Description : Winchester is a cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is 60 miles (97 km) south-west of London and 14 miles (23 km) from Southampton, the closest other city. At the 2011 census, Winchester had a population of 45,184. The wider City of Winchester district, which includes towns such as Alresford and Bishop's Waltham, has a population of 116,595. Winchester is the county town of Hampshire and contains the head offices of Hampshire County Council. Winchester was the first and former capital city of England. It developed from the Roman town of Venta Belgarum, which in turn developed from an Iron Age oppidum. Winchester remained the most important city in England until the Norman conquest in the eleventh century. The city has since become one of the most expensive and affluent areas in the United Kingdom. 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 in Britain. 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 likely known as Wentā or Venta (from a common Celtic word meaning "tribal town" or "meeting place"). Although 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.
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