Overton is a large village and parish in Hampshire, England, west of Basingstoke and east of Andover and Whitchurch.

[4] The development of the village began in earnest during the 10th century when Frithstan, the Bishop of Winchester, in a chartership dated 909, was granted "Uferantun" by King Edward the Elder.

[3][5] Overton developed over the next century and by the time of Domesday Book the settlement included a large number of dwellings, the Church of St Mary and several corn mills primarily due to its location on the River Test.

The residence was built for Henry II for use on journeys between Windsor and either Winchester or Hamwych (Southampton) which was the customary port for travel to and from his French possessions.

[6] The importance and expansion continued throughout the 12th and 13th centuries facilitated in 1218 by Henry III providing a royal grant to the bishop of Winchester for a market in "his manor of Overton" when burgage tenure was introduced.

[5][7] In 1246 Henry III granted a fair on the "eve, feast and morrow of the Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury" which can be considered as the first "official" sheep fair[5] and by the late 13th century Overton had grown to such a size that in 1295 two representatives were sent to Parliament and by the early 14th century the town was providing a rent of £12 0s 9½d to the bishopric (equivalent to £2.75 million in 2015).

[8] Overton was significantly impacted by the Black Death, rents fell by over a half, parliamentary representatives were withdrawn to save costs, the tourns (medieval courts) were not held and the population stagnated.

Despite this stagnation Overton survived by consolidating farms and by support from the bishopric though the effects lasted until the end of the 14th century.

With the increase in prosperity came a desire for greater power, the freeholders began to choose their own officers; port reeve, constable, bailiffs, beer-tasters and leather sealers at the court leet of the borough.

By this time the focus of the village was the west–east route from London to the West Country and in 1754 the road was turnpiked and what is now the High Street had a large number of inns to service the Stagecoach Passengers.

[7] In 1805 Overton was one of the changes of horses for the post chaise of Lieutenant Lapenotiere, HMS Pickle who carried the historic dispatches of Lord Nelson's victory and death in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

The river flows westwards through the village, historically powering a number of mills, towards Whitchurch before it meanders southwards through Hampshire, eventually reaching the sea at Eling near Southampton.

[4] The village is a civil parish and part of the Overton, Laverstoke and Steventon ward of Basingstoke and Deane borough council.

A huge crack soon appeared in it, so the spire was removed and the west wall was shored up with foot-square beams of oak at a cost of about £1500.

[13] The churchyard is noted for having a large and long-established colony of glow worms (Lampyris noctiluca), which are becoming increasingly rare in the UK.

Members currently shoot a variety of disciplines including Target, Field and Clout using Recurve, Compound and Long Bows.

[citation needed] Overton has a group of Mummers, who perform frequently over the Yuletide period outside some of the public houses in the village.

Overton is the location of the Children in Need fundraising event Carfest South which is hosted at Southley Farm during August Bank Holiday.

In Richard Adams' Watership Down, the rival rabbit warren of Efrafa was located just north of the railway above Northington Farm in Overton.

Thought to have come from a lavender farm in nearby Whitchurch and accused by some locals of disturbing the peace with their courtship vocals, a plan was initially hatched to evict them but this was overturned by the Parish Council which has agreed that they can stay.