Aldershot

Aldershot is a town in Hampshire, England, in the Rushmoor district. Heathland surrounds the village which is located about 31.8 miles (51.2 km) southwest of London. Located in Rushmoor, the area is administered by the Borough Council. 

There are 37,226 people in Aldershot, while the Aldershot Urban Area (which includes Camberley, Farnborough, and Farnham) has 243,344, making it the thirtieth-largest urban area in Britain.

The British military has long called Aldershot “Home of the British Army,” which is how it grew from a small village to become a thriving Victorian town

History of Aldershot

According to Old English, “alder-holt” refers to a copse of alder trees growing in the area (from ‘alder-holt’). The Domesday Book, referring to the Domesday Hundred of Crondall, lists Aldershot as part of it. In the 12th century, St Michael the Archangel’s Church was built and later embellished. 

Almost certainly, there was an earlier church on the site. On their outlying estates, Cistercian monks from the nearby Waverley Abbey founded granges or farms, such as one at Aldershot by 1175. In 1287, the Crondall Rental records that the Monks of Waverly held 31 acres of encroachment at Aldershot. While we do not know when the monks first settled in Aldershot, we do know that they came from the Abbey. 

This area encompassed the area around the present Brickfields Country Park as well as the area around St Michael’s Church. The grange was located very near the church. In William Camden’s Britannia, published in 1607, John Norden’s map of Hampshire shows Aldershot as a market town.

Building Design Partnership reconstructed the barracks between 1961 and 1969. There was some success with new building technologies, and work was sped up under pressure from the government.

According to the Local Government Act 1972, Aldershot borough merged with Farnborough borough to form Rushmoor borough in 1974, which is now known as the Borough of Rushmoor.

A British campaign in 2009 enabled veterans and their families who served in the Gurkhas for more than four years to settle in the UK. As Nepal’s population grows, Gerald Howarth of the Aldershot Conservative Party requested government assistance to expand local public services to meet the community’s needs.