In 1868 Bishop's Waltham was described as a parish and market town in the hundred of the same name, Droxford division of the county of Southampton, 9 miles to the S. E. of Winchester, and 65 miles from London by road, or 79 miles by railway. It is a station on the Gosport and Portsmouth branch of the London and South-Western railway. The parish is situated in a pleasant country near the source of the river Hamble, and includes the chapelries of Ashton and Curdridge, and the tything of West Hoe. The prefix. "Bishop's" denotes the fact that the manor belongs to the see of Winchester. It has been held by the bishops from time immemorial, and was the site of the episcopal palace or castle originally founded in the reign of King Stephen, by his brother, Henry de Blois.