Hampshire Notes
Photo of River Anton at Goodworth Clatford

Hampshire is a costal county located in the centre of the south coast of England. It is bounded to the west by the counties of Dorset and Wiltshire, to the north by the county of Berkshire and to the east by the counties of Surrey and Sussex. It is hard to imagine a more historic county. The Romans settled here in force and within its boundaries is the site of the great Roman city of Silchester and also Porchester Castle which has the most complete remains of a Roman fortification. It was the Romans too who developed the site of Winchester which they named Venta Belgarum on the site of a Celtic settlement. Winchester became the capital of Wessex and it was there that Saxon kings ruled and were buried including Alfred the Great. William the Conquerer too emphasised its importance by making it his joint capital with London. Winchester Cathedral is the longest medieval church in England.

Also in Hampshire is Portsmouth, home of the British Navy. It was at the head of Portsmouth harbour (Porchester) that the Romans were reputed to have landed. Here were the headquarters of Carausius the Roman rebel Emporer and builder of the first British fleet. The navy has been around these parts for some 1400 years. You will find historic ships in Portsmouth dockyard. Victory Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Warrior the first British ironclad which made all the wooden ships of the line obsolete overnight. Also here are the remains of Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose which captised after firing its first salvo against the French fleet just off Southsea Castle. In Southsea, not far from Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, is the D Day Museum which tells the story of the Normandy landings in 1944. It contains the D Day tapestry which has been created in the same vein as the Bayeux tapestry in France which records the Norman invasion of 1066. There are other museums too. You can walk round the old dockyard fortifications which controlled the entry to Portsmouth harbour. If you are interested in British history then you must just visit Portsmouth.

But we must not forget the City of Southampton, one of the major ports in the British Isles. It has four tides a day and was the home of the great transatlantic liners. The Titanic sailed from here on its all fated maiden voyage. It was the home too of the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth the last and the largest of the transatlantic liners in regular service. When Winchester was England's capital Southampton was its chief port and these two towns were the nucleus of King Alfred's Wessex. It was from here that Richard the Lionheart set off on his Crusades to the Holy Land. It was the main port for the wars against France in the 14th and 15th centuries. King Henry V set off from here for the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. King Philip of Spain arrived here on his way to marry Queen Mary at Winchester. Quite a few of the town walls, dating from the 13th century, remain standing. Originally the south and the east walls were washed by the River Test but the water has now been pushed back some way as over the years the land has been reclaimed. The ancient quays, however, still remain.

There are many other historic places in Hampshire. Why not obtain a book about the county and find yourself absorbed as you read about all the historic events and people associated with it.

The County of Hampshire is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicale in 755AD. It was wholly in the See of Winchester from 676AD until 1927AD when the Sees of Guildford and Portsmouth were created. The county has always been agricultural, particularly in dairying and the wheat growing. Market gardening is also of some importance. Hampshire had an estimated population in 1982 of 1,486,300.

Winchester is the county town and administrative centre of Hampshire. It is here that the county council has its headquarters. Here too is located the county Record Office. A visit here is essential if you are researching Hampshire ancestry.

Actually (now this may surprise you) Hampshire did not officially become a county until 1st April 1959. Before that the legal name was the County of Southampton as far as officialdom was concerned. However, Hampshire has for a long time been the popular name for the County for which there is much historical justification. The names to a certain extent appear interchangeable. For example when obtaining an ancestor's birth certificate, prior to 1959, you will find that that the name of the County is given as the County of Southampton. However when consulting the census forms you will find that in most instances the County is referred to as Hampshire. Confusing isn't it! However on our site we have generally referred to the County as Hampshire (even prior to 1959) and not Southampton as this was and still is the popular name.

Goodworth Clatford. This is where Ruth's Hampshire ancestors originated from. They have lived here from about 1800.

Hampshire Archives. We have listed here the main Hampshire Archives of use to the family historian both in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

For further information on Hampshire, including a list of parishes, visit the GENUKI Hampshire Page.