Odiham today

Why so much survived

The canal never made money, the railway went through Hook and Winchfield instead, and the main road to London passed a few miles north. Hart's conservation area appraisal says that in the 19th century Odiham's population grew at less than half the national rate. So the old buildings were never swept away for something bigger.

The 20th century

The big changes came after 1920, when the manor lands were broken up and sold. New housing went up at Crownfields, on Dunley's Hill and east of North Warnborough by 1931. RAF Odiham opened in 1937 and has been a big part of local life ever since. After the Second World War there was more building on both sides of the village and a new secondary school. In the 1980s and 1990s, Palace Gate, Angel Meadows and Deer Park View (with the health centre) went up behind the north side of the High Street, cutting into some of the old medieval plots.

The cottage hospital

Odiham Cottage Hospital opened in Buryfields in 1910. Historic England's record says it was built in 1909 to designs by A. H. Guyer, with a two-storey administration block and nurses' home and two single-storey wards behind, and it was extended in 1983 to 1984. One hospital-data website says it was paid for by a £1,000 bequest from a Dr John McIntyre; we haven't confirmed that in a primary source yet. Since 1998 it has been owned by a local charitable trust and still provides community health and care services, helped by its charity shops.

Community

The Odiham Society, founded to look after the parish's buildings and character, looks after the Pest House, runs talks and walks, has put up blue plaques, and takes part in Heritage Open Days. Odiham has been twinned with Sourdeval in Normandy since 1993. In 2025 RAF Odiham was given the Freedom of the Parish to mark a hundred years of military flying here.

For what's on, from the markets to the carols in the Bury, see our Odiham events page. For shops, pubs and places to eat, see the Odiham guide.

Back to the Odiham history hub.