LAINSTON THROUGH THE AGES
The ice comes and goes......separation from the continent
The hunter gathers of the early Stone Ages roamed these wooded hills and river valleys using wood and bone and the numerous flints which abound here for their tools and weapons. These primitive peoples were joined by waves of settlers from the continent, including, some 6,000 years ago, the first farmers, now able to work the land with a simple plough - they also kept cattle, pigs and a few sheep. The deforestation and cultivation of our chalk downs had begun. When a clearing was made in the forest that eventually became the Lainston estate, we cannot know for sure, we can only peer into the mists of time......
The long Barrows or burial mounds soon appeared; Causewayed Enclosures, probably tribal meeting places as well as for protection in times of need. These massive earthworks were excavated with simple tools, antlers being used as we would use a pickaxe. Henge Monuments - Stonehenge (beside the A303) is the most famous of the stone circles, but there are many more.
As we move through the Bronze Ages with the mining of tin and copper, flint was gradually replaced with metal tools, weapons and artifacts. With more settled communities and a surplus of food and wealth, the ancient track ways became trade routes - still in use today.
Round and other shaped barrows were used for burials (see tumuli on maps). Farley Mount is is an example and a pleasant excursion on a clear day, with lovely views (up to 30 miles) and good walks. At over 500 ft. (174m) it is the highest point between the River Itchen and the River Test, the famous chalk streams. A spirelet erected in the 18th. century tops this large Bronze Age barrow and has an inscription telling the story of a famous horse. Walk past the entrance to the mount and at the corner of Parnholt wood it is said that it is possible to see the spire of Salisbury Cathedral. Continue down to Farley Farm, the lonely little church of Farley Chamberlyne that lies just beyond. Other parking places around the Country Park afford pleasant walks and views.
With a population explosion around 1600 B.C., farming and deforestation increased rapidly. Tribal chieftains emerged and more defensive hill forts were thrown up and strengthened against attack.
The Celtic Tribes with their new techniques and more advanced culture became established; many more animals were managed with sheep now providing wool for weaving. Grain could be stored for winter use as well as for sowing in the spring. Superb craftsmanship was applied not only in weaponry, but also to everyday implements and jewellery.
Woolbury Ring, the summit of Stockbridge Down (on the right of the B3049) is another good walking place. Drive on through Stockbridge, a delightful small town and the capital of the Test Valley and at the top of the hill a right turn (off the A30) takes you to Danebury Ring. Further afield, 6 miles west of Marlborough on the A301, is Avebury, which is the largest of the stone circles (30 acres) with a museum nearby and other points of interest.
By the end of the prehistoric period, Britain was a country of farmsteads, hamlets, villages and hill top fortresses. Primeval forests had been replaced several times by regeneration and woodland management and with large areas of intense farming. A typical small farmstead would have consisted of an area enclosed by a ditch and bank, with a yard and some round thatched huts of wattle and daub, small fields for crops and some open grazing for the animals.
The most sophisticated of the Celtic immigrants in this area were the Belgae, who captured the hill forts of St. Catherine and Orams Arbor and founded the earliest settlement - that which today we call Winchester.
Then came the Romans...
When the upheaval of the Conquest began to settle, AD 43-85, a more prosperous period followed. Britain became a Roman Province AD85-110, and those Celtic peoples not wishing to conform retreated West and North and back across the Channel to found Brittany.
Venta Bulgarum (Winchester) was rebuilt in the Roman grid pattern and securely walled. Wonderful new roads were laid between towns and forts for faster and safer travel and for communications - used to this day. The road to Sarum (Salisbury) passed below Farley Mount and through Ashley, not far from Lainston, and a Roman villa was excavated in West Wood, this side of the old road. A mosaic floor was lifted (1969) an put on display in Winchester City Museum.
In 410 the Romans left Venta Bulgarum though it remained populated; the great Roman Empire was beginning to crumble and by now Britain was continually raided by pirates from the continent. These Angles, Saxons and Jutes from Northern Europe liked what they found here and soon formed settlements.
The so-called Dark Ages followed and from this period was born the Legend of King Arthur. As there is always a grain of truth in every legend, it is assumed that there was at this time, a Romano-British "General" who lead his army against the invaders with some success. (The Round Table in the Great Hall of Winchester Castle does not date from this period but from the 13th. century, with the present decoration commissioned by Henry VIII in the 16th. century.
Despite resistance, these tall, fair, Teutonic people had prevailed by the end of the 6th. century and Roman Britain had all but disappeared. With these Anglo-Saxons came Cerdic in 495 (from Germany) another great leader.
He founded Wessex in 510 and made Wintonceaster (Winchester) his capital. (Her Majesty the Queen is a direct descendant). Eventually several kingdoms flourished across "Angle-land" (England) though they were very rarely at peace with one another. The Anglo-Saxons were the most sophisticated of the pre-Norman conquest peoples and we owe them much of our language and characteristics, our love of ritual and our landscape.
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