Early history c. 1150, all that remains of the Old Church of St Mary Andover's name is recorded in
Old English in 955 as
Andeferas, and is thought to be of
Celtic origin: compare
Welsh onn dwfr = "ash (tree) water". The first mention in history is in 950 when
King Edred is recorded as having built a royal hunting lodge there. In 962
King Edgar called a meeting of the Saxon 'parliament' (the
Witenagemot) at his hunting lodge near Andover. Of more importance was the baptism, in 994, of a Viking king named "Anlaf" (allied with the Danish king,
Sweyn Forkbeard). The identity of that man was either
Olav Tryggvason (king of Norway) or
Olof Skötkonung (king of Sweden). The baptism was part of a deal with the English king,
Æthelred the Unready, whereby the Viking stopped ravaging England and returned home. At the time of the
Domesday Book (1086),
Andovere had 107 adult male inhabitants and probably had a total population of about 500. It was a relatively large settlement; most villages had only 100 to 150 people. Andover had six watermills which ground grain to flour. The town's relative isolation implies a market for grain and flour. In 1175 Andover bought a royal charter granting certain townspeople rights and forming a merchant guild which took over local governance (see
ancient borough); guild members elected two officials (bailiffs) who ran the town. In 1201
King John gave the merchants the right to collect royal taxes in Andover themselves. In 1256
Henry III gave the townspeople the right to hold a court and try criminals for offences committed in Andover. Andover sent MPs to the parliaments of 1295 and 1302–1307. The town was ravaged by two serious fires, in 1141 and 1435. Andover remained a small market town. Processing wool appears to have been the main industry and street names in the area of the town known as "Sheep Fair" commemorate this. A weekly market, and an annual fair were held. As well as the Church of St Mary, the town had a
priory and a hospital run by monks, dedicated to
St John the Baptist, and also a lepers hostel to
St Mary Magdalene. In 1538 during the
Reformation Henry VIII closed the priory and the hospital. In 1571 a free school for the boys of Andover was established in the grounds of St Mary's Church. This in time became Andover Grammar School, and in the 1970s it became
John Hanson Community School. The school has occupied various sites in the town over the course of its history and is currently located in Floral Way. In 1599 the town received a new charter from
Elizabeth I. The merchants guild was made a corporation and the number of annual fairs was increased from one to three. Like other towns Andover suffered from outbreaks of
plague. There were outbreaks in 1603–1605, 1625–1626 and 1636.
18th and 19th century During the 18th century, being on the main
Exeter –
Salisbury – London road, the place became a refuelling or overnight stop for
stagecoaches and other passing trade. More than 30 coaches passed through the town each day. In 1789 a
canal to
Southampton was opened, though this was never a commercial success and closed in 1859. In 1836 the Borough established a small police force: for the most part two constables and a gaoler. Andover was linked to Basingstoke and thus to London on its new railway to
Salisbury (shortly thereafter to Exeter beyond) when Andover junction station was opened on 3 July 1854. A railway from the 1860s ran to Southampton, built on the bed of the canal, for about 100 years, until 1964. The land, together with the adjacent gasworks and P.M. Coombes woodyards, was then sold to the
TSB Trust Company who later built their headquarters there. In 1883, Andover was linked to
Swindon and destinations further north with the
Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway. The population grew from 3,304 in 1801 to 5,501 in 1871. During the 19th century the town acquired all the usual additions: a theatre in 1803, gas street lighting in 1838, a fire station and cottage hospital in 1877, a swimming pool opened in 1885 and a recreation ground opened in 1887. A water company was formed in 1875 to provide piped water to the town and a system of sewers and drains was built in 1899–1902. The
public library opened in 1897. Despite this burgeoning of the amenities of the town, in 1845–1846 a notorious
scandal brought to light evidence of beatings, sexual abuse and general mistreatment of workhouse inmates by the overseers. The enquiry and public reaction led indirectly to the
Poor Law Act, principally involving segregation of a now-obligatory infirmary for local people from the workhouse for the able-bodied, but also better governance. The town was one of the boroughs reformed by the
Municipal Reform Act 1835. The
woollen industry had declined but new industries took its place.
