Ancient Winton

Winton may be an Edwardian and Victorian creation, but there has been life around here for hundreds of thousands of years.

Archaeological evidence points to people living in the Winton area in the Stone Age around twelve thousand years ago.

They were probably wandering hunters who set up camp for the night wherever they happened to be. Their prey would have included deer, bison and possibly mammoths.

The proof lies in the flint tools that have been found around the area. These include flint arrow and spear heads and scrapers used to remove meat and clean the hides of animals.

Examples have turned up in gardens and waste land in Winton, Moordown, Charminster Road, Redhill and Kinson.

These early Wintonians would have also eaten berries, nuts and various types of plant. It is believed that it was around this time that they abandoned grunts and gestures and started to be able to talk to oneanother.

The climate was significantly colder than now, but fortunately the locals had worked out how to create fire.

Winton was a busy farming area during the Bronze Age (2000 - 700 BC). The inhabitants appear to have come from across the Channel from the continent.

Their cemeteries have been found across the area as have numerous bronze arrowheads and tools. Victorian maps show tumuli and burial mounds dotted all over the area that is now Winton.

Just over a hundred years ago a bronze axe head was found in the middle of the road near Fiveways. It turned out to be an extremely rare type normally found in Spain, and proved that Winton may have been an early tourist destination - even if the tourists were not always welcome!

Archaeologists have found traces of Iron Age habitation at various places around Winton - notably at Strouden Park, Ensbury Park, Redhill and Kinson. The 1880 map of Winton shows burial mounds (tumuli) in several locations that have since been built over.

Excavations in 1929 at Strouden Farm (which subsequently became the site of Summerbee School) revealed an Iron Age settlement and pottery from both the Iron Age and Roman period.

Six years later workmen at Ensbury Park found Iron Age pottery, clay loom weights, and burnt daub from hut walls carrying the marks of wattle and ancient finger prints.