- History of Hampshire
Hampshire is a county in southern England with some notable archaeology and many notable historic buildings.The chalk downland of the South Downs and southern edges of Salisbury Plain were settled in the
neolithic , and these settlers builthill forts such asWinklebury and may have farmed the valleys of Hampshire. Hampshire was part of an area named "Gwent" or "Y Went" by the Celts, which also covered areas of Somerset and Wiltshire. In theRoman invasion of Britain , Hampshire was one of the first areas to fall to the invading forces. The county was occupied by Jutish tribes until Saxon times. Hampshire was one of the first Saxonshire s, recorded in755 , but for two centuries represented the western end of Saxon England, as advances intoDorset andSomerset were fought off by the Britons. After the Saxons advanced west Hampshire became the centre of theKingdom of Wessex , and many Saxon kings are buried at Winchester. A statue in Winchester celebrates the powerfulKing Alfred , who stabilised the region in the9th century .After the
Norman Conquest the county was favoured by Norman kings who established theNew Forest as a hunting forest. The county was recorded in theDomesday Book divided into 44 hundreds. These later consolidated to 37. These were Alton, Andover,Barmanstip ,Barton Stacy ,Basingstoke ,Bedbridge ,Bondsborough ,Bosmere ,Buddlesgate , Christchurch,Chutely ,Crondall ,East Mean ,Evinger ,Fawley ,Finchdean ,Fordingbridge , Hambledon,Heling ,Holdsett ,Kings Somborn ,Kingsclear ,Mansbridge ,Meanstoke ,Micheldever ,New Forest ,Odiham , Overton,Pastrow ,Portsdown ,Ringwood ,Shelbourn , Sutton,Thorngate ,Titchfield , Waltham andWherwell .Over several centuries a series of
castle s andfort s were constructed along the coast of theSolent to defend the harbours at Southampton and Portsmouth. These include the NormanPortchester Castle which overlooksPortsmouth Harbour , and a series of forts built by Henry VIII includingHurst Castle , situated on a sand spit at the mouth of the Solent,Calshot Castle on another spit at the mouth of Southampton Water, andNetley Castle . Southampton and Portsmouth remained important harbours when rivals, such asPoole andBristol declined, as they are amongst the few locations that combine shelter with deep water. Southampton has been host to many famous ships, including the "Mayflower " and the "Titanic", the latter being staffed largely by Hampshire natives.Hampshire played a large role in
World War II due to its largeRoyal Navy harbour at Portsmouth, the army camp atAldershot and the militaryNetley Hospital on Southampton Water, as well as its proximity to the army training ranges onSalisbury Plain and theIsle of Purbeck .Supermarine , the designers of the Spitfire and other military aircraft, were based in Southampton, which led to severe bombing of the city. Aldershot remains one of theBritish Army 's main permanent camps.The county has in the past been called "Southamptonshire" and appears as such on some Victorian maps. The name of the
administrative county was changed from 'County of Southampton' to 'County of Hampshire' onApril 1 ,1959 . The short form of the name, often used in postal addresses, is "Hants".The old name appears as the place of embarkation of many of the immigrants into
Ellis Island . It is recorded in the 'Commonwealth Instrument of Government,1653 [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1653intrumentgovt.html] ', which was adopted byOliver Cromwell when he assumed the office of 'Lord Protector' in1654 .The
Isle of Wight has been for some purposes in the past treated traditionally part of Hampshire, but has been administered separately from Hampshire for over a century, obtaining acounty council of its own in1890 . The Isle of Wight became a full ceremonial county in1974 . The Island is excluded from the hundreds given above - it was traditionally divided intoEast Medina andWest Medina hundreds. Apart from a shared police force there are now no formal administrative links between the Isle of Wight and Hampshire.The towns of
Bournemouth and Christchurch also fall within the traditional county of Hampshire, but were ceded toDorset in the local government reorganisation of 1974.ee also
*
History of England References
* [http://www.hantsphere.org.uk/ Hantsphere local history]
* Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911. " [http://59.1911encyclopedia.org/H/HA/HAMPSHIRE.htm Hampshire] ".
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/catalogue.asp?gid=14 Victoria County History of Hampshire] : the local history of the county, organised by parish. Four volumes; part of British History Online.
* [http://www.historicfarnborough.co.uk/ Historic Farnborough]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.