Georgian 1714 – 1837 Period
John Keats In Winchester
John Keats in Winchester. For those who know Winchester well one of the most beautiful and restful walks is along one of the chalk streams of the River Itchen. Pick up the path at the end of College Street and walk out of the city towards St Cross. Look out across the water meadows towards…
Read MoreThe Swing Riots
The Swing Riots in Hampshire. The Swing Riots of 1830 were an uprising by agricultural workers in parts of Eastern and Southern England. It was a civil unrest that was a long time in the making, the stirrings of unrest began in the 1780’s and then during the Napoleonic Wars faded away somewhat. Fifty years…
Read MoreAshford Hanger and William Cobbett
The landscape of Ashford Hanger is little changed since William Cobbett wrote about it in his book ‘Rural Rides’. The shape of the land is as memorable now as it was then when Cobbett traversed its heights in 1822.
Read MoreNelson’s Last Walk
Nelson’s last walk on English took him through the streets of Portsmouth from his breakfast at the George Hotel to the awaiting barge and HMS Victory. People were moved to tears at the sight of their hero.
Read MoreWhitchurch Silk Mill
Whitchurch Silk Mill in Hampshire is a wonderful reminder of a lost industrial past rooted deep in the Hampshire countryside. Its connections with the silk weavers of London reveal the extent and demand for fine silks.
Read MoreMad Dick Norton
Mad Dick Norton was otherwise Richard Norton of Southwick estate, a landowner and politician whose eccentric behaviour resulted in a very unusual will and a substantial amount of controversy.
Read MoreHampshire Trade Tokens
Hampshire trade tokens were issued in the C17th and C18th when there was little small coinage to be had in Britain. Which places in Hampshire issued them and what did they look like?
Read MoreRoyal Forest of Woolmer
The Royal Forest of Woolmer A little known area of Hampshire that was once a Medieval royal hunting forest. It lies near Liphook and the Sussex border and like all the hunting forests, would once have been a mainly open and treeless landscape. The open heath land would have been home to a herds of…
Read MoreThe Great Plane Tree of Mottisfont
The great Plane tree of Mottisfont is a fantastic specimen of the tree we all know and love in London parks but the one in Hampshire is stunning and reputedly the oldest in the British Isles.
Read MoreNelson’s Monument
Nelson’s Monument resting on the top of Portsdown Hill in Hampshire, soars away into the sky, with the bust of Nelson casting a keen eye, out across the waters of the Solent.
Read MoreThe Hampshire Chronicle estb 1772
The Hampshire Chronicle was established in 1772 and is Hampshire’s oldest newspaper, printed and published in Hampshire and still going strong, operating out of its Winchester base.
Read MoreDr Keate of Eton College
Dr Keate of Eton College, the great flogging headmaster from 1809 to 1834, was rector of St Mary’s church Hartley Wespall and is buried inside.
Read MoreGilbert White Selborne
Gilbert White of Selborne, the quiet naturalist, whose life was committed to the observance of all the natural history that surrounded his home in Hampshire.
Read MoreJohn Buckett’s Headstone
The John Buckett headstone in the old church yard in Stockbridge is as full of character as the man in whose honour it was raised.
Read MoreMarc Brunel in Portsmouth
The incredible engineers, the Brunels, father and son are in-extrinsically linked to Portsmouth through deed and birth Marc Isambard Brunel was a frenchman who fled the French Revolution and in 1793, fled to America and became chief engineer of New York City. By 1799 he had married Sophia Kingdom and they had three children, Sophia,…
Read MoreHampshire Horses
Is Hampshire the only county with a preponderance of horse graves? Are Hampshire horses particularly brave?
Read MoreJohn Pounds Altruist and Teacher
John Pounds shoe maker, teacher and altruist lived and worked in Old Portsmouth in the early C19th and the inspiration for the ragged school movement.
Read MoreQuebec House Old Portsmouth
Quebec House in Old Portsmouth Hampshire, is an old bathing house built in 1754 and rich with history.
Read MoreA Georgian Hampshire Scandal
The Georgian scandal of Elizabeth Chudleigh was played out in no small part in the beautiful Lainston House Hampshire, now a hotel . Within the bounds of this house near Winchester a marriage took place that would place one of the party in Westminster Hall charged with bigamy.
Read MoreGreat Families at Stratfield Saye
The history of Stratfield Saye in Hampshire is intricately woven into the lives of several great families going back as far as the C12th.
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