 Newtown was founded in 1218 by Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester.The medieval borough of Newtown was formed from part of the parish of Burghclere, and flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries.Adjacent Sandleford Priory, Sandleford, over the border on the other side of the River Enborne (Alder stream) in Berkshire, had been founded on an earlier establishment between 1193 and 1202.