A Short History of Aldershot

While today Aldershot is a vibrant town of almost 40,000 people, there is evidence of its humble origins as a small agricultural market village, with mentions in the Domesday Book in 1086, and various other historic records over the centuries, with the 1851 Census recording that there were still less than 900 residents. However, this was to change from 1854 when the army selected Aldershot as its new permanent training camp, with the previously little-known village exploding in to a modern Victorian town.

However, despite this relatively short 167 years of history as a modern town, Aldershot has witnessed significant change, both in terms of its role as a primary military hub for the British Army, but also in terms of its civilian economic and social fabric. The story of Aldershot even just from 1854 is a deep and rich history, far too extensive to adequately present in one simple and accessible publication, but here on this website we will offer a broad introductory insight in the history of the town over the past century or so.

The population and nature of Aldershot remained fairly consistent for hundreds of years, but within a decade of the army purchasing significant tracts of land in 1854 to build their extensive military camp, the population had risen from less than a thousand to over 15,000 residents. Around two thirds were army personnel, with many of the rest consisting of entrepreneurial Victorians who saw commercial opportunities from such a burgeoning community. However, in the early decades of the new encampment, from the mid-nineteenth century until the interwar years, Aldershot's geography was still primarily dominated by the military barracks as observed in the above image. Gradually, as there were structural improvements in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, from old wooden barrack constructions to modern brick structures, land was re-appropriated for both military family housing and private commercial use. This is best observed in the below map, which shows a modern mid-twentieth century town with schools, recreation venues, civilian residential streets, and infrastructure such as gas and sewage works.

Despite an ever encroaching civilian residential and commercial domination of Aldershot's growing borders, and with a vastly reduced military contingent based in the town, British military history still holds sway over the towns cultural fabric, as can be evidenced in the place names even as they are adopted for new local constructions today. The town's  road names  paint a clear picture, with inspiration from military jargon, famous battles, and prominent military personnel, even away from the immediate vicinity of the historic location of the barracks themselves: Barracks Road, Raglan Close, Ordnance Road, Alamein Road, Sevastopol Road, Pegasus Avenue, Stirling Close, Wallace Way, San Carlos Approach, Connaught Road, H Jones Crescent, to name just a small number of the overwhelming list of military-themed street names. This is most prominent in the case of what seems to be Aldershot's adopted hero, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington.

The Duke of Wellington has a rich history in Aldershot's naming conventions, with roads named Arthur Street, Dukes Park, Wellesley Close, Wellesley Gate, Wellesley Road, Wellington Avenue, Wellington Gardens, Wellington Place, and Wellington Street, with a new housing estate, a school, and even the towns shopping centre bearing the Duke's name.

This naming convention is again replicated in important social spaces, such as the local pubs, again even with those located further away from the town centre proximity to the historic barracks. Pubs named The Heroes of Lucknow, The Pegasus, The Cannon, The Rifleman, The Royal Military Hotel, and inevitably The Wellington Hotel have all existed at some point over Aldershot's recent history. Even today, with Aldershot being affected by the national  downturn in the number of pubs still open , there stands the likes of The Duke of York, The Crimea Inn, and the popular-with-the-Para's The Trafalgar Inn, with this latter venue still being an important meeting point on Airborne Forces Day every summer, despite the Parachute Regiment(s) having officially left Aldershot for Colchester in 2000. Indeed, the Para legacy in Aldershot, which they called home for half a century, is such that an  unveiling of a statue  to commemorate their contribution to Aldershot's history attracted thousands of local residents despite the regiment having left the town almost twenty years earlier.

The Wellington and Para statues are just a couple of many public military heritage icons dotted around the town, which can be easy to overlook both because some are tucked away from main routes, but also they are not always well signposted, if at all, meaning local knowledge is required to be able to know where to access them. These include pieces such as the Redan Hill cannon on the site of an old hill fortification, the Observatory on Queens Avenue, a 25 pound field gun and howitzer near the train station, and the impressive RAMC Memorial at the top of Gun Hill.

There is also a rich history of Victorian architecture in Aldershot, with impressive churches, hospitals, and town halls adding to the ambience of such a heritage town. Unfortunately even some of these relatively 'young' constructions of the late nineteenth century have fallen victim to development, such as with the Rotunda Methodist Church, Hippodrome Theatre, and the old Town Hall. However, some of these buildings have stood the test of time, such as the Wesleyan Church, the new Town Hall, and of course the famous Cambridge Hospital which has maintained its beautiful façade despite being converted internally in to private flats in the past year or so.

Whilst changes such as the loss of the above Rotunda building can be a sad event in terms of a town's heritage, as it most certainly was also with the replacement of the Hippodrome Theatre with the Hippodrome House with an office block, it is not always the case that the loss of such aesthetically and historically pleasing architecture is a bad thing. Two prominent contrasting examples directly opposite each other provide a good insight in to how some change is bad, and some change is good.

Aside from the clear importance of the British Army to the fabric of Aldershot town's society, culture, and of course geography, the civilian population have made the town a great success over the past century or so, as can be observed in the many important business and recreational endeavours that have been supported by the locals. It is also, however, another area of constant change that has not necessarily always positive change, and in many ways the town has seen a decline in its fortune over recent decades, as we can also observe elsewhere in the country.

