The Swing Riots

Plaque to Henry Cook swing rioter

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…

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Ashford Hanger and William Cobbett

Ashford 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.

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Edward Thomas Poet

Edward Thomas Poet

Edward Thomas walked the beautiful Hangar country in the vicinity of Petersfield and wrote his moving poetry in sight of the chalk, wood covered slopes

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Priors Dean Church

Priors Dean Church

The church of Priors Dean in Hampshire sits splendidly in its isolation with only an attendant manor house for company.

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