Venta Belgarum Oram's Arbour and Worthy Down) once the Romans had pacified the area, as was their policy for relocating many other British tribes. The River Itchen was diverted and a street grid laid out. Although in the early years of the Roman province it was of subsidiary importance to Silchester and Chichester, Venta eclipsed them both by the latter half of the second century. A defensive bank and ditch were dug around the town in the 2nd century. At the beginning of the third century, Winchester was given protective stone walls. At around this time the city covered an area of
Alton, Hampshire Alton, Hampshire Alton is a market town and civil parish in Hampshire, England, near the source of the River Wey. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 17,816. Alton was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as "Aoltone". The Battle of Alton occurred in the town during the English Civil War. It also has connections with Sweet Fanny Adams and Jane Austen. The Alton Hoard of Iron Age coins and jewellery was found in the vicinity of the town in 1996 and is now in the British Museum. A Roman road ran from Chichester to Silchester and