Overton is an ancient village dating back to 909 when the parish was granted to the Bishops of Winchester. Situated at the head of Test Valley in the North Wessex Downs, Overton grew to become an important market town. A charter for an annual July Sheep fair (held in Winchester Street) dates back to 1246. This tradition was revived in 2000 and a Sheep Fair is now held every four year the next is July 2012. The River Test is a beautiful ‘Chalk-Stream’ and its crystal clear water rises in the nearby village of Ashe. In bygone days the Test powered numerous water mills in Overton including a silk mill, which (circa 1810) employed as many as 190 children aged between 6 and 8.
A few  miles down stream, Henri de Portal a Huguenot refugee from France established a paper mill at Bere Mill. Henri de Portal produced paper of such exceptional quality that the Bank of England awarded him a contract in 1724 to supply banknote paper. This tradition still continues and Portals (now De la Rue) is an important local employer and supplies high quality security marked paper to more than 150 nations. Today the River Test is abundant with wild Brown Trout and is widely considered to be the world’s finest fly-fishing river.
	Just 3 miles east of Overton is the village of Steventon where Jane Austen was born in 1775. Her father, Revd George Austen was Rector of St. Nicholas Church, Steventon. Unfortunately the Rectory where Jane was born and spent the first 24 years of her life was prone to flooding and was demolished after a new rectory was built ~1824. St. Nicholas Church has barely changed since Jane was born.