Taskers Waterloo Ironworks opened at
Anna Valley in 1809 and flourished. Many examples of the machinery produced by Taskers can be seen at the
Milestones Museum in Basingstoke.
Andover Guildhall, which enjoys a prominent location in the High Street, opened in 1825.
Modern history Employment The town's largest employer is the Ministry of Defence.
RAF Andover was opened on Andover Airfield, to the south of the town, during the
First World War and became the site of the
RAF Staff College. In 1926, the
Andover War Memorial Hospital was opened by Field Marshall
Edmund Allenby. The hospital currently provides inpatient rehabilitation,
day hospital services, a minor injury unit and an outpatient unit, and is operated by
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with some services being provided by
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. In 1932, Andover gained a new industry when the printers for
Kelly's Directory moved to the town.Slowly the town grew from about 11,000 and by 1960 had a population of about 17,000, because already some Londoners were being housed in the first of the council houses and flats being constructed. During the
Second World War, the RAF Staff College was the headquarters of
RAF Maintenance Command, and gained a unique place in British history, as the first British military helicopter unit, the Helicopter Training School, was formed in January 1945 at
RAF Andover. The airfield is no longer in use although the RAF retains a link to the area through the presence of 1213 (Andover) Squadron,
Air Training Corps. When the RAF left the site became the Headquarters of the
Quartermaster General and later
Logistics Executive. In 2001, the
Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) was formed and Andover became one of its major sites. Since 2012, the site has been the home of
Army Headquarters. The Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre is based locally at
Amport House, as is the
Army Air Corps Centre and the
Museum of Army Flying at
Middle Wallop. Major industries include
Twinings the tea and coffee firm, Ducal Pine Furniture (until they closed in 2003), Thomson International Publishers, who produce the Pitkin Guides to be found in many churches and other notable buildings, financial institutions such as
Simplyhealth and Lloyds Banking Group, and the
Stannah Group, whose HQ is also in the town. Among the proposals in the council's Borough Local Plan 2006 are plans to develop the former site of
RAF Andover to Class B1, B2 and B8 uses. This site has been partially developed and is named Andover Business Park.
Housing In the 1950s the Borough Council was approached with plans for Andover to become an
overspill town for London, to build houses and take people and industry relocated from the overcrowded capital. In 1961 a plan was drawn up to expand to a population of some 47,000 by 1982, with 9,000 new homes to be built. The first new council houses were ready by 1954, and by 1981 the population had risen to 51,000. A bypass, industrial estates and a shopping centre in the town centre, called the Chantry Centre, were built. In the 2000s, developers began extending the town with estates such as Saxon Fields, Augusta Park,
Picket Twenty and more recently, Peake Way.
Arts and culture Andover has a purpose-built arts and entertainment venue owned & managed by Test Valley Borough Council called The Lights. This hosts professional artists throughout the year. The venue has a 249 fully raked auditorium, a business suite, a dance studio and a craft studio. The Lights has attracted international artists such as
Michael McIntyre. The Town Museum (
Andover Museum and Museum of the Iron Age), based in the former John Hanson Free School building, has a Museum of the
Iron Age which was added in 1986 and houses the finds from excavations at nearby
Danebury hillfort.
Politics Andover was the name of a
constituency of the
House of Commons of the
Parliament of England from 1295 to 1307, and again from 1586, then of the
Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. It was a
parliamentary borough, represented by two
Members of Parliament (MPs) until 1868, and by one member from 1868 to 1885. The name was then transferred to a
county constituency electing one MP from 1885 until 1918. Currently, Andover is in the constituency of
North West Hampshire, which since 2015 has been represented in the
House of Commons by
Kit Malthouse for the
Conservatives. When the Borough Council and
Andover Rural District Council were abolished in the local government reorganisation of 1974, and replaced by Test Valley Borough Council (whose area extends south to the edge of
Southampton), Andover became an
unparished area, secularly, for 34 years. Andover Town Council was revived in May 2010, the townsfolk electing an initial 19 members, and since 2017 has included a Town Mayor. ==Transport==