Nelson’s Last Walk

Nelsons 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.

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Hampshire Trade Tokens

Hampshire 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?

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William Wyllie Maritime Artist

William Wyllie

William Wyllie was one of Britain’s greatest maritime artists and for a while. lived in the Tower House in Old Portsmouth, the harbour unfolding before him.

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1950’s Racing Chart of the Solent

America's cup

1950’s Racing Chart of the Solent A chance find in a charity shop today turned up a racing chart of Solent and Spithead, how appropriate on the first day of the ‘America’s Cup’ hosted in Portsmouth for the first time in 164 years. Not being a sailor the chart is full of mysteries for me. The…

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D-Day from Liphook to Southwick and Southampton WW2

#DDAY70 Red Arrows and a clear blue sky an enormous surge of energy and emotion #DDAY70 Portsmouth Hants UK

Hampshire was full of troops equipment and there was a sense of a huge buildup, the population had been drilled on security but speculation was growing something ‘BIG’ was going to happen. What was it like for the residents of Hampshire as finally these massive resources and numbers of troops mobilised for the big push? Something “BIG” was going to happen but when? One of a series of posts marking Hampshire and its role and experience of the run-up to D-Day.

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Marc Brunel in Portsmouth

Marc Brunel

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,…

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The Pompey Pals

In WWI Portsmouth was able to raise two battalions of ‘Pompey Pals’ the 14th and 15th Hampshire Regiment. Many enlisted at Fratton Park, home of Portsmouth Football Club. How must it have felt to these men of Portsmouth, many of whom would be fervent Pompey supporters, to enter the gates of Fratton Park, not to join the fray of a football game but to enter the affray of war?

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Portsmouth Remembers D-Day

D-DAY

Thousands of people came to Portsmouth to remember the 156,000 Allied troops who left the shores of southern England, launching themselves into the choppy sea of the Solent before landing on the beaches of Normandy in northern France at the start of a major offensive against the Germans.

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D-Day Gathering

Hampshire was at the centre of D-Day Preparations as the massive force embarked for Normandy

Making ready for Overlord in Hampshire, with troops massing on the South Coast, Eisenhower moving into Southwick House and Admiral Ramsay running Neptune from Southwick Fort. Who was in your area around the time of Mid-May to 6th June there was lots of hearsay but has your village or town got a story to tell?

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Baptismal Font Porchester

Baptismal font Hampshire

Hampshire baptismal fonts consist of many marvelous Norman examples. The baptismal font at Porchester St Marys, is an unusual example of a round font, carved with intricate symbols.

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Portsmouth Harbour

View of Portsmouth Harbour

The fortifications of Portsmouth Harbour still look immensely commanding when seen from the deck of one of the many ferries that sail in and out of the harbour on a daily basis.

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The Point Portsmouth

Portsmouth Harbour Hampshire

The Point Portsmouth consists of just a few acres around the camber in Old Portsmouth but is bursting with history and character at every step The Point is also known as the Spice Island, the origins of its name lost in the dim past. Maybe it referred to the smell of spices being unloaded or…

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