Winchester

Sister cities

• Giessen

History

The area around Winchester has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with three Iron Age hillforts, Oram's Arbour, St. Catherine's Hill, and Worthy Down all nearby. In the Late Iron Age, a more urban settlement type developed, known as an oppidum, although the archaeology of this phase remains obscure. The settlement became an important centre for the British Belgae tribe; however, it remains unclear how the Belgae came to control the initial settlement. Caesar recorded the tribe had crossed the channel as raiders (probably in the 1st century BCE), only to later establish themselves. The Roman account of continental invaders has been challenged in recent years with scientific studies favouring a gradual change through increased trade links rather than migration. To the Celtic Britons, the settlement was probably known as Wentā or Venta (from a common Celtic word meaning "tribal town" or "meeting place"). An etymology connected with the Celtic word for "white" (Modern Welsh gwyn) has been suggested, due to Winchester's situation upon chalk. It was the Latinised versions of this name, together with that of the tribe, that gave the town its Roman name of Venta Belgarum. After the Roman conquest of Britain, the settlement served as the capital () of the Belgae and was distinguished as Venta Belgarum, "Venta of the Belgae". 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. At the beginning of the third century, Winchester was given protective stone walls. At around this time the city covered an area of , making it among the largest towns in Roman Britain by surface area. There was a limited suburban area outside the walls. Like many other…