Over the years there have been many large employers, such as the Innisfail laundry, the chicken factory, the Boots distribution warehouse, and Gale and Polden printers and publishers, which over their time of operations employed thousands and thousands of local residents, including the families of serving soldiers who were serving their postings in Aldershot. Unfortunately these businesses are all gone, but are still a significant contribution to the memories of the town and its history, with many long term relationships formed as part of the experience of working in these locations. Today, Aldershot's largest employer is almost certainly the local Tesco superstore, which was built on the Willems Park site in the early 1990s, and is still argued as a contributor to the decline of the smaller family owned businesses who lost their trade to the conglomerate. Today, there are only a small number of businesses who have survived generations, such as the locally famous and popular Edgar Jerome Ltd, or simply 'Jeromes', which has been in business in the same location for almost a hundred years, catering to both the military for their uniform needs, and for formal wear and school uniforms for the civilian population. Indeed, Jeromes even have their own  museum  on their top floor such is their status as a local heritage site, which is inevitably situated on Wellington Street!

There was also a popular open-air market in Aldershot up until the 1970s, when it was replaced with a new modern shopping centre, which to the surprise of no-one reading this far is called the Wellington Centre. This centre has been home to various large brands, such as Boots, Argos, New Look, Clinton Cards, and the WH Smith with its additional Post Office section, but is also the site that has witnessed decline with businesses such as Mothercare closing down after decades of trade there.

The Wellington Centre was also provided with an extension in the 1990s, which was the short-lived Galleries Shopping Centre intended to house outlets for cheap clothing etc. However, despite some larger retailers including JJB Sports and at one point the Post Office holding large units their, the centre soon fell in to decline and by the early-to-mid 2000s was almost entirely vacant. The  current plans  to convert this space in to private accommodation has recently started moving ahead, with final planning approval agreed in recent months.

Unfortunately, the above images of Aldershot's economic decline can also be observed in the shopping streets outside of the Wellington Centre, where further to the loss of the likes of Blockbuster and Woolworths in the recent past, significant local retailers such as the large Marks and Spencer, Next, Burton, Game, Superdrug, and Clarks have all also been lost by the town.

However, there is still hope for Aldershot yet. One cause argued for the decline of Aldershot's commercial viability is the loss of around 10,000 soldiers who were posted elsewhere when the British Army chose to reduce their use of Aldershot Garrison in the early 2000s. However, as part of the Army 2020 restructuring programme, including the closure of Britain's bases in Germany, many are set to return to 'The Home of the British Army', even if this won't bring the same number back which were lost almost two decades ago. There are also various  local government plans to revitalise the town , with the council having bought up much of the vacated retail space mentioned above, with intentions of providing accommodation and affordable retail space to make the town centre economically and socially vibrant again.

It is also important to note that a particular argument for the decline of Aldershot has been the arrival of Nepalese nationals over the past ten or so years, after a successful campaign by actress Joanna Lumley to have residency rights provided to ex-Ghurkha's, who worked for the British Army, and their families. This is believed to have put too much pressure on local services, and it has even been claimed that Nepalese have 'taken over' retail space and therefore directly contributed to local economic decline, though there is no evidence to support this, only vague anecdote. There are 'journalistic' pieces on this topic, but I will not link them here due to their lack of integrity in telling the true and complete story. However, there are clear examples of where they have made a significant cultural impact, leaving evidence of their own historic legacy in locations around Aldershot. There are various Nepalese themed dining venues, food shops, and clothing and jewellery shops for example, as would be expected with a community of thousands in the local area creating demand for such familiar wares, but there are two significant examples of historic building being put to use by the Nepalese community.

As with the story of the military presence in Aldershot, and the town's economic stability, the history of the local sports and entertainment is also one of ongoing loss and change. Since the late nineteenth century when the town was beginning to develop in to a characteristic Victorian town with less geographical domination by the army barracks, sports clubs and entertainment venues inevitably began to spring up to cater to both the military and civilian communities. There were army football teams as early as the 1860s, but it wasn't until 1927 that an official town football club was established, with a stadium being built on the site of the recreation ground near the High Street.

There are also some other famous sporting achievements linked to Aldershot. The Aldershot Military Stadium is home to the Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletics Club, which counts the likes of Zola Budd among the Olympians it has produced. A number of sporting venues in  Aldershot were used for hosting 1948 Olympic Game  events, most famously the local Lido indoor and outdoor swimming pool, which still attracts thousands of locals every summer since opening in 1930. Aldershot was even initially chosen to be the official training ground for the 2012 GB Olympics team, but eventually they opted to train abroad.

There have also been many local sporting ventures that have been and gone. Aside from the numerous community football and cricket teams for example, Aldershot has also had and lost the likes of greyhound racing, stock car racing, speedway, and a short-lived ice rink near the Lido which closed in 1991 after only four years of operation, and today is the home of the local gymnastics.

There have also been a number of clubs and theatres/cinemas that have gradually disappeared, including the aforementioned NAAFI Club, the Hippodrome Theatre, and Palace Cinema among many others.

Churches have also played a significant role in the towns history, particularly since the Victorian population boom which saw the arrival of many more places of worship. Aside from the previously noted Rotunda Methodist Church and Wesleyan Church, Aldershot still has its original (likely at least 800 year old) St Michael's Church at the top corner of Manor Park, St Augustine Church, St Josephs Church, Holy Trinity Church, and of course the magnificent and majestic buildings that are the Cathedral of St Michael and St George, and the more famous Royal Garrison Church nestled between the Duke of Wellington Statue and the old Royal Pavilion.

I have deliberately left these imposing images of the religious architecture until last, as I think they best demonstrate the ongoing graceful heritage of Aldershot. There is often negativity about the losses and fears of ongoing and irreversible decline, yet these images can evoke a sense of hope that the spirit of Aldershot persists, based on its rich and ongoing history, with changes that are the developing in to the modern day contributing their own new stories to the heritage of the town. With some positive investment and evolution to meet modern needs, the Aldershot could thrive again, even if it isn't the same form of hustle and bustle as yesteryear.