Published - 14/10/2021

Our recent development, The Brick Stattion was once a rural part of town. Medieval Bishops of Winchester, such as William of Wykeham, lived in private rooms at the top of the Palace’s West Tower. The Bishop over-looked the winding road round the Palace and the Little and Great Ponds where his fish were bred, and over to the entrance to his exclusive hunting park, where your house now sits.

When the Bishop lost his land assets after the Civil War, the field was sold to adjoining Lodge Farm.

In the 1860s, Sir Arthur Helps, who owned the field at the time, planned a model ‘Newtown’ for Bishop’s Waltham. Soon steam trains carried bricks from Claylands and passengers arrived at the station where the roundabout is today. Close by, Helps built the Albert Infirmary from public subscriptions. But Helps lost his money, and the hospital never opened because the running costs could not be afforded. Instead, the Priory was rented out as a large private house.

The field was sold to the West family of farmers and butchers. They pastured cattle and cropping helped it to develop as a wildflower meadow.

Around 1910, the Priory became a seminary for boys training as missionaries to Africa. To teach farming practices, the White Fathers started a Home Farm with a milking herd. In the 1930s, George West gifted the meadow back to them. It was a generous gift: before antibiotics were discovered, farmers used their best wildflower meadows as hospital fields to treat sick animals.

During the 1970s, the field was used for sport by Hampshire Police Cadets training at the Priory. Butser Turf Company cut grass turves from the field in the 1990s, before leaving it fallow. The wildflower seeds left in the soil germinated, so that by the 21st century, the field was a mass of Common Spotted Orchids in the early summer.

Today, we know wild flowers are precious in the fight to reduce carbon emissions. At Bargate we understand the importance of minimising the loss of these once-common plants, and in 2019 worked with the community to save 140 spotted orchids before building work started.

This autumn we replant the first orchids back to the damp area round the balancing pond. Please don’t pick these precious survivors or allow anyone to walk on them. If you are a keen gardener who would like to nurture them, please contact trish.simpson-davis@outlook.com.

Seeds may take years to germinate—so look out for thin spotted leaves growing naturally in your garden and don’t dig any orchids out as weeds!