Twyford Down

Twyford Down is an area of chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire, England. It is situated near the South Downs National Park, next to St. Catherine's Hill. The down has been used as a settlement since pre-Roman times, and has hosted a fort and a chapel, as well as being a popular 17th and 18th century coaching route.

In 1991, the down became the site of a major road protest against the completion of a section of the M3 motorway from London to the south coast of England. There had been plans to replace an earlier 1930s-built bypass of Winchester since the 1970s, which became regularly congested due to design features that had become out of date. This became problematic due to the lack of available land between Winchester College and St. Catherine's Hill. After several public inquiries, particularly with problems using the water meadows near the college, a route was chosen that took the motorway over the down, ultimately in a cutting. Although protesting 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 group of classes of people than had previously been the case, and included physical violence from onsite security officers.