Early history The name is likely to have derived from
alder trees found in the area (from the
Old English 'alor-sceat' meaning copse, or projecting piece of land, featuring alder trees). Any settlement, though not mentioned by name, would have been included as part of the
Hundred of
Crondall referred to in the
Domesday Book of 1086. The
Church of St Michael the Archangel is the parish church for the town and dates to the 12th century with later additions. There was almost certainly an earlier church on the site.
Cistercian monks from the nearby
Waverley Abbey established
granges or farms on their outlying estates, including one at Aldershot by 1175 for sheep grazing. We do not know when monks from the Abbey first came to Aldershot but the first documentary evidence is from 1287 when the Crondall Rental records that at 'Alreshate the Monks of Waverlye hold 31 acres of encroachment'. This area ran from the church of St Michael's down to the area around the present
Brickfields Country Park while the grange itself was near the church.
John Norden's map of Hampshire, published in the 1607 edition of
William Camden's
Britannia, indicates that Aldershot was a market town. The area was a vast stretch of sparsely populated
common land, considered unsuitable for most forms of agriculture. Aldershot, Crondall, Farnborough, and
Yateley were all part of the manor of Crondall in the north-east corner of Hampshire. Crondall manor is mentioned in the Domesday Survey in 1086. It was probably Scandinavian in origin, judging by the ruling family's practice of granting sole inheritance to the eldest child regardless of sex, rather than to the eldest son. The first recorded mention of the manor of Aldershot is in 1573 in the will of
Sir John White of Aldershot (c1512–1573), alderman of London who was knighted when he became
Lord Mayor of London (1563-4). He left
Aldershot Manor to his son Sir Robert White of Aldershot (died 1599). He, in turn, left the manor to be divided between his two daughters, Ellen the wife of
Sir Richard Tichborne and Mary, the wife of
Sir Walter Tichborne, brother of Richard. The 18th-century
jurist Charles Viner lived in the town and printed his
A General Abridgment of Law and Equity on a press in his home. In the 18th century, the stretch of the London to
Winchester turnpike that passed through Aldershot between
Bagshot and Farnham (now known as the Farnborough Road) was the scene of highway robberies. At one time it had "almost as bad a reputation as
Hounslow Heath".
Dick Turpin is said to have operated in the area having his headquarters nearby in Farnborough, and there were sightings of
Spring-heeled Jack.
Growth in the Victorian era In 1854, at the time of the
Crimean War,
Aldershot Garrison was established as the first permanent training camp for the
British Army. The venture is believed to have failed through lack of funds and the two being declared bankrupt.
Aldershot Military Tattoo The Aldershot
Military Tattoo was an annual event dating back to 1894. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Aldershot Command Searchlight Tattoo held at the
Rushmoor Arena presented displays from all branches of the services, including performances lit by flame torches. At one time the performances attracted crowds of up to 500,000 people. The Tattoo was organised to raise money for military charities. By the end of the 1930s, the event was raising around £40,000 annually. The Tattoo's modern format, the Army Show, was cancelled in 2010 by the
Ministry of Defence due to budget cuts. It was briefly revived the following year and attracted 20,000 visitors. In 2012, it was styled as the Aldershot Garrison Show, a smaller free event held on
Armed Forces Day. The Army Show was replaced in 2013 with a general Military Festival. Events were held across the town, including an art exhibition, live music, sports events and film screenings.
During the World Wars In 1914, Aldershot had the largest army camp in the country, with 20% of the
British Army being based in and around the town. Aldershot was home for two Infantry Divisions and a Cavalry Brigade in addition to large numbers of artillery, engineers, service corps and medical services. At the start of
World War I, the units based at Aldershot became the 1st Corps of the
British Expeditionary Force, and soon tens of thousands of new recruits came to the large training centre in the Camp. This had a great effect on the civilian town as there was a great shortage of accommodation for the troops and many were billeted in local houses and schools. Aldershot played a vital role in the formation of
Kitchener's Army, providing the core of the Army from 1914 onwards as well as treating the wounded brought back from the trenches in France and Flanders. The
Cambridge Military Hospital was the first base hospital to receive casualties directly from the
Western Front and it was here that
plastic surgery was first performed in the
British Empire by Captain Gillies (later Sir
Harold Gillies). From 1939 to 1945 during
World War II, about 330,000 Canadian troops of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigades passed through Aldershot for training before being deployed for the defence of the United Kingdom while much of the British Army was overseas. Additional units of the Canadian Army followed later creating the largest force of British Commonwealth troops ever to be stationed in the UK at one time. The
Aldershot riot of July 1945 caused considerable damage to the town centre when disgruntled Canadian troops tired of waiting to be repatriated rioted in the streets for two evenings. In a gesture of forgiveness and goodwill, the Freedom of the Borough of Aldershot was conferred on the Canadian Army on 26 September 1945 in a ceremony held at the town's
recreation ground. In the following year Aldershot's
military prison the
'Glasshouse' was burned down in prison riots.
Post War A substantial rebuilding of the barracks was carried out between 1961 and 1969 by the architecture and engineering firm
Building Design Partnership. The work was sped up under government pressure, and various new building technologies were employed with mixed success. After a
2009 campaign, the British Government allowed veteran
Gurkha soldiers who had served for more than four years, and their families, to settle in the UK. The rise in the Nepalese population led
Gerald Howarth,
Conservative Member of Parliament for Aldershot, to request government assistance in expanding local public services to meet the needs of the growing population.
1972 bombing On 22 February 1972, Aldershot experienced the first in a series of
mainland IRA attacks. Seven people, six of whom were civilian support staff, including five catering staff and a gardener were killed in a
car bomb attack on the 16th Parachute Brigade headquarters
mess. A further 19 people were injured. The bombing was claimed by the
Official IRA as revenge for the
Bloody Sunday massacre. The only army officer killed was Captain Gerry Weston, a
Catholic British Army chaplain. An area to be developed into a memorial garden was used to mark the 40th anniversary of the bombing in 2012. ==Aldershot Military Town==