Many aspects of the area and its traditions go back a long way in history but not many are as historic as the Overton Sheep Fair now held four yearly.

Records show that the Bishop of Winchester obtained a royal charter in 1218 for permission to hold a weekly market in Overton at certain times of the year.

This was later changed by Henry III in 1246 to move the day from Tuesday to Monday.

The Reeve, a magistrate or local official, was called to organise and supervise the markets and fairs of his area.

This included supervising the setting up of the stalls and he was responsible for paying the bishop the annual sum, in this case eight pounds. The market could be very profitable if organised efficiently.

To this end a market house was built in 1615 at the lower end of Winchester Street where the reeve collected the market dues. This was demolished in 1745 as it was built in the middle of the road and was, unsurprisingly, causing an obstruction.

By 1679 leases were put out to local farmers which were lucrative for the reeve.

Seventy years later the dues had risen to £10 2s and a half pence and the reeve was obligated to pay £4 to the church for the poor of the area, but it seems that by this time the weekly fairs had died out, possibly due to shops having risen in the high street selling items that were available at other times to that of the fairs.

These were replaced by fairs held in May, July and October mainly for the trade of sheep and lambs. Just a few years later markets had arisen in Alton, Alresford, Appleshaw, Stockbridge and Weyhill. In Weyhill it was recorded that 140,000 sheep were sold every year.

By 1809 the congestion created by the Sheep Fair caused the Rector of Overton to apply to the Bishop of Winchester for the fair to be moved to a field off Fair Close, formerly known as Greyhound Lane, and later the fair was expanded to include other animals such as horses, pigs and cows, as well as hops and cheese. In 1822 the first recorded number of sheep that changed hands were 40,000.

1854 saw the arrival of the railway in Overton which was an asset initially because it enabled farmers and dealers from a wider area to attend the fair, transporting their animals via rail. But this was also part of the downturn of trade as dealers could transport their animals further afield and especially to the cities where higher prices were paid. Although, by 1901, fair-ground rides were added to the fair, the last report of 1927 showed that only 2,000 animals were traded and two years later the fair was closed.

This is not however the end of the story because in 2000 the market was revived by local man Ian Crombie as a celebration of the millennium. It still exists today as a two-day event every four years, with street entertainment, market stalls, exhibitions and four stages; once again bringing the history of the area back to life, and long may it continue. The next Sheep Fair of Overton is to be held in July 2024.