitter.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Solent, Heart South and Delta Radio was the local radio station for the area until 2010 when it merged with Kestrel FM from Basingstoke. It became The Breeze in December 2012. That station was closed in September 2020 and replaced by a national service,[23] Greatest Hits Radio. A local volunteer group tested the potential for a non-profit community radio service in January 2019 and began making local speech podcasts that year. In August 2020 it started a 24-hour local radio service[24] for Petersfield called Petersfield's Shine Radio. The service broadcasts online. ITV News Chief Correspondent Richard Gaisford is among the project's supporters.[25]

Petersfield has three weekly newspapers, The Petersfield Messenger, Petersfield Post and Petersfield Herald. There is a monthly community magazine, Life in Petersfield.

There is employment in shops and offices in the town centre, and farms in nearby villages, while other people commute to London and Portsmouth. Light industry tends to be concentrated on the Bedford Road estate on the west side of Petersfield, including Whitman Laboratories (part of Estée Lauder). In 2007 the Norwegian-owned oil-supply giant Aibel Ltd added an engineering office in addition to their UK head office in Petersfield.

Rubber products were manufactured in the town from 1919 to the 1980s, making parts for footwear, and in the 1930s sets of interlocking bricks as construction toys, marketed as Minibrix, pre-dating the plastic versions created by Lego.[26]

William Cowper

Anatomist and surgeon William Cowper (c. 1666 – 1709), who gave his name to Cowper's gland, was born in Petersfield. John Goodyer (botanist), Thomas Horder, 1st Baron Horder (Royal physician), Stuart Piggott (archaeologist),[27] Professor David Wands (cosmologist) and John Worlidge (agriculturalist) have links to the town.

Actors Jamie Campbell Bower, Arthur Brough, Tamsin Egerton, Ellis Jones, Alex Lawther[28] and Miranda Hart were all born or live in Petersfield, as are the BBC Radio 4's soap opera The Archers actors Charles Collingwood (Brian Aldridge) and Edward Kelsey (Joe Grundy). Sir Alec Guinness and his wife are buried in Petersfield.[29] In the music world, opera director Ella Marchment, tenor Wilfred Brown, Sir William Henry Harris and composer Michael John Hurd have connections to the town; Mark Owen of Take That lives in Petersfield.

Children's author Michelle Magorian lives in Petersfield.[30] Author Ursula Moray Williams (1911–2006) was born there[31] and John Wyndham (1903–1969), who wrote Day of the Triffids, lived in the town.[32]

Vice Admiral Sir Stuart Bonham Carter (1972) and Sir Percy Wyn-Harris, mountaineer and Governor of The Gambia (1979) died in Petersfield. Victoria Cross holder Commander Loftus William Jones, killed at the Battle of Jutland, was born in Petersfield. From the citation:

Commander Jones was hit by a shell, which took off his leg above the knee, but he continued to give orders to his gun's crew, while a Chief Stoker improvised a tourniquet round his thigh. Noticing that the Ensign was not properly hoisted, he gave orders for another to be hoisted.[33]

The Right Reverend Arthur Chandler, Bishop of Bloemfontein, retired to Petersfield where he died in 1939.[34] The Right Reverend Christopher Lowson, Bishop of Lincoln, was vicar of Petersfield from 1991 to 1999.[35]

In the sporting world, John Small, shopkeeper, cobbler, and Hambledon cricketer is buried in the churchyard of St Peter's. Footballer Calum Chambers was born in Petersfield in 1995. John Westwood, a notable football fan, lives in the town and is a partner in Petersfield Bookshop, which has two Royal Warrants and celebrated its centenary in 2018. Erika Roe, known for streaking at Twickenham in 1982, was working at the bookshop at the time.[36]

Petersfield is twinned with:

• Barentin, France (since 1992).[37][38]
• Warendorf, Germany (since 2006).[37]

• Jeffery, David (2017). Petersfield At Work: People and Industries Through the Years. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-7261-8.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Petersfield.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Petersfield.

• East Hampshire District Council
• Petersfield Area Historical Society (researching local history)
• Historical information and sources on GENUKI
• 1912-1922 historic film showing fair, horses and shopfronts