Hampshire
| Hampshire | |
|---|---|
| |
| Geography | |
| Status: | Ceremonial & (smaller) Administrative County |
| Region: | South East England |
| Area: - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area | Ranked 9th 3,769 km² Ranked 8th 3,679 km² |
| Admin HQ: | Winchester |
| GB-HAM | |
| ONS code: | 24 |
| NUTS 3: | UKJ33 |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2002 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop. | Ranked 5th 1,654,802 439 / km² Ranked 3rd 1,245,108 |
| Ethnicity: | 96.7% White 1.3% S.Asian |
| Politics | |
 Hampshire County Council http://www.hants.gov.uk/hcc/ | |
| Executive: | Conservative |
| Members of Parliament | |
| James Arbuthnot, David Chidgey, John Denham, Sandra Gidley, Mike Hancock, Mark Hoban, Gerald Howarth, Andrew Hunter, Julian Lewis, Michael Mates, Mark Oaten, Syd Rapson, Desmond Swayne, Peter Viggers, Alan Whitehead, David Willetts, George Young | |
| Districts | |
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Aldershot, Portsmouth, and Farnborough have strong military associations with the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force respectively.
The county has in the past been called "Southamptonshire" and appears as such on some Victorian maps. Its name was officially changed from 'County of Southampton' to 'County of Hampshire' in 1959. The short form of the name, often used in postal addresses, is Hants. It borders on Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey and West Sussex.
Hampshire County Council is based in Winchester, a historic city that was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Wessex. Southampton and Portsmouth are both major ports. There is an international airport with its own rail station between Southampton and Eastleigh. Hampshire is a popular holiday area, with tourist attractions including its many seaside resorts, the maritime area in Portsmouth, and the motor museum at Beaulieu. The New Forest lies within the borders, as does a large chunk of the South Downs - there are plans to make both of these areas into national parks.
| Table of contents |
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2 Cities, towns, and villages 3 Places of interest 4 External Links: |
The county was recorded in the Domesday Book divided into 44 hundredss. These later consolidated to 37. These were Alton,
Andover,
Barmanstip,
Barton Stacy,
Basingstoke,
Bedbridge,
Bondsborough,
Bosmere,
Buddlesgate,
Christchurch,
Chutely,
Crondal,
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 and
Wherwell.
The Isle of Wight is traditionally part of the county, but obtained a county council of its own in 1890, and became a full ceremonial county in 1974. Bournemouth was ceded to Dorset at the same time. It is excluded from the hundreds given above - it was traditionally divided into East Medina and West Medina hundreds.
The 2001 census gave the population of the administrative county as 1.24 million; the population including Portsmouth and Southampton was around 1.6 million.
History
Cities, towns, and villages
Places of interest
External Links:
Hampshire is also a village in the State of Illinois in the United States of America; see Hampshire, Illinois.