Twyford Down is an area of chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire, England next to St. Catherine's Hill and close to the South Downs National Park. It has been settled since pre-Roman times, and has housed a fort and a chapel, as well as being a 17th and 18th century coaching route.
In 1992, the down was the site of a major road protest against a section of the M3 motorway from London to the south coast of England. There had been plans since the 1970s to replace the 1930s Winchester bypass which was regularly congested due to design features that had become out of date. This was problematic owing to the lack of available land between Winchester College and St. Catherine's Hill. After several public inquiries, particularly with using the water meadows near the college, a route was chosen that took the motorway over the down in a cutting. Although protests against the M3 had been ongoing since the early 1970s, the protest-action on top of the down, described in 1994 as the most controversial British motorway project ever to start construction, attracted a wider range of classes of people than had previously been the case, and caused a violent clash with onsite security officers.
The motorway was completed as planned and provides a link of continuous motorway between Greater London and the South Coast ports. Nevertheless, the protests attracted interest from the national media, and drew attention to this form of campaigning. Subsequent road schemes took greater account of the environment or were cancelled. Several protesters at Twyford Down subsequently formed campaign groups, or joined existing ones such as the Campaign for Better Transport.
History
Twyford Down sits to the southeast of Winchester and the northeast of Twyford, and is part of the Winchester-East Meon Anticline. The down's summit, known as Deacon Hill, is towards the north-eastern edge of the area which is renowned for its dramatic rolling scenery and ecologically rich grassland. Its history can be traced back to pre-Roman times. Along it run a series of trackways known as "dongas", which resulted from farmers herding animals to surrounding markets. St Catherine's Hill, in the centre of the down has been identified as a human settlement more than 3,000 years ago and pre-dates the foundation of Winchester. In the 3rd century, a fort was constructed on the hill, while in the 12th, a Norman chapel was constructed on the site. During the Middle Ages, paths along the down formed part of the Pilgrim's Trail from Winchester to Normandy via Portsmouth. This is commemorated by the modern Pilgrims' Trail which crosses the down.
In 1675, John Ogilby noted that the main coaching route from London to Southampton ran over the top of the down, going directly from Alresford to Twyford, avoiding Winchester. This remained the main coaching route until about 1800, when an alternative route via Winchester (now mostly the A31 and former A33) was formed. During this time, and up to the 19th century, the area was sometimes known as Morestead Down after the nearby village of Morestead.
Hockley Golf Club was established as a private members' club on the down in 1914.
The M3 motorway extension
Background
thumb|left|200px|The original A33 Winchester Bypass, designed to 1930s standards, was unsuitable for modern traffic.
Outline strategic planning for the route of what was to be later known as the M3 motorway had begun in the late 1930s. The route was to link London to Basingstoke, in order to reduce the pressure on the A30. Detailed planning for the first phase of construction, a section, between Sunbury on Thames and Popham, began in 1962-3. The section, between Lightwater and Popham, where the A30 and the A303 separated, opened in June 1971; this was followed by the Sunbury to Lightwater section which opened in July 1974. opening to traffic on 1 February 1940. Construction of this had been controversial as it affected the Itchen Valley and offered only a partial solution to congestion, with some people calling instead for a by-pass to the north and west of Winchester.
As a 1930s road construction project, the bypass was built to then-contemporary standards, including at-grade crossings at Bar End and at Hockley. As time progressed, the bypass became more and more of a bottleneck as roads around it were improved to higher standards, particularly after the opening of the A33 Chandler's Ford Bypass in 1968 and the A34 King's Worthy Link the following year, which meant all long distance traffic, as opposed to merely that from London to Southampton, was using the bypass. Morgan Morgan-Giles, Winchester's local MP, described the bypass as "utterly inadequate and dangerous, as everybody who lives in or near Winchester will agree. The accident figures are appalling. Therefore, a new motorway somewhere to relieve the traffic is urgently needed." but the junction at Hockley remained a key point of congestion.
Public inquiries
At this point, the option of going over or through Twyford Down had not been considered, and the alignment of the proposed six-lane M3 motorway (three lines in each direction) was to run through the Itchen valley roughly west of the existing four-lane bypass. This would also require the realignment of the Itchen Navigation into the water meadows. and in 1973 the government approved this route. Morgan-Giles argued in Parliament to support the scheme, pointing out that Winchester and the Down had been cut off since construction of the old bypass anyway, and growth of Southampton Docks meant that improved links from London and the Midlands would become increasingly essential.
In 1981, Kenneth Clarke, then the Parliamentary Secretary for Transport, stated that, since the route of the M3 was then fixed as far as Bar End, to the north of St. Catherine's Hill, that its route from there to Compton would undergo a fresh study, specifically stating that the Winchester Bypass should continue to be operational during construction of any new road, and that environmental matters were a key concern. the junction at Hockley was the only set of traffic lights between London and Southampton.
thumb|right|upright=1.8|Twyford Down cutting during M3 construction in July 1994
The Ministry of Transport (MoT) had problems purchasing the land required to complete the route past Winchester. The land required, east of the city on Twyford Down, was owned by Winchester College, which refused to sell the land to the government because part was a water meadow. In February 1992, the M3 was improved between Southampton and Compton, Part of the contract stipulated that the old bypass would be removed and restored to nature, restoring direct access to St. Catherine's Hill.
Protests
thumb|left|150px|"Twyford Rising": A button badge worn by supporters of the Twyford Down road protest. Stencil-painted, graffiti versions of this logo appeared around Winchester during the early 1990s.