Periods of British and Hampshire’s History
Gilbert 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 MoreNorman Churches
Hampshire is blessed with magnificent Norman churches whose wide arches are beautifully decorated with all manner of carving and whose fonts are square and strong.
Read MoreBramley Church Wall Paintings
The Bramley church of St James has the most magnificent Medieval wall paintings, hidden from view for nearly 300 years beneath a lime wash, they are simply beautiful.
Read MoreEastney Pumping Station
The Eastney Pumping Station in Portsmouth is a wonderful example of Victorian engineering, housing a Watts Boulton steam beam engine. It now operates as a museum.
Read MoreBishop Fox of Winchester 1501
Bishop Fox is a man little discussed when it comes to the Tudors but he was a great statesman and ultimately Bishop of Winchester in 1501, serving under the two great Tudor monarchs King Henry VII and King Henry VIII.
Read MoreHenry of Winchester
Henry of Winchester, King Henry III, born in Winchester Castle and reigned for fifty six years during which the first House of Commons sat under the rule of Simon de Montfort
Read MoreThe Grace Dieu 1420
The Grace Dieu was a huge warship constructed between 1413 and 1420 and destined for the wars with France under the orders of King Henry V. In fact it never got further than the Isle of Wight and its remains lie in the mud in the River Hamble
Read MoreAgincourt and Michelmersh
Agincourt and Michelmersh The 12th/13th Century church of St Mary’s in Michelmersh would have looked out over the adjacent field, filled with the soldiers and archers who would be accompanying King Henry V to battle at Agincourt. Scattered in fields and villages north of Southampton, King Henry V started to gather his troops, ready to…
Read MoreWilliam of Wykeham
William of Wykeham, born a humble man in the market town of Wickham Hampshire, he became Chancellor of England twice and Bishop of Winchester. He founded Winchester College and New College Oxford.
Read MoreBaptismal Font Odiham
The church of All Saints Odiham has a lovely round 13th century font
Read MoreMargaret Beauchamp
Margaret Beauchamp, who became Margaret Beaufort, was grandmother to King Henry VII and two hundred years after her death is remembered in a Hampshire church in Farley Chamberlayne.
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 MorePortchester Castle
Portchester Castle is breathtakingly beautiful, sitting on the northern shore of Portsmouth Harbour. Its Roman walls and bastions are as imposing today as they must have appeared seventeen hundred years ago.
Read MoreThe Tichborne Family Chapel
The Tichborne family chapel in the church of St Andrew’s Tichborne is a rare survivor of a Roman Catholic in a pre-reformation church. It has a very different look to the rest of the church.
Read MoreSite of William the Conqueror’s Palace
Stroll up a tiny alley way in Winchester to see a vestige of what once was the site of William the Conqueror’s palace and a little way along the church of St Lawrence where his chapel once stood.
Read MoreHH Project Update on 16th Century Hampshire Wills
Hampshire History’s Tudor Wills data project first stages an introduction and links to the data for family social and local history.
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 MoreThe 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?
Read MoreHampshire Horses
Is Hampshire the only county with a preponderance of horse graves? Are Hampshire horses particularly brave?
Read MoreData Meon Valley Surnames 1841
Data collected from the 1841 census on Meon Valley surnames, shows the incidence of surnames in individual villages along the Meon Valley. This bank of data reveals some interesting finds. It is an incomplete but growing body of data useful to Hampshire family historians.
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