Who was on the Mayflower in 1620?

Who was on the Mayflower as it set sail from Southampton Hampshire in 1620 and why did it have to return to Plymouth? The sailing of the Mayflower from Southampton is one of Hampshire’s most iconic historical moments.

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Massey’s Folly Farringdon

Massey’s Folly in Farringdon Hampshire, is an extraordinary labour of love. Built by the Rev Thomas Massey over a period of thirty years, the folly is a monument to the pursuit of art in architecture, its purpose uncertain.

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Knights Templars at Selborne

Knights Templar Headstone Selborne

The Knights Templar tombstones in St Mary’s church Selborne are the sole surviving artefacts of the Knights Templar preceptory established at Sotherington close to Selborne in Hampshire

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Alresford Harbour

Alresford harbour resevoir Hampshire

The dam and resevoir at Alresford is one of the largest and most impressive structures of Medieval England but has it revealed its full purpose?

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Southampton Castle

Southampton Castle on John Speeds map

When Winchester was the royal capital of England, Southampton, close by on the southern coast of England, was its chief port and trading centre. It was an obvious magnet for Danish and French raiding party’s and its defense became an issue. The castle was constructed first out of timber and then stone and its great city walls threw up a considerable obstacle to attack

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Wherwell Abbey

The quintessentially English village of Wherwell has played an important part in the history of the county of Hampshire, hidden beneath its meadows is the Abbey of Wherwell, established in the C10th century as a form of penance by Queen Elfrida

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Hampshire Botanist John Goodyer

John Goodyer botanist

John Goodyer was one of the most important botanists in England in the C17th and lived his life in various parts of Hampshire. Born in Alton, he worked in Buriton and lived in Droxford and Petersfield.

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Jane Austen in Chawton

The village of Chawton sweeps you back to the early years of the C19th, when Jane Austen and her family lived in the heart of the village

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Norman Chancel Arch St Peter’s Petersfield

The Norman chancel arch in St Peter’s church in Petersfield is one of the most magnificent in Hampshire, its proportions seeming to signal the architects desire to elevate this chapel in a field to something more. It is possible that the design was influenced by the architecture of Winchester Cathedral. Bishop Walkelyn may well have…

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Intriguing Odiham Castle

Odiham Castle Hampshire

Odiham Castle in Hampshire is one of those ruins where you wish the walls could talk, with connections to King John and Simon de Montfort, decisions about England were made here

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HH FrontPage Lead Images

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Hampshire The Oldest Shire in England

Over a thousand years ago, Hampshire held the seat of power in England. It is the first of England’s shires to appear in the historical record, ‘The AngloSaxon Chronicle’. AD 757, it tells us that the councillors of the West Saxons; ‘deprived Sigeberht of his kingdom, except for Hampshire.’ Hampshire as a unit of government is…

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Creating the ‘New Forest’

Forest Laws were introduced by William I and the New Forest in Hampshire was one of the most important of the King’s hunting grounds. For the local population however it was the imposition of a tyranny that brought them great suffering.

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Winchester Bible

It is thought Henry de Blois commissioned the stunning Winchester Illuminated Bible. From the text to the illuminations, it is quite possibly the most beautiful piece of C12th artwork in Europe

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