Talk Of The Town

Many of Petersfield’s historic landmarks have remarkable stories to tell. Viv Micklefield takes a tour through the centuries

- Viv Micklefield

With Christmas fast approaching, Hampshire towns will be thronging with shoppers and visitors enjoying the celebrations. Putting the festive fever aside for a moment, a closer look at some of the buildings and thoroughfares that have survived the march of time reveals much about their origins. Intriguingly, first impressions may not be what they might seem. Take Petersfield for instance.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Although Bronze Age fragments have been unearthed within the barrows of what’s now called Petersfield Heath, fast forward to the 11th century. It was then that farm workers from nearby Buriton laid down their tools, to pray at a remote chapel called St Peter in the Fields. Within 100 years, the Earl of Gloucester who owned the treeless land surrounding the chapel granted a charter for a market to be started-up. Before long, the Earl spotted another business opportunity by offering merchants building plots on St Peter’s feld or Petersfield, as it became known.

The ancient chapel – today a Grade I listed building on The Square’s south side – has undergone several major facelifts. Yet it endures as a backdrop to local community life, overlooking as it does the weekly markets that continue to set-up stall. Diary date: Petersfield Community Choir performs Sounds of Winter at St Peter’s Church in The Square on Wednesday 11 December.

ALL SQUARE