Hampshire
County of south England
Area:
3,679 sq km/1,420 sq mi
Towns and Cities:
Winchester (administrative headquarters), Aldershot, Andover, Basingstoke,
Eastleigh, Gosport, Romsey, and Lymington
Physical:
New Forest (area 373 sq km/144 sq mi), in the southeast of the county,
a Saxon royal hunting ground ; rivers Avon, Ichen, and Test (which
has trout fishing)
Features:
Hampshire Basin, where Britain has onshore and offshore oil; Danebury,
2,500-year-old Celtic hillfort; Beaulieu (including National Motor
Museum); Broadlands (home of Lord Mountbatten); Highclere castle
(home of the Earl of Carnarvon, with gardens by Capability Brown);
Hambledon, where the first cricket club was founded in 1750; site
of the Roman town of Silchester; Jane Austen's cottage at Chawton
(1809-17), now a museum; Twyford Down section of the M3 motorway
was completed in 1994 despite protests
Industries:
Aeronautics; brewing; chemicals; electronics; light engineering (at
Basingstoke); oil from refineries at Fawley; perfume; pharmaceuticals
Agriculture:
market gardening (watercress)
Population:
(1995) 1,213,600
Famous People:
Gilbert White, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens
Historic Remains
In addition to Danebury, there are early fortified hilltop refuges
at Old Winchester Hill; St Catherine's Hill, Winchester; Ladle
Hill, Sydmonton; Beacon Hill, Burghclere; and Quarley Hill. There
are convent ruins at Netley, Beaulieu, and Titchfield; notable
monastic churches still in use are Winchester Cathedral and Romsey
Abbey.
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