Editing Winchester (section)

===Prehistory===
The area around Winchester has been inhabited since [[Prehistoric Britain|prehistoric times]], with three [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] [[Hillforts in Britain|hillforts]], [[Oram's Arbour]], [[St Catherine's Hill, Hampshire|St. Catherine's Hill]], and Worthy Down all nearby. In the [[Late Iron Age]], a more urban settlement type developed, known as an ''[[oppidum]]'', although the archaeology of this phase remains obscure.

The settlement became an important centre for the [[Belgae#Britain|British Belgae]] tribe; however, it remains unclear how the Belgae came to control the initial settlement. Caesar recorded the tribe had crossed the channel as raiders (probably in the 1st century BCE), only to later establish themselves.<ref>[[s:Commentaries on the Gallic War/Book 5#12|5.2]]</ref> The Roman account of continental invaders has been challenged in recent years with scientific studies favouring a gradual change through increased trade links rather than migration.<ref>Julius Caesar, ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' [[Commentaries on the Gallic War/Book 2#4|2.4]]</ref><ref>Cunliffe, Barry W., ''Iron Age Communities in Britain, Fourth Edition: An Account of England, Scotland and Wales from the Seventh Century BC, Until the Roman Conquest'', near Figure 1.4, 2012 (4th edition), Routledge, [https://books.google.com/books?id=v1Zkio7jluAC&dq=Britons+Iron+Age&pg=PT676] google preview, with no page numbers]</ref><ref>[[Sheppard Frere]], ''Britannia: a History of Roman Britain'', third edition, Pimlico, 1987; John Creighton, ''Coins and power in Late Iron Age Britain'', Cambridge University Press, 2000</ref>

To the Celtic Britons, the settlement was probably known as '''Wentā''' or '''Venta''' (from a common [[Common Brittonic|Celtic word]] meaning "tribal town" or "meeting place").<ref>Matasović, Ranko. [http://iedo.brillonline.nl/dictionaries/lemma.html?id=17429 "wentā" in the ''Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic'' at ''Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries Online''. Brill Online, 2014. Accessed 24 July 2014.]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> An etymology connected with the Celtic word for "white" ([[Welsh language|Modern Welsh]] ''gwyn'') has been suggested, due to Winchester's situation upon chalk.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Long |first1=Henry Lawes |title=Observations Upon Certain Roman Roads and Towns in the South of Britain |year=2016 |orig-date=1836 |publisher=Palala Press (originally published by Nichols and sons) |location=Oxford University |isbn=978-1354701065 |page=26 |access-date=17 October 2018|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGUGAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> It was the Latinised versions of this name, together with that of the tribe that gave the town its Roman name of '''Venta Belgarum'''.