South Wonston & Worthy Down
Approximately four miles north of Winchester there is a large modern water tower and opposite is the village of South Wonston and Worthy Down army camp with another older water tower, this is set beside the old A34 and not the new dual carriageway. Where the modern tower is there is the old Winchester racecourse which was popular during the 19th century some of the horses were stabled at South Wonston Farm. The wood from the grandstand was removed in 1917 and used to build a few of the houses in the village.
HAMPSHIRE CHRONICLE Saturday, June 25, 1853
Winchester Races came off yesterday on Worthy Down. The weather was delightful, the attendance more numerous than usual, and the sport good, notwithstanding the starters were by no means numerous. Some idea of the influx of visitors may be formed by the fact of the passengers receipt at our Railway Station, yesterday, more than trebling the average revenue. There is no doubt of these races becoming very attractive and beneficial to the town, if the city and surrounding gentry would support them by liberal subscriptions.

South Wonston was a favourite stopping place for gypsies while on the drove road between Alton and Salisbury. The area was not good enough for a permanent settlement as there was a lack of running water, but a long barrow can be found just to the east of the village, but settlement there is today, but in the days when South Wonston Farm was owned by Henry Brake only a few people were living here. He decided to divide the land into building plots of one acre and were then sold off. People eventually travelled out from Winchester and  built wooden houses with corrugated iron roofs, in a grid system on which the village is now build.

Holy Trinity Wonston is the mother church of St Margaret's and this originally was built from corrugated iron. A new church was built in the middle of the village in 1966, the old corrugated one still stands though.

   
The old water tower   Autumn leaves in the main entrance to Worthy Down Camp   The new water tower

During the First World War Worthy Down became the home of the Royal Flying Corps and this opened up job opportunities for the local people and with the building of a new halt on the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway transportation was made easier and more people came to live in the area.

Worthy Down was also used by both the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm and today it is the home of the Royal Army Pay Corps. Though access to the public is not allowed the old black hangers and two cottages used by pilots still stand.

The village has only a general store with a post office combined where years ago there were at least four shops here.

As stated above the main problem here was the lack of running water, now rain water is collected in large tanks and water butts, some of the tanks are underground. A well was also sunk in 1919 and the water was pumped up by an engine.  Piped mains water was eventually put in in the 1950s and in 1985 low water pressure prompted the building of the more modern town on the other side of the A34.Electricity also arrive here in 1